When I was a kid, I used to sleep over at my grandparents' house on my parents' date nights. Sure, I loved the generous Neapolitan ice cream sundaes and being allowed to watch The Golden Girls, but a highlight for me was observing my grandma's nighttime beauty ritual. In retrospect, it was pretty simple—she removed her makeup with Pond's Cold Cream, then followed with Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair—but it instilled in me two critical points that have stayed with me to this day: 1) always take off your makeup at the end of the day and 2) moisturize the living crap out of your skin. My grandma was in her 80s but looked maybe 60; her skin was smooth and translucent. The woman knew what she was doing.
Over the years, I've added a few steps to my routine, but whenever my skin starts acting up (I am very dry and my skin will flake in sheets when it's upset with me), I always go back to point number two and that seems to solve the problem. That said, I am always up for trying a new moisturizer, particularly one that gets glowing reviews in Into the Gloss, Racked, my favorite blogs...so I decided to pull the trigger on Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical Serum.
Let's get this out of the way: it's $185. Yes, that is a lot of money. Yes, you can probably find something nearly as good for a lot less. But in my experience, that's pretty on par with a lot of luxury anti-aging creams and oils, and considering Vintner's Daughter is 100% natural, I decided it was worth the investment. That is, if it delivered the same results for me as it did for everyone else on the freaking Internet.
I've been using Vintner's Daughter for two months now, and my conclusion is that the hype is real. My skin is soft and glowy, I haven't had a pimple or flaking, and the only makeup I need is a touch of concealer under my eyes. More importantly, it has greatly simplified my morning routine—instead of a hydrating mist, serum, and moisturizer, I just use Vintner's Daughter (I keep wanting to abbreviate it to VD but that's gross). The one catch is that applying it is a bit of a process, and following the instructions is key—you warm it up in your hands, then "push-press" it into your skin for 60 seconds, a massage-like technique that probably helps to boost circulation and thus contribute to that glow you're getting. Also, with 22 active ingredients, it has a distinct scent that I like (it smells like rich ladies) but that some might not. And bonus: the founder is from a winemaking family in Napa, so...well, I don't know what the bonus is, but I love wine, so there's that.
Here's how it fits into my routine:
Morning
Step 1: Exfoliate with Biologique Recherche P50 (I don't wash my face in the morning)
Step 2: Vintner's Daughter
Step 3: Pat on Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado (I've been using this for years)
Step 4: Finish with sunscreen (I've been using Drunk Elephant Umbra, but it's not my favorite)
Night
Step 1: Cleanse with Biologique Recherche Lait U or Koh-Gen-Do Cleansing Spa Water Cloths if I'm feeling lazy and/or drunk
Step 3: P50 again (also skipped if I'm lazy/drunk)
Step 3: Vintner's Daughter
Step 4: Kiehl's Avocado again
