Review: Green Tea & Ginkgo Moisturizer by Aubrey Organics

This review is about the Green Tea & Gingko moisturizing cream by Aubrey Organics. It seems to have a lot of great, plant-based ingredients and only very few I don’t recognize by name. Just one, really. What on earth is “padimate O”.

Packaging

Aubrey Organic’s Green Tea & Ginkgo cream comes in a plastic bottle, which is recylcable. Lightweight, the bottle is perfectly manageable, despite the generous amount of moisturizer it holds (4 oz). Ingredients are clearly listed on the back of the bottle, together with pictograms showing this cream is “vegan” and “not tested on animals”.

Texture

Aubrey Organic’s Green Tea & Gingko moisturizer does definitely have the ‘organic’ look and feel to it. The color of the cream is green. A smooth, velvety, grey-ish green. It has to be shaken before use to make it completely homogenous. My first reaction was one of getting used to this strange color, it did more easily match the idea I had of a facial mask than of a leave-on face cream. However… the goo-ish green substance not only smells nice, it also sinks into the skin no problem. This (partly) organic moisturizer feels nourishing, without leaving the skin greasy. It does not color your face green. (Yes, the thought did cross my mind!)

Scent

Aubrey Organic’s Green Tea & Gingko moisturizer smells fresh, a bit like a garden right after summer rain.

Ingredients

Ingredients (INCI): Aqua, simmondsia chinensis seed oil*, cetyl alcohol, padimate O, aloe barbadensis leaf juice*, alcohol denat. (38b, lavender*), avena sativa kernel flour, rosa rubiginosa seed oil*, ginkgo biloba leaf extract, silybum marianum extract, camellia japonica seed oil, butyrospermum parkii*, glycerin, glyceryl linolenate, glyceryl linoleate, tocopheryl acetate, glycine soja oil, camellia sinensis leaf powder*, citrus medica limonum peel oil*, citrus grandis extract, tanacetum annuum oil*, tilia cordata flower extract, sambucus nigra flower extract, malva sylvestris extract, hypericum perforatum extract, hedera helix extract, echinacea purpurea extract, cucumis sativus fruit extract, chamomilla recutita extract, calendula officinalis flower extract, arnica montana flower extract, anthemis nobilis flower extract, anacyclus pyrethrum root extract, hamamelis virginiana water, ascorbic acid, daucus carota sativa root extract, beta-carotene.

Only a few ingredients in this moisturizer are organic: jojoba oil, aloe vera juice, lavender derived alcohol, rose hip seed oil, shea butter and three other plant extracts.

For personal use and for my natural skin care reviews, I read labels carefully and look up terms that don’t sound familiar (yet). Padimate O, the fourth substance on the list, appears to be a chemical sunscreen agent and a bit of a hazardous ingredient.

What I like

I loved the scent of this moisturizer so much, very green and fresh, with a hint of flowers. The generous amount in the bottle and the price are great as well.

What I dislike

Just this one ingredient, the Padimate O. Such a shame! If it wasn’t for that substance, it would have been such a great natural and (partly) organic moisturizer. I wrote to Aubrey Organics with my question, because I was wondering why they would use this one bad chemical in an otherwise beautifully natural formula.

Final thoughts on Aubrey Organics Green Tea & Ginkgo Moisturizer

I bought it in a hurry while traveling and didn’t think Padimate O sounded that threatening. Since I discovered later that Padimate O is linked to allergies and supected of causing damage to DNA, I’ve not used up this moisturizer and thrown out a nearly full bottle.

I’ve written an email to the company asking why they choose to use this ingredient. Still waiting to hear back…

Update (June 2013): Never heard back from Aubrey Organics customer service. However, a few months later the American Aubrey Organics website has an entirely new line of products on display. On iHerb, this particular moisturizer is discontinued. The British website still sells it. It would have been nice to get a response from them, but apparently they’re busy changing their entire line of products! 😉

What do you think of Aubrey Organics’ Green Tea & Ginko Moisturizer?

Please feel free to share your natural, organic skin care tips or product reviews below. Thank you!

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