My hairstylist calls me the lowest maintenance woman she knows. I’m not sure it was meant as a compliment, but that’s how I interpreted her words. After all, I only visit a few times a year so she can trim the ends of my stick-straight hair. And, there’s no need for her to color my tresses because the strands of silver that appear to be multiplying each visit blend naturally into my flaxen blonde mane in a way that often earns me legitimate compliments.
When it comes to makeup, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I am a mascara-and-go kind of girl who doesn’t own a tube of lipstick. After all, I would rather take an epic road trip, watch for wildlife, or taste new wines than spend time contouring this or applying that. But as my laugh lines grow deeper, you can bet I’m willing to slow down and smell the wild rose spotless serum if it helps keep my skin looking as youthful as I feel on the inside!
TravelAwaits asked me to give KORRES a try, and I jumped at the chance. Established in Greece, where a Mediterranean diet has long been linked to the country’s high life expectancy, I believed there was a good chance that equally high quality and natural ingredients would give my skin a nourishing boost. And as it turns out, the Greek Yoghurt Calming + Cooling Gel for dry stressed skin is made with edible yoghurt and food-grade cucumbers.
Fun Fact: Off the coast of Turkey, Ikaria is a Greek island “blue zone” where residents enjoy exceptional longevity by eating well, enjoying long walks, taking an afternoon nap, and sipping a glass of wine each night. Sounds like heaven on Earth, if you ask me!
Hand-Harvested Wild And Organically Grown Ingredients
Established by Giorgos Korres, a Greek pharmacist, and Lena Philippou, a chemical engineer with a deep love of nature, KORRES anti-aging skincare products are derived from foraged plants and organically grown flowers. The ingredients in KORRES skincare products include saffron strands, wild rose petals, and pomegranate arils. And the female-led research and development team places special emphasis on the 1,600 unique plant species that only grow on Greece’s 6,000 islands.
You may be familiar with matcha, a finely ground green tea powder used in food, beverages, and beauty products in Southeast Asia. At KORRES, Olympus tea is the Greek version. Grown at the base of Mount Olympus, the plant’s delicate leaves possess natural cleansing properties that are harnessed to create the KORRES foaming cream cleanser and deep detox cleansing cloths.
In a nation where the alpine forests are thick with some of the world’s oldest evergreen trees, KORRES skincare products also feature black pine. With a focus on sustainability, KORRES uses only black pine bark that would be discarded as the forest is culled to keep it thriving. The extracts pulled from black pine are blended into serums and creams that help firm, sculpt, and plump up mid-life skin.
But it’s also important to note what’s not in KORRES skincare products, like synthetic colors, formaldehyde, parabens, microbeads, and more than 2,000 other toxic ingredients that are commonly found in beauty products. You probably know that microbeads are bad for the environment and that the microplastic drops have had a horrible impact on the world’s oceans. But did you know that formaldehyde is commonly added to makeup, lotions, and other beauty products in a water solution called formalin? I’m all for being well-preserved, but not like a lab specimen!
A Seed-To-Skin Philosophy
Although KORRES starts with locally grown ingredients, it doesn’t stop there. Rather, the company follows a full-circle production process. As ingredients like saffron threads, black pine bark, and wild rose petals are distilled into serums and creams, KORRES uses a water purification process that is five times more pure than pharmaceutical grade.
At the end of the production process, all remaining stems, seeds, and other organic materials are returned to the farmers and the land where they were grown. Just like a backyard compost bin keeps organic material out of landfills and infuses the earth with natural materials that reduce the need for commercial fertilizers, the KORRES team takes this final step to keep Greece and her natural resources thriving.
Additionally, the KORRES factory is environmentally friendly, powered by renewable energy and established with a no-waste philosophy. Whether you purchase skincare, body care, or hair products, your KORRES products are packaged and shipped in 99 percent recyclable packaging.
Drink From The (Greek) Fountain Of Youth With KORRES Anti-Aging Products
As a newly minted 50-something, it seems that four decades of fretting about oily skin and acne has finally subsided. That didn’t take long! But in its place, I see darker circles under my eyes (after all, I survived being a single mom to teenagers) and deepening laugh lines (because not all of those moments in a houseful of teens were stressful).
The three lines of KORRES anti-aging products are designed around black pine, saffron, and white pine. I was immediately drawn to the black pine products, in part because I wasn’t familiar with that variety of tree and in part because the ebony jars printed with white lettering and gold accents stand out from the grey and silver packaging commonly used by other cosmetic companies.
The stress of 2020 has weighed on us all, and it has certainly caused me to toss and turn at night rather than getting a full eight hours of beauty rest. But after using the tube of Black Pine 3D Eye-Lift Super Serum twice a day for about a week, I can see a noticeable difference in the dark circles under my tired green eyes.
After applying the eye-lift serum to my freshly washed face, I squeeze a dropper of the Black Pine Sculpt-And-Lift Serum into my palm and slowly work it into my skin from my breastbone to my forehead. Designed to lift and firm skin, I’m counting on this product to reverse a few years of gravity’s pull as it has for 100 percent of its users after 56 days.
I’m a big fan of nighttime face masks while I wind down at the end of the day, so the KORRES Plump-Up Sleeping Facial fascinated me. As a final step in my bedtime beauty regimen, I smooth a dollop of the black pine plump-up cream into my skin and let it work its magic all night. Starting with my decolletage and slowly working up my neck and into my face, a little bit of this emollient cream goes a long way. And in the morning, my face always looks rested, even if it was a toss-and-turn kind of night.
You may know saffron as the long red threads used to flavor foods like paella and mussels. At KORRES, they incorporate the world’s most expensive spice in products designed to reduce pigmentation, brown spots, and other blemishes, using the plant’s inherent properties. In addition to the black pine products, I’ve also been trying the KORRES Golden Krocus Ageless Saffron Elixir and Golden Krocus Hydra-Filler Plumping Cream. This Golden Ageless Skincare Duo is specially formulated for dull and dry skin, something that I know I will increasingly battle as the cold Midwestern winter unfolds here in Kansas City.
Fun Fact: Krokos is the Greek word for saffron.
Creating the saffron line of products begins in Kozani, a small town in Northern Greece. When the crocuses bloom in late fall, hundreds of farmers and harvest helpers gently pull the three bright red stigmas from the center of the delicate purple flowers. Although the cotton gin has quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seeds for hundreds of years, there is no equivalent invention for saffron. So even in the 21st century, saffron threads must be pulled by hand.
Overall, I’m enjoying the anti-aging KORRES products and have seen visible results in just a short period of time, especially with the Black Pine 3D Eye-Lift Super Serum and Black Pine Plump-Up Sleeping Facial.
Beyond my skincare favorites, KORRES offers a wide range of additional beauty products, including a body care line, makeup collection, hair products, and some of fellow TravelAwaits writer Wendy Lee’s picks for her top 12 skincare savers for colder weather. The hunk in your life can pamper himself before and after shaving with the men’s skincare products offered by KORRES. And if you’re looking for a new natural fragrance, KORRES eau de toilette features such unique scents as vanilla freesia, cashmere kumquat, and bellflower. But you know I’m all about the blue sage!