Green Tea - the skincare and makeup ingredient du jour!

Green tea is having a moment. I realised this the other night as I was enjoying a cup of it with lemon, sent to me by the lovely folk at Barry’s (you can check the range out here). We’ve known for ages that drinking the stuff is good for us – the Chinese use it to treat everything from depression to tooth decay – but now it’s popping up in skincare, makeup and fragrance , too. Thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, it both soothes the skin and helps fight the signs of aging. Definitely the ingredient du jour!

I’ve been loving the Ginvera Green Tea Skincare line; this Asian brand is available from UK distributors Janiro – check out their website here – or Harvey Nichols. Their BB cream is one of my favourites – I reviewed it on beaut.ie here, along with their Marvel Gel. These are definitely worth checking out, and the range also includes cleansers, moisturisers, a spot-corrector and an under-eye roll on thingummyjig.

And as well as drinking it and rubbing it on my face, I’ve also been wearing the stuff – in the form of this wonderful fragrant water from Roger & Gallet. This is such a lovely brand, offering premium quality products at a far from premium price. No surprise, then, that it’s the no. 1 perfume brand in its native France. The company has a proud and distinguished heritage, too – they created the first perfumed soap in 1879, and their products have scented the likes of Napoleon III, Queen Victoria and the Spanish royal court.

The Green Tea collection is gorgeous – it’s a really unique, refreshing scent, which also has notes of grapefruit, white freesia, cedar wood and amber. The fragrant water is €17 for a bottle this size (30ml) or €39.75 for 100ml. Soap, liquid soap, shower gel and body lotion are also available.

And as if all this wasn’t enough, I’ve also noticed green tea popping up as an ingredient in my new Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation and Rockstar Wash Off Tan. It was also a key ingredient in this Fire and Ice Facial that I loved so much, and it comes as a variety of my current favourite deodorant, too!

So tell me, are you a fan? Have you noticed green tea popping up anywhere that isn’t your breakfast table?