I am truly excited to write a product review of Laxmi luxury skincare today. Why? Because it’s saving the world – and our skin. In this post, I’m going to skip straight to the punchline: I could not think of a better way to spend my money – and nor could you, dear reader. Give a woman work by buying this product. The universe will reward you with great skin. Now you decide if you want to read more…
I’ve been dying to try this product from the moment I heard about it from a real superhero of a woman I know named Leila Janah. I worked with Leila for a split second when I was 23 at an amazing consulting firm called Katzenbach Partners. We hardly know each other now, but I always admired her beauty, her poise and most importantly, the fierce calling she eventually revealed to us all to change the world by giving work.
She began Samasource several years ago. The concept behind Sama is that giving work to those in impoverished circumstances is better than any typical and one-time monetary/charitable handout – because it teaches skills to individuals; skills that will last a lifetime and give them agency, earning power and income – both now and later. For example, teach digital skills to capable individuals in Kenya, or Haiti. Then work with Google to outsource their big data projects to those Sama workers. Suddenly you’ve connected the most famous company in the world to the most impoverished communities in the world and allowed them to provide for each other.
Then Leila launched Laxmi and I waited patiently for the products to become available. When they did, I jumped at the chance to try the Nilotica Facial Crème. I needed a new moisturizer after all!
When the product arrived, the presentation was extremely professional with custom labels, black tissue to match the black packaging and a kind card on Laxmi stationery. The moisturizer was housed in a cushy pouch with a booklet attached that explains the brand’s origin. All of these careful appointments implied luxury while being informative of what you were getting into. The cream has a whipped texture, a gentle scent and feels fantastic on your skin. I was already loving it, and then I started to do some research for this post I’m writing…
So what the heck is Nilotica? Here’s a blog post from the Laxmi site that explains much more eloquently than I ever could why Nilotica is a game changer but in short: it is rare, not easy to access, has numerous benefits for your skin and is a better ingredient for your beauty products than shea butter, petroleum, and any other chemical you can find.
Here’s what I liked about the cream itself. A little goes a long way – which is rare. It was lightweight and non-greasy. And I’ve actually noticed my skin feeling softer and plumper over the last few weeks. I have not noticed a decrease in breakouts BUT I have chronically cystic acne so I don’t expect any cream to cure this. As I mentioned, the smell is gentle and fades pretty quickly. To make the cream last longer, I’ve just been using it at night – this is when your skin rejuvenates and puts the nutrients in your skincare to work, so I like to think I’m optimizing the Nilotica benefits this way. During the day I’m using something a touch more functional with sunscreen in it to act as a base for my makeup (a simple Cetaphil until I’m back in the states). Any cons? I wish there was a bit more in the jar. Right now I feel like each use is precious.
So why does it cost $52? Well, here’s something interesting that happened when I received my product. I started testing the waters on my social media platform with a few pictures on Instagram and Facebook. One of my followers who saw it went to the website to check it out and then sent me a direct message asking if I’d really spent this much on my face cream. This got me thinking about a) the price tag and b) why someone would ask about that now v. any other time I write about products. I usually encourage people to be budget-conscious but when it comes to skincare, I will definitely drop $$ and I’ve never shied away from promoting beauty products across all price ranges and stores. I wondered if it had to do with the terms that you’ll find all over the Laxmi site like “impact sourced” or “natural skincare” or “wage work to poor women” or even the word “Uganda.” Perhaps we make assumptions that the product should cost less because of these. They’re not exactly terms you equate with luxury or a high price tag.
So I wrote to my contact Jamie at Laxmi to ask her how to explain the cost to my readers in layman’s terms. She was kind enough to write back and explain that: “The reason behind our pricing is because there are many standards that we adhere to that other brands don’t. The biggest ones are that we offer 3x the normal wage, our products are impact-sourced, made in the USA, vegan and cruelty free. When in comparison to other products that offer similar standards, we are priced competitively while being able to provide higher wages.” Let’s stop for a moment to consider what Jamie just said.
Frankly, and as I said at the beginning of this post, I’m not sure I could think of a better way to spend my $52 – and nor could you. As women, too often I see us cutting each other down, competing, gossiping, making fun of, judging – the list goes on. Why not pour that energy into lifting each other up – with compliments, with smiles, with encouragement, and most importantly – with skills? Well, here’s your chance. As I said before: Give a woman work by buying this product. The universe will reward you with great skin.
Next up – I’m trying the entire line, though I’m most excited about the cleansing oil because I fiercely believe in oil cleansing (but that’s for another post I guess!). I’ll also re-up my Nilotica Crème and try the hydrating mist. Laxmi started with three products and has recently added a fourth – the Pure Nilotica Melt. I can’t wait to slather it all over everything. For under $200 – less than the price of most skincare – I’m buying the whole set of products, and I’m plugging it with everyone I know until the cows come home.
Buy it. Give work. Enough said.
Belle
*Note that some of these images are taken from the Laxmi website.
