Make Up Beauty Tips

Remembering an exquisite line of anti-aging skincare with a serum and a moisturizer so stunningly unique, potent and rare it draws a heavy sigh just at the memory of the very first experience of the formulas penetrating my skin ... FOUND.

As skincare really is my #1 passion amongst the beauty categories, it's surely not difficult to imagine that I circulate skincare brands and products ... ahem ... frequently.  So frequently in fact that it's rare that I use the same products two days or nights in a row, unless I'm reviewing.  Now having said that, I do certainly have my favorites, my ones that I go back to over and over again, my tried and true loves that sit upon my bathroom counter or secure a place in one of my bathroom drawers because they're called upon more regularly than others. Yet even those are only maybe 10 - 15 in number.

FOUND, however, has earned a very exclusive location on display in my bedroom atop the chest of drawers.  Oh, you'll find other "products" upon that chest, but not facial skincare.  I have some select body creams, a few fragrance bottles, a shine serum I love for my hair, some lipsticks (another guilty pleasure) and the Christmas card from this past year from my honey (he's been in the UK and further abroad for months on business, so it's special to me to have it close), but no other skincare "system" has pulled at my heartstrings strongly enough to warrant that I keep it out and close at hand as FOUND's Sarpa and Istr has.  You've heard about these luxurious, powerful products from me before when I first reviewed them in Fall 2008, so please check the review to read about the uniqueness of this brand, its creator Eric Cosson (a self-admitted science addict and natural ingredient espouser), and the products in more detail.  I just had to rave about them again today as having not used them in several months, I decided to apply them last Sunday night before bed and got completely lost in the luxurious experience of these treaures once again.  I've used the serum and moisturizer (the only two products by the brand currently, by the way) every night this week not able to deny myself of the pleasure using these products brings to my senses, my skin and sure, I'll say it, my very being.

Just a gander at the ingredients is enough to make a compelling argument in favor of the probability Sarpa and Istr are indeed potent, effective anti-aging products:

• Palmarosa - "turkish geranium", fungicide and bactericide restores balance and allows skin cells to rejuvenate 
• Sandalwood - soothing, anti-inflammatory and healing properties for dry, sensitive skin 
• Ravensara - "tree with healing leaves"; considered to be a magical plant by the Malagasy; restores balance, calms and invigorates; also thought to have anti-viral properties 
• Clove - purifying, large-spectrum anti-bacterial, antiseptic, anti-infectious, anti-fungal, invigorating and healing 
• Black Pepper - stimulates circulatory system and muscle tone 
• Coriander - invigorating aphrodisiac soothes stressed skin (no wonder I'm attracted to these products so much)
• Nutmeg - powerful tonic that restarts cellular vitality

SARPA retails for $225 a 1-ounce jar, ISTR retails for $195 a 1-ounce jar.  FOUND skincare is available at Aedes (love that store), Zuneta (for our UK friends) and online directly from FOUND. I cannot wait for 9 p.m. to roll around so I can cleanse my face and experience Sarpa and Istr again tonight ... heavy sigh!

And the tale is as fantastical as the skincare itself ...


Gather close and be transported to something quite outside the ordinary, something fabulously luxurious, something wonderfully deep from the world, something FOUND. A Franco-British brand inspired on La Réunion island, FOUND has global roots. Through FOUND one has begun a journey which will take you across the world. From Brittany to Switzerland, Spain, America, Antarctica, the hot-bed oceans beneath the Californian desert, submarine geysers to the fruitful Pacific Ocean –from the Earth’s crust, to living cells - bacterias and yeast, snake and oyster; a temple in Malaysia, rice fields in South East Asia, to the mountain peaks of Peru. FOUND treatments are empowered with amazing active ingredients from the sea, bacteria, rare trace elements, powerful peptides, vitamins and other precious ingredients that will prevent and repair the lines of time. FOUND uses unique high-tech ingredients with proven track records to smooth face wrinkles for both women and men.

Through curiosity, a passion and taste for adventure to preserve youth and soften the harshness of passing time, Eric Cosson, self-confessed science addict and creator of FOUND, mixed his desire to create and set off on a global mission to source the most potent, active natural ingredients, which would lead to an anti-aging collection of treatment for men and women of every skin type. Each ingredient that has been sourced has been carefully brought back to his laboratory in Normandy for research, testing and formulation. In FOUND, Eric Cosson has accomplished his goal: a state-of-the-art skincare concept that can make a serious difference in the way your skin looks today and tomorrow.


And so his products launched, in 2007 ...


Sarpa Wrinkle Reducing Serum - 1 oz jar $225
What does SARPA mean? SARPA comes from a magical language: Sanskrit. It means, “snake”. Venom-therapy with a special snake venom, peptides and Hyaluronic Acid. (With laboratory-tested ingredients). SARPA serum is a beneficial potion formulated with a peptide that imitates the venom of the Viper of the Temple of the Azure Cloud or Tropidolaemus wagleri. Eric Cosson was inspired by the origin of the word “venom” which was in fact the magic potion dedicated to Venus, the Goddess of beauty and love. A semantic origin that inspired FOUND to develop a beneficial, wrinkle-killing venom.This formulation was made possible after years of research by a Swiss biotechnological laboratory working with snakes to develop products initially engineered for cardiac surgery.

SARPA’s look: SARPA is a non-greasy emulsion serum. SARPA is viscous like all venoms, due to the high concentration of active ingredients and Sodium Hyaluronate, that has the power to form a moisture retaining film.

How does the serum work? SARPA serum is a treatment that has a high concentration of active matter (47%). Enriched with powerful peptides and Hyaluronic Acid, it moisturizes, smoothes and relaxes the skin due to Hyasol-BT®, Argireline®, Leuphasyl® and Syn®-Ake (a wrinkle reducing ingredient with a synthetic tripeptide that imitates the venom of the Temple Viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri). Matrixyl™ and Matrixyl™ 3000 help add density deep in the epidermis.


Istr Global Anti-Aging Cream - 1 oz jar $195
How does the cream work? Very enriched with active matter (33.45%) that actively combats aging, restructures, nourishes, firms, moisturizes and smoothes, ISTR cream is suitable for all skin types.

It has an effective triple complex that combines:
• An enzyme extract of oyster, living seawater, bacterial extracts from underwater environments, rare trace elements that are grafted on yeasts and encapsulated vitamins.
• A novel, ultra-high performing combination of peptides (Matrixyl™, Matrixyl™ 3000, Argireline® and Dermaxyl™) that deeply activates skin regeneration.
• Finally, a combination of rutin, an extract from the Peruvian green bean and two matrikines, which repair the extra-cellular matrix and significantly inhibit elastin-destroying enzymes. It stimulates collagen production, protects elastin, nourishes the skin, adds density, and rewards with a radiant complexion.

Unlike most products on the market that contain only a minute percentage of active ingredients that are diluted with weaker ingredients, loaded with mineral oil, petrochemical derivatives of all kinds and camouflaged with silicone, FOUND surpasses current brands by adopting standards for quality, reliability and creativity. FOUND treatments: • are not tested on animals • contain true powerful active ingredients for a true formula • use percentages of active ingredients that have been documented in scientific and clinical research proving their activity and effectiveness. • combines the best, most valuable active ingredients to develop the most precious and creative formulae. FOUND guarantees that its products are not ionized. Some brands use gamma rays as an effective way to sterilize their treatments. It is an effective procedure... but unbalances the formula, causing molecules to mutate and making the formula unstable.

REVIEW: Oh, FOUND, how do I love thee ... let me count the ways. These products are quite simply divinely inspired blended with the right science to create a luxurious, effective duo of competent, worthwhile, power-packed skincare. I've been using the serum and the anti-aging cream for a couple of weeks now and my lines are less visible for sure. The biggest impact, though, has been the texture of my skin. It is definitely firmer, more elasticity, has a denser feel to it. Using the products feels like your receiving a high-end spa treatment. The Sarpa serum is a light pinkish gel-cream. The serum blends easily creating an instant firmer feel to facial skin. The Istr cream is a light cream color with an almost custard-like texture. It's a dense cream, which delivers a powerful punch. Skin is instantly radiant, nourished and more youthful in appearance. Both products render a spa-like fragrance, almost a spicey-marine scent created by its all natural ingredients sourced from living sea waters. The packaging is lovely with its white frosted glass jars, little spatula for application to keep the product untarnished, and sleek carboard boxing. These products deserve that kind of attention to detail and Eric Cosson certainly doesn't fail to deliver. He's given his skincare line the kind of thought, passion and individual dedication we all want to know is behind a skincare we entrust our faces to. FOUND is truly a mixture of art and science, and it doesn't come cheaply. However, those who invest in this skincare will have the results they seek, and a little product goes a long way. This is skincare you must experience to understand and appreciate - just like fine art.

For more information, visit Eric Cosson's wonderfully creative FOUND website, or to purchase, visit FOUND or Aedes de Venustas.