This is a product review of Forest Essentials’ Kumkumadi night cream.
I have been using this product for the past 40 days + and honestly, when you use multiple products, the effect of standalone products (especially moisturisers) is not always evident. Therefore, I tried this cream several times by itself.
Each morning after using ONLY this cream the night before, my skin was softer, smoother and the size of the pores was slightly smaller. Also, it looked a bit brighter – not so bright that I could capture the difference.
Kumkumadi oil
For those of you unfamiliar with Kumkumadi oil, then its based on an Ayurvedic recipe, that is extremely hard to make. When I mean hard, think 48 underlying ingredients, three phases and made over several days, if not weeks.
It is no surprise that Kama Ayurveda sells a 12ml bottles for US$ 70 (or US$ 5.83/ml). This is a comparison to other face oils and the Kumkumadi face oil, which is at the top-end of Sephora USA’s face oils.
What does it do?
The actual composition of a Kumkumadi oil that you buy is unique and specific to the manufacturer. However, common ingredients include: saffron, sandalwood, licorice, lotus and turmeric. (Most of these are skin lighteners). Therefore it is no surprise that Kumkumadi is a brightening and lightening oil, that is suitable for most skin types, except acne prone. My experience of using Kumkumadi oil has been that it has brightened my skin and left it more hydrated. My blog below also has a review of the Kumkumadi beauty fluid.
I am a fan of Kumkumadi oil and the question is, would I buy Forest Essentials version?
Would I buy this product again?
Every time I have been to a Forest Essential shop, none of the salesperson’s have rushed to sell me this product. And I now know why.
This is the colour of the product:
If you are thinking what is up with the violent shade of pink? Is this a solidified lacto-calamine lotion? Well, you are not wrong.
The colour is not the only problem – its also the smell.
It is the most heavily fragranced cream (bar FE’s Soundarya cream) that I have used. I assume its fragranced to cover the smell of the Kumkumadi oil (which does stink), but the resulting cream smells disgusting. Sorry. It just reminds me of a cheap and tacky smell and a dated smell. I can imagine my grandmother used something like this in the 1950s, when there were 3 options (including VICCO turmeric Ayurvedic cream) available.
Emulsion stability
Also, from my skincare formulation studies, I can tell you that the product has very small droplets of oil on its surface – they should not be there. These droplets indicate the emulsion is unstable.
Emulsion instability is a really big deal because it shows that the product is defectively manufactured, which may reduce the intended efficacy of ingredients and preservative system.
Would I buy this product again?
This is a cheapish product. It cost INR 2,225 and if I add shipping costs etc, this easily sets me back about US$ 35 – US$ 40, which is a reasonable price to pay for a face cream.
However, for me the alternative is Kama Ayurveda’s Kumkumadi face oil, that I would hands-down buy any day of the week over this product.
Also, with my acquired knowledge of emulsion stability, I simply wouldn’t buy this product again.
Available for sale at Forest Essentials online or at their stores.