Somme Institute Mobile Travel Kit

I bought this kit to give their regimen a try. I absolutely love it ! Some products last longer then others. This is my new skincare. I can't wait to try their mask and eye cream too (those products are not included in the travel kit.)

I use the Somme Institute 5-Step Regimen and own their entire product line of full-size products. I travel a lot and this mobile kit is perfect -- I don't have to think about what to pack, how much room I need, or stress about anything. All the thinking is done for me. I even bring it to the gym with me sometimes. It's perfect, light and convenient.

Lately I've been using Somme Institue's 5 step regimen. Somme Institue has engineered a unique patent-pending formulation called MDT5. What is MDT5? It stands for MOLECULAR DISPERTION TECHNOLOGY... (try sayin that 5x fast) Its a formulation of Vitamin A, B3 & B5, C, D and E which are bound by protins. Each vitamin targets specific skin issues.

I've been lucky enough to get sent the entire 5 step kit to review... As always, I just want to indicate that although the product were sent to me FREE of Chrage, My review holds no bias. I am not being paid to provide this review... I've been using the line for the past 2 months now. The first time I used everything I immediately felt a change in the way my skin felt. It my face was soft and felt as if i had gone to get a facial done by a professional. I was impressed. but not completely sold... Continued using it and within days my husband was commenting on how "different" I looked. He couldnt pin point the change but said I just looked "healthier". By about the 3rd or 4th day I began breaking out. Yes, my skin was still super soft and felt as if it had gained elasticity But I was breaking out... Do i panic? No.. I've used enough product in my day to know that the skin goes through what i consider a "normalization" process. Excess production of Sebum, oily skin, development of blemishes, strong growth of acne bacteria, inflammation of the Sebaceous Glands... Thats my bodys way of telling me its trying to adapt and adjust to changes... All these symptoms will be reduced and normalized by way of regular treatment. By beginning of week 2 my skin was better then normal.

The process:

Step one: Nourishing Cleanser (non-foaming/non-irritating)

this cleanser washed away dirt and oils without stripping my skin of moisture. In fact my skin felt more nourished after each use. Normally face cleansers make my skin tight and I'm immediatly reaching for my moisturizer. Using Somme Institue's cleanser made me feel like i could skip the moisturizer. (but of course i didnt)

The only comment i had about the cleanser was that it wasn't the best at completely removing heavy make-up. So I would suggest using a cleansing make up wipe, or using the cleanser with a soft micro-fiber facial cloth for a little help.

Step 2: TRANSPORT PADS (Gentle exfoliant) This product seems to be everyone's favortie. Its not hard to figure out why. It looks like the oxy pads i used when I was a kid. Except this was not harsh on my skin. It does what it claims, gently exfoliates.. I def. attribute that baby face feeling to this. At first I was using it 2x a day. but after the first week and a half I cut it down to just once a day. Everyone's skin is differnt, I found that this way worked best with mine. These miracle pads sloughed off dead skin and remnants of makeup as well as helped with lifting and eliminating other impurities. It also promotes cell turn-over to renew your skin keeping it feeling soft and looking radiant. I found the pads to be difficult at first because they're very thin. It took a little getting use to but i've got it down now ;D I wish there was a way to get the fluid absorbed in the pad in a bottled product.

Step 3: Serum (with Vitamin C) Vitamin C holds crutial benifits for your skin. It helps promote collogen formation while reducing the look of wrinkles. Its an antioxidant and can help reduce skin damage caused by free radicals. So why use a serum? Why not just drink lots of OJ or pop Vitamin C pills? Well taking Vitamin C orally is of little benefit for reducing wrinkles because you cannot obtain high enough concentration of vitamin C in the skin to increase collagen production. But Somme Institute has produced a product with a potent, stabillized form of Vitamin C as well as a high concentration of their MDT5 formulation to strengthen skin elasticity and smooth the appearance of fine lines. The serium itself is not like most others that I have used. Its light, very light and a little bit sticky. It smells wonderful. Almost nutty with a hint of coffee bean on the back end. It says to keep away from eye area but I ran out of my normal eye cream so I didnt want to compramise my review and get a diffent brand. So I used it under my eye and to my amazement it actually reduced the bags I had going and lightened my dark circles. Somme Institute make no claims of this. I figured that out all on my own. Love it!

Step 4: Moisturize with A-BOMB (contains Vitamin A and E) A-bomb helps by accelerating cell renewal. after taking off all dead skin cells with the transport pads you want to nourish the new skin you have and promote healty skin turnover. A-bomb does the job. It is super light weight but very emollient. A little goes a long way with this stuff. How i would apply it: with the top still on, shake it upside down, open top, with clean fingers poke into moisturizer and dot on face in a star form (forehead, cheeks, jawline and nose) then rub all over. At first I was using a little too much, and it would leave my skin almost greasy feeling. then i figured out what i was doing wrong and now it just feels wonderful.

Step 5: DOUBLE DEFENSE This lightweight, water-resistant lotion with SPF 30+ contains MDT5 and Parsol 1789 to help protect your skin from premature aging while locking in vital moisture. When I first used this I felt one full pump was too greasy feeling for me. I then tried only using half a pump and it was a little better but I still wasn't too keen to how it felt. Then I remembered reading somewhere that if you didn't like that greasy feeling most spf moisturizers give you, that you should apply it with a blending sponge. So I tried it that way and I've had no problems since. Remember when applying SPF that you must no forget to apply to your hairline, neck and chest and ears. I noticed that the spf mosturizer was kinda the tip of the iceberg when it came to how my skin felt... you could really feel the impoved elasticity and almost seemed like my skin was plumpped up. I've tried many SPF moisturizers and well, lets face it.. the main reason most women dont use spf on their face and opt for makeup products that incorperate spf in their products is because most of us can't stand how spf moisturizers feel or smell. Somme's Double Defense is super light weight and doesnt have an over powering fragrance.

I absolutly love the way the bottles are packaged. Its very clean, simple, and didnt take long for me to remember which dot came first (and incase you forget theres a chart too) I loved how the pump bottles on the face wash and the double defense locks and unlocks making it ideal for traveling with. I'm not fond of stucking my hands or fingers in pots when it comes to make-up, glosses, or lotions... I wish that the moisturizer also came in a pump. I also wish there was a way to get the liquid from the transport pads in a bottle ;D i think its a miricle worker.

Now it took me longer to do this review then I had anticipated. The reason behind that is because I wanted to be able to fully educate my readers on my experience with the products being used all together, individually, with other brand products, and how it affected my skin after I completed the trial.

Of course ideally, I would love to keep using the product all together a 5 step program. However I understand times are tough and not everyone can continue to keep purchasing everything on this list. Indiviually I would say that personally I would reccomend to atleast purchase the Transport Pads. But get everything when you can.. believe me you're face will thank you for it in the long run.

I know for sure that I will be purchasing these products. Thats the hard part about doing these reviews, I can fall in love with something but I still have to test other products so I can give everyone different options. it's been about 3 weeks now since I've stopped using Somme completely. So far my skin still feels very young, and i havent experienced my normal dryness that i get in this time of year. I have broke out a little bit because I've switched back to what i was using normally prior to Somme Institue, which is stange because it's never happened before. I think that maybe my skins way of telling me that what i was using prior was way too harsh. The reason i think this is because prior to me completinng my testing of the products I went 2 weeks without using Somme and the same thing happened. I broke out and my skin became irritated and then when I went back to using the Somme facial cleanser everything went back to normal.