The Skincare Brand That Kourt And Sarah USE AND LOVE

Skincare: we all use it (or should!). But with so many brands saturating the marketplace, how do you know what works and what doesn’t? You ask me, that’s how! Everyone else does …

As a beauty blogger, writer, and editor for almost two decades, my skin has sampled its fair share of products (last count was somewhere around 2,000. OK, obviously I haven’t kept count, but it’s a lot … like A LOT). A few weeks ago I wrote about the best skincare secrets Kourt and I have picked up through the years, and a lot of you asked about the products we use and love. So today, I’m delving into some of those products with a look at Jan Marini Skin Research.

Founded in 1994, Jan Marini Skin Research is an innovative skincare brand providing products and technologies that deliver proven, measurable results. Our mutual facialist, Sharlena Hassani, introduced me and Kourt to the line a few months back and since then, I have turned so many of my friends onto these incredibly effective products.

So, what do Kourt and I actually use? Here’s the list:

Kourt washes her face in the morning with the Jan Marini Gentle Cleanser to prep the skin for all of the delicious serums and creams to come. Post-wash, I immediately apply Jan Marini’s C-ESTA Face Serum, a vitamin C-packed serum that helps lighten discoloration and brighten the overall complexion. Most vitamin C products make me break out—this one does not. Praise be.

Next, we both use Jan Marini’s Regeneration Booster—a light, serum-like product that delivers growth factors, peptides, and antioxidants into the skin. It’s like a magic potion that produces instant hydrating results; my face drinks this stuff up! When I’m feeling especially dry—or post-facial or micro blading—I also add in the Jan Marini Hyla3D Face Serum, an exceptionally light hyaluronic acid that hydrates without the heaviness. I also love to use this HA serum around my eyes and lips, which reminds me: I need to tell Kourt to add this into her daily routine. She’s also a big fan of serums as eye creams.

For our A.M. routines, we both finish off with an SPF. I adore the Marini Physical Protectant, a tinted SPF 45 that contains zinc, green tea, and coenzyme Q10. This stuff leaves my face with a hint of color, like a tinted moisturizer—very subtle. Because of the zinc, my acne-prone skin tolerates it incredibly well.

For our nighttime routines, Kourt and I both start by washing away the day with Jan Marini’s Bioglycolic Face Cleanser, a gentle glycolic acid-based cleanser that lightly exfoliates and cleans out our pores. We massage onto dry skin and leave on for three to five minutes. It’s like a nightly mini mask that removes dirt and grime while also prepping our skin for the products to come. This is one of my favorite cleansers; ever since starting it, I’ve noticed amazing changes in the milia on my forehead. We both follow up the wash with another layer of the Regeneration Booster, the ultimate hydrating serum that helps to improve the appearance of overall skin texture and fine lines. Obsessed with this product!

At night, we both alternate between the Jan Marini Bioclear Face Cream and the Marini Luminate Face Lotion. Bioclear is a glycolic, salicylic, and azelaic acid cream that helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines, redness, scarring, and large pores while also improving overall skin texture. The cream is a bit thick so we use it sparingly, but I’ve got to say it is both active and incredibly soothing, so my skin literally glows afterwards. The Marini Luminate Face Lotion is a lighter lotion that seriously tackles the appearance of discoloration, with a patented combination of advanced turmeric extract, alpha arbutin, hexylresorcinol, concentrated licorice root extract, all-trans-retinol, green tea extract, and bisabolol. IMO, this face lotion is one of the holy grail products in the range; it helps with my melasma and skin discoloration without the use of hydroquinone, and tackles fine lines and wrinkles thanks to the added benefits of retinol.

On nights that we use the Bioclear Face Cream, I apply Jan Marini Age Intervention Duality over it, and Kourt uses the Jan Marini Benzoyl Peroxide 5% … both of these products help keep acne at bay. I love Age Intervention Duality because it mixes retinol with the benzoyl peroxide, so it also aids in light exfoliation, skin texture, and aging. I actually credit this product with helping calm my forehead milia and overall breakouts. Before using Jan Marini products, the only active ingredient I incorporated into my routine was retinol—but it wasn’t enough to temper my acne. This combination definitely delivers.

We both complete our P.M. routines with Jan Marini’s Age Intervention Peptide Extreme, a finishing lotion that contains five anti-aging peptides, coenzyme Q10, and green and red tea extracts to hydrate and soothe our skin while we sleep. It’s lightweight, helps with anti-aging, delivers healthy-for-you ingredients into the skin, and doesn’t cause breakouts.

For home treatment, I use Jan Marini’s Clean Zyme Face Cleanser, an enzyme wash that gently exfoliates, and the Skin Zyme Face Mask, a papaya enzyme exfoliating mask that helps with my acne and skin texture. This duo does wonders for overall skin health and appearance and is my weekly maintenance for clear and healthy skin.

I can honestly say that Jan Marini’s products have changed my skin—and it’s not just me noticing it. My mom recently came to visit and said my skin looked, and I quote, “less bumpy and less discolored than I’ve seen it in a long time. Probably since you were a teenager.” I mean, coming from my mom … high praise, indeed.