Written by Nina Munk | Published on August 5, 2024
Summer is in full swing and naturally, I've got glowing, beach-ready skin on my mind. For my face, I’m willing to do just about anything to achieve dewy, youthful-looking skin, but for my body, honestly, I sometimes can’t be bothered. I tend to rush through my body care routine or downright neglect it. It feels like I have literal tons of OSEA products for my face—cleansers, toner, exfoliators, moisturizers, face oils, plus three more steps—yet when it comes to my body, I tend to take more of a one-and-done approach (hello, Undaria Algae™ Body Oil!). So when I was told I would be writing a story about layering three (!) body moisturizers for a week, I had to wonder: is more really more? And would layering my body care make a noticeable difference? Would it be greasy, would it pill, and would the products actually work well together? Finally—and perhaps the question you’ve all been waiting for—would I have time, as a single mom, to do a two-or-three-step body care routine every single day for a week?! Read on to see how things went.
Step 1: Hyaluronic Body Serum
As all the skincare pros will tell you, layering your body care products helps you get the full benefits of the active ingredients. The trick is to layer the product with the least amount of oil first (Hyaluronic Body Serum) and work your way up to the one with the most (body oil). I love baths, but since my daughter was born, I rarely have time for a leisurely, luxurious soak. These days, my ultimate indulgence is showering at night, after my tiny human boss goes to sleep, and doing my skincare. So this also seemed to be the perfect time to do my body care layering experiment, starting with Hyaluronic Body Serum. I have to be honest. I love face serum (and obsessively apply Hyaluronic Sea Serum morning and night—thank goodness for my employee product credit), but the idea of a body serum seemed at first, well, a little excessive. Boy, was I ever wrong. I’m addicted to this oil-free product. It’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever used. I applied it from the neck down to towel-dried, slightly damp skin for maximum absorption. The entire application process took about two breezy minutes. The texture is gel-like, mildly cooling (courtesy of the aloe), feels lightweight and absorbs almost instantly. But then it HYDRATES. Like really hydrates. It’s made with a lot of ingredients that you might already use on your face like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, seaweed, and vegan peptides, and is clinically shown to provide 24 hours of non-stop hydration.* So satisfying, I could have stopped there, and enjoyed my healthy-looking, dolphin-smooth skin.
Step 2: Undaria Algae™ Body Lotion
Up next: our ultra-lightweight Undaria Algae™ Body Lotion. This is my new dreamy, now-permanent part of my summer body care routine. Full-body application took exactly one minute. The unique texture is what you’d get if a milky facial essence and a body lotion had a baby. It features a nourishing blend of jojoba, avocado, and shea butter, but soaks in right away—NO greasy feeling, not even a little bit—while instantly increasing hydration levels* and visibly firming skin in just four hours.* I was impressed with how it moisturized my skin without feeling sticky. The hyaluronic acid seemed to immediately plump and soften my skin and my dull, forgot-to-apply sunscreen décolleté appeared revived and rehydrated (thanks to the Undaria seaweed, which replenishes the skin’s moisture barrier). I am partial to anything with firming peptides in it, and yes, at the end of the day, my thighs and belly did look and feel more firm. With the same lighter-than-light intoxicating citrusy scent as my tried-and-true Undaria Algae™ Body Oil, the body lotion left my arms and legs feeling silky-soft with the prettiest sheen. (For my fragrance-free girlies, Undaria Algae™ Body Lotion is available in a fragrance-free version). Two layers deep into my routine, I definitely could have put on jeans right away, crawled into my silky bamboo sheets, or sat on vinyl seating in my high-rise vintage denim shorts at my favorite dive bar without leaving a mark.
Step 3: Undaria Algae™ Body Oil
This is the one. I don’t know what else to tell you! When our founder, Jenefer, formulated this body oil in 2010, she stumbled into sheer brilliance. It’s the gold standard of body oils and has been a staple on my top shelf since I discovered it in 2016. Undaria Algae™ Body Oil is made by soaking pure, potent Undaria seaweed in barrels of botanical oils, including passion fruit, acai, babassu, and rice bran oils to provide deep moisture and replenish dry skin. Then there’s the white lupin flower, which visibly contours, firms and improves skin elasticity. In fact, this body oil works so well, it’s clinically shown to improve skin elasticity & moisture in just 10 minutes.* I massaged two to three pumps of the oil over my entire body, and took a little more time with this step (about three minutes), touching my limbs lovingly, devoting these last brief moments of the warm, balmy summer night completely and entirely to myself. I love to breathe in the oil’s incredibly fresh all-natural Undaria citrusy scent and let it take the edge off the day. The top notes are grapefruit, lime, and cypress, but I get swept away on the sweet mango mandarin ones. Once I was gleaming with oil from the neck down, my skin felt softer than flower petals, sculpted, firmed, and deeply moisturized. Get the jumbo size. Believe me, you’ll use it (and save some money while you’re at it).
By some strange magic, these three products do exactly what they claim to do and layer incredibly well together, a testament to Jenefer’s genius and our thoughtful product development team. What I can’t get over is how bouncy, glowing, and hydrated my skin looked and felt a full day later. And at the end of the week, I can confidently say that I’m ready to start treating the skin on my body as well as I treat my face. Will I do three steps every night (or even two)? Maybe. But at least a few times a week, I'll definitely be using Hyaluronic Body Serum and one of our body moisturizers for dewy, glowy, healthy results that I can feel, because I deserve it!
*Based on a third-party clinical study
