Vintner's Daughter Signature Set

 A few years ago I had the honour of being the first beauty blogger in the UK to interview April Gargiulo, the founder of plant-based skincare brand, Vinter's Daughter. We had a lovely chat over the phone, me in rainy London, her in sun-drenched southern California where her family own a vineyard. Feeling frustrated with a lack of clean, natural luxury skincare brands that actually made a difference to her skin, and being inspired by the restorative powers of the grapes around her, April set out to make her own line. With twenty-two active botanical ingredients, Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical Serum was born. It is truly game-changing, it's pricey but makes such a difference to the tone and texture of the skin.Since that post I've had several emails from readers asking me if I've tried the later addition to the Vinter's Daughter family, the Active Treatment Essence, and which of the two products I recommend. I had assumed the essence was another type of face oil, so, I was delighted when Vintner's Daughter asked if I'd like to try their Signature Set, and I could become better acquainted with the essence. The set is the two products combined in a pretty gift box, along with a very handy booklet describing in detail what all the ingredients are and their benefits. The Active Treatment Essence is a mist spray, this goes on first and you're supposed to gently press the essence in, and then wait a minute before applying the serum. This combination locks in the hydrating powers of the essence, and increases the restorative powers of the serum.I've loved using both together as my nighttime routine, the mist is so refreshing, and the serum smells heavenly and feels so nourishing, I love having it back in my life. So, I guess you could just buy one product if the signature set (around £385) is too much. I would definitely say the serum is more rich and comforting, but I know a lot of people are in to the light feeling of face mists. They both have active, natural ingredients to restore and hydrate the skin, they just work slightly differently - the essence is for illumination and renewing, the serum is for strengthening the skin from within. Using both together gives you an additional dose of the vitamins, acids and plant stem cells each product has, and you feel great knowing you're using two totally toxin-free products working in harmony together.The Vintner's Daughter Signature Set is one of the best presents you could give a luxury skincare fan for Christmas, it provides months of skin changing treatment to look younger and fresher, with genuinely renewed and softened skin. The Active Botanical Serum is £185 from Liberty, Cult Beauty and Net a Porter, the Active Treatment Essence is £210. The Signature Set is available at Space NK. Vintner's Daughter kindly gifted me this set to review.