Keys Soulcare is a beauty and lifestyle brand created with Alicia Keys and inspired by her own skin care journey and love of ancient beauty rituals. The brand not only offers skin care products, but also tools and accessories to truly care for the whole self — body, mind, and spirit. The skin care formulations were created with board-certified dermatologist Dr. Renée Snyder in order to provide clean, safe, and effective product offerings. In this review, we’ll discuss the brand’s skin care products, key ingredients, Keys Soulcare reviews from real customers, and more.
What Are The Best Selling Keys Soulcare Products?
Keys Soulcare offers both skin care products and skin care tools. At the time of writing this review, the collection includes six skin care products, so let’s review what these products are promised to do for your skin.
Golden Cleanser
Keys Soulcare Golden Cleanser is a delicate and soothing facial pore cleanser that is said to purify your skin by gently removing dirt, makeup and impurities with antioxidant-rich manuka honey from New Zealand, soothing turmeric, and calming chamomile. This cleanser is said to leave your skin soft and refreshed.
Be Luminous Exfoliator
Keys Soulcare Be Luminous Exfoliator is a restorative, water-activated exfoliating powder that transforms into a creamy foam with microgranules that gently exfoliate dead skin cells. The key ingredients in this exfoliator include antioxidant-rich green tea, Hojicha powder, mung beans, and oats. Lactic acid, one of the mildest and most hydrating alpha hydroxy acids, is also used in the formula to gently exfoliate for a brighter appearance. Together, these ingredients help promote a softer, smoother texture. It is recommended to use the Keys Soulcare Be Luminous Exfoliator once every couple days.
Harmony Mask
Keys Soulcare Harmony Mask is a sandalwood-scented full face rinse-off mask formulated with activated charcoal to purify and help balance the look of skin. The mask also contains Manuka honey to help draw moisture into the skin for long-lasting hydration. It is recommended to use the Harmony Mask two to three times a week.
Skin Transformation Cream
Keys Soulcare Skin Transformation Cream is a rich ceramide face cream that is said to hydrate, plump, and nourish — all while purifying and centering the spirit. A few of the key ingredients in this cream include bakuchiol, malachite, ceramides, and hyaluronic acid. It is recommended to use the Keys Soulcare Skin Transformation Cream daily with the brand’s Obsidian Facial Roller.
Comforting Balm
Keys Soulcare Comforting Balm is a lightweight, silky, vanilla-scented skin balm that is said to soothe, smooth, hydrate, and protect. The key ingredients in this balm include camellia seed oil, Rose of Jericho, avocado oil, and shea butter. All of these ingredients work together to moisturize and nourish skin while promoting a bright and glowing complexion. This balm can be used on the lips, elbows, cuticles, heels, or wherever your skin needs relief from dryness and dullness.
Reviving Aura Mist
The final product in the Keys Soulcare collection is the Reviving Aura Mist. This revitalizing rose-scented skin mist is said to hydrate, tone, and revive while opening your third eye to a clearer sense of self. The key ingredients in this mist include witch hazel and Rose of Jericho. It is recommended to use this mist after exfoliating with the Be Luminous Exfoliating Powder or cleansing with the Golden Cleanser. Or you can use the mist throughout the day and into the night, whenever you need an instant refresh.
What Are The Keys Soulcare Ingredients?
Before we talk about the key ingredients you’ll find in Keys Soulcare products, let’s talk about what you will never find in these formulations. The brand begins by excluding 1,680 substances restricted by the FDA and European Union Cosmetics Regulation Guidelines. A few examples of the ingredients that the brand excludes are parabens, phthalates, sulfates, formaldehyde, triclosan, coal tar, and hydroquinone. Now let’s take a closer look at the key ingredients in Keys Soulcare products.
One of the key ingredients in Key Soulcare products, such as the Golden Cleanser and Harmony Mask, is manuka honey. Manuka honey is produced by bees that feed on the manuka shrub of New Zealand’s remote North Island. It is raw honey that has not been processed, which means it is full of live enzymes and vitamins. Manuka honey provides anti-inflammatory effects and helps to reduce redness. It also promotes skin regeneration, repairs cellular damage, and inhibits MMP (a group of enzymes that destroy collagen).
The Key Soulcare Golden Cleanser also features the golden spice turmeric as a key ingredient. An Ayurvedic essential for over 4,000 years, turmeric is a gentle purifying and calming agent for the skin. The main bioactive component of turmeric extract is called curcumin, a bright yellow polyphenol. Curcumin has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and also has the ability to fade dark spots by inhibiting melanogenesis (the process by which melanin is produced by melanocytes).
Bakuchiol, also known as the “plant-based retinol alternative”, is the star ingredient in Key Soulcare Skin Transformation Cream. Bakuchiol is a seed extract derived from the Ayurvedic Babchi plant, which is structurally and chemically different from retinol. Retinol is another name for vitamin A, which can only be found in animal foods. So bakuchiol and retinol are quite different, but they work similarly in cosmetic applications. In fact, bakuchiol has been shown to produce many of the same effects of using retinol, including the ability to diminish the appearance of wrinkles and reduce the effects of sun damage (including uneven skin tone). One of the main benefits of bakuchiol is that it provides retinol-like effects without irritation.
For example, a 2019 study published in the British Academy of Dermatology compared bakuchiol and retinol in a head-to-head 12-week, double-blind clinical trial on human subjects. For the study, 44 participants received either a twice-daily 0.5% bakuchiol product or a once-daily 0.5% retinol product. Both groups saw improvements in hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, and redness, and there was no statistically significant difference between their results. This suggests that using bakuchiol twice a day is as effective as using retinol once a day. Another benefit is that the bakuchiol group reported less skin scaling and flaking than the retinol group.
While there are many beneficial key ingredients in the Keys Soulcare products, we have to point out that almost all of the products contain fragrance, either a fragrance blend (Fragrance “Parfum”) or fragrant essential oils. We understand that consumers typically want their products to smell pleasant. However, fragrance isn’t doing the skin any good. All fragrance ingredients (whether natural or synthetic) impart scent through a volatile reaction, and this natural reaction almost always causes a sensitizing reaction on skin. In fact, according to a 2016 publication in the scholarly journal Dermatitis, nearly 80 essential oils have caused contact allergy. Even if you don’t have a full blown reaction to the ingredient, the damage may still be occurring every day. Ultimately, this can cause mild problems for your skin in the short term and worse problems in the long term.
Where are Keys Soulcare Products Sold?
Keys Soulcare products are sold on the brand’s website and also on Ulta.com.
What is The Keys Soulcare Return Policy?
Keys Soulcare does not allow you to return products if you are dissatisfied with them. The Keys Soulcare return policy states, “We value you as a customer and your satisfaction is very important to us, please note that we will gladly replace any item that may have been damaged during shipping. We apologize, but due to the nature of our products, we are unable to offer any returns or exchanges.”
Is Keys Soulcare Cruelty Free?
Keys Soulcare is certified cruelty-free by PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies Program. They do not test on animals during product development or production—or allow any third parties to do so with their products.
References:
1. Br J Dermatol 2019 Feb;180(2):289-296.
2. de Groot AC, Schmidt E. Essential Oils, Part IV: Contact Allergy. Dermatitis. 2016;27(4):170-175. doi:10.1097/DER.0000000000000197
