Hello lovelies!
I’ve been waiting a long time to post about this, and while I will be making a video about it very soon, that will be more of an overview of my entire skincare routine. So, I’ll take this opportunity to be especially rambly and detailed! Lucky you!
So first of all, let me tell you about my skin. If you watch my videos, which I’m assuming most of you do, you’ll know that my skin is incredibly acne-prone and sensitive. So many skincare and makeup products have broken me out or irritated my skin in one way or another. In terms of oiliness, my skin is combination-oily, but tends to get really flaky dry patches during the winter. In the summer, I’m a sweater, so I’m usually quite shiny... and blackheads are always a gross issue.
So back in February, I decided that I needed a new skincare regimen. My Clean and Clear Continuous Control Acne Wash had done its job, but was starting to really dry out my skin and irritate it. So, I popped into a Kiehl’s boutique and asked them for help!
I came out of there with two new products: their Foaming Non-Detergent Washable Cleanser for combination or oily skin type, and their Blemish Control Daily Skin Clearing Cream Treatment.
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| For 250 ml, this cost roughly $30 CDN |
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| This cost around $35 CDN, but a little goes a long way! |
So the cleanser is a liquid consistency, reminiscent of hand soap. I squeeze a dime-sized amount onto my Shiseido face brush and scrub gently for at least a minute. It foams up a little bit, but the amount of lather isn’t really something that makes or breaks a product for me- it often has little to do with how effective it actually is!
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| The consistency of the cleanser |
So 4 months later, I’m happy to report that my skin has ceased in its flaky ways, and is doing pretty well. A few other factors have caused breakouts, as is often the case with acne-prone and sensitive skin, such as changes in the weather/humidity, stress (final university semester = loads of it!), hormones, the wrong foundation, etc.
Small sidebar… One thing to mention is that this cleanser does contain parabens, specifically methylparaben and ethylparaben. Parabens seem to be the hot topic lately, so I thought I'd cover it a bit for those of you who are interested. There’s tons of research and information out there about parabens, so if you need to brush up on your chemistry, the information is readily available online. I’ll just say that parabens are very far down on the list of ingredients for this cleanser. It’s on my skin for about 60 seconds, then rinsed off, so, in my totally non-expert opinion, if I’m going to be using something with parabens in it, it makes sense to me that a cleanser is probably one of the best options, rather than a moisturizer that is sitting on my skin all day. Again, totally a non-expert, but I’m basing this off of quite a bit of Googling. And I think I'm a darn good Googler...
…Which brings me to the other product I bought, the spot treatment/skin healer. While I really do like this, it’s more of an all-over treatment rather than a spot treatment. It only has 1.5% salicylic acid. To be honest, it doesn’t have enough power to take down the kind of zits I get (painful, cystic acne. Yuck.), so I use it nightly on my t-zone, which is my most acne-prone area. For spots, I swear by Murad’s spot treatment, which uses sulfur and salicylic acid as its main active ingredients.
The thing that I really like about Kiehl’s blemish control product is that it does actually help to heal the skin, as advertised. Previous treatments I’ve tried have made my skin feel very tight, and did nothing to heal the broken skin around the pimples. I find this product to be soothing, mild, and effective. Win!
So for my first foray into Kiehl’s skincare, I think I did pretty well! Two products that work for me, and don’t break me out. What are the odds?! Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket or something...
xox Chloe
