March 11, 2008

Kiehl’s Skincare Review

Skincare

I’m very, very wary of trying new skincare items. I’m sort of stuck in my normal routine rut and since it works so well for me it’s very rare I try anything else on my face. I’m a Lushie for life as you probably already know from reading my blog. If you’re not familiar with my daily skincare routine click over here for the details.

I’ve been happily testing out two of Kiehl’s skincare products last week which were the Ultra Facial Cleaner and the Ultra Facial Toner.

The first thing that shocked me about Kiehl’s was that it’s affordable skincare. Seriously how often can you find affordable skincare that works? Tis a rare occurrence for me!

I normally take my makeup off with one of three products that I use. Lush Ultra Bland for hardcore makeup that’s tough to get off (liquid eyeliner, heavy eyemakeup etc…), Kose Airy Whip (for lighter makeup removal! This is sadly not available in the US.), and Philosophy Purity (I use this daily for all types of makeup).

All of the above products work fantastic for me so there isn’t any reason for me to change however I’m vaguely surprised, with being so picky the way I am, that I really enjoyed using Kiehl’s Facial Cleaner for the past week. I’ve been using this from Monday until Sunday evening and I must say it works a treat and I’m considering adding it to my current skincare routine!

For some reason I get a weird feeling of “you missed a spot” when using Philosophy Purity. I normally use this daily, more so then my other cleansers and it always leaves me feeling like maybe I didn’t get off everything that was on my face. However, I felt truly, deeply cleansed with Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser. Even looking in the mirror after cleansing, my face looked really refreshed!

A little of this goes a long way as it’s a thick gel that foams up for a good deep clean. The cleanser is good for all skin types. At the moment my skin chooses to be dry because of the cold winter weather. It’s quite a gentle wash that is not drying to my skin! Believe me I’m already dry enough if I used anything that was drying I’d definately know!

I ended up wandering over to Kiehl’s website as using the cleanser had made me curious about the rest of the line and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the cleanser is $17.50USD for 5oz! I thought for sure something that worked this good would be $30-$40!

All in all I was very pleased with the Ultra Facial Cleanser! Well done Kiehl’s it’s on the Muse’s list for repurchase as soon as I get through the sample!

I also got my hands on the Ultra Facial Toner but this sadly wasn’t as wonderful as the cleanser. This is a very thick toner in comparison to my normal toner. I normally use Lush’s Tea Tree Oil (for oily days) or Breath of Fresh Air (for dryer days). My toner choices are very light and are spray on where as the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Toner is a thicker formula that’s meant to be swiped on with a cotton ball! The formula is comparable to Guerlain’s Issima Success Model Smoothing Toner, the texture for me is spot on the same as the Guerlain but the Kiehl’s has a nice price tag! Happy Days! I really liked the consistency of this toner and it felt wonderfully cool and moisturizing when I swiped it on. Sadly, it dried me out a bit. This is for all skin types but for me it was a bit drying. I felt like my skin was very tight minutes after applying it. I used it for seven days straight just to see if I’d see an improvement but sadly nothing changed. I’d highly recommend this if you’re oily because it may very well dry your skin up a bit. My Asian readers that suffer from oily skin and humid weather (my lovely Singaporean readers) may find this an excellent toner for your skin! I think I’ll try this again in the Summer when my forehead decides to become a mirror!

Again, the price is very nice on this! $15USD gets you 8.4oz! That’s a great price and a great size! Total props for an interesting formula and texture but I can’t recommend this for people with dry skin! You might want to avoid it as I experienced further drying when using it.

Overall, the new lineup in the skincare collection is most definately interesting! For further information about the new additions to Kiehl’s Skincare click here!