My skin is something I've always struggled with. As soon as I hit puberty, my face broke out with horrible, painful, cystic acne and at the age of 31, I'm still dealing with it (although thankfully not as frequently). I've taken prescriptions, smothered all kinds of creams on my face, scrubbed, spot-treated, masked, and picked at my face. I have combination skin that tends to get really oily in the T-zone (forehead, nose, and chin), and in recent years have gotten blackheads on my nose that could probably be mistaken for freckles.
I recently got a Clarisonic Mia 2 for washing my face after years of hearing friends rave about it. I tweeted about it and my zit-tastic face, and Skin Authority offered to let me try some of their products. Skin Authority is sold in top spas around the world, and also on their website. I rattled off the problems with my skin, and ended up with a set of products to try: Exfoliating Cleanser, Acne & Oil Control, and Calming Mask.
- Exfoliating Cleanser: I've been using this with my Clarisonic and it feels fantastic. With anything “exfoliating,” I worry about it being too harsh and leaving my skin red with irritation, but this doesn't do that at all. Plus, it leaves my skin feeling squeaky-clean without feeling dry.
- Acne & Oil Control: I'm not sure what I would compare this to – perhaps a toner? It's a liquid that you can apply with your fingertips or with a cotton ball after using the cleanser. I expected it to be like many acne products where it would sting the heck out of my skin and then leave it too dry. Not the case at all. It's quite refreshing!
Calming Mask: This is a once-per-week mask that you wear for 10 minutes. It's become my new Saturday night ritual. I love how it feels like it's tightening my skin when I wear it. The only negative I have about this product is that the smell is a little sulfur-ish. It's not awful, but it kind of stays with you after you wash it off. I like the feeling and effect it's had on my skin though, so the smell doesn't bother me.
I've used all 3 products the past 30 days or so, and after being a skeptic, am a believer. The first 2 weeks I did have a bit of “purging” of the skin where I was broken out, but not more than normal (just in different places, if that makes any sense?). One of the coolest things with Skin Authority is that I had a licensed esthetician that corresponded with me via email to check in on how my skin was reacting and to ask questions. I asked about the purging and she assured me it was normal, so I continued using the products. She advised me to use the Acne & Oil Control twice per day versus the once I had been doing, and that helped as well. I like having her available to ask questions to – otherwise I'd just be winging it and hoping I'm doing it right.
After the initial purging, I've had a couple of zits, but amazingly enough, they were whiteheads instead of my usual cysts and were gone within a day. Yesterday I noticed also how much tighter my skin felt, especially on my forehead – the blackheads and large pores that were there are gone. Even the crazy amount of blackheads that were on my nose have greatly been reduced – I've got about 1/3 than I used to, and they're much smaller than before.
The negatives? The smell of the calming mask which I referred to earlier (although it won't stop me from using it), and also the price. It's a premium line of skin care, and is priced much higher than what I would normally look at, even at Sephora. That being said, I have a basket full of skincare items from various companies that are wasting away because they didn't work for me. If this trio continues to work as it has and these are the products that make up my skincare regimen, I can stop buying and trying all these other things that don't work. Also, it all seems like it will last a long time. I'm going through the exfoliating cleanser faster than anything else, but even that will probably last me 2 months. The Acne & Oil Control and Calming Mask seem like I've barely touched them after 30 days, so I know I won't have to re-order those very frequently.
Overall verdict? These are keepers for sure.
Skin Authority is letting me give away the acne-fighting trio that I've used the past 30 days or so (a $146.50 package!)
- Skin Authority Exfoliating Cleanser (Retail: $42)
- Skin Authority Acne & Oil Control (Retail: $52.50)
- Skin Authority Calming Mask (Retail: $52)
Disclosure: Skin Authority provided me these skincare products for review. The honest opinions of it's effects on my troubled skin are all mine. I Blog with Integrity.
