Sometime early last week, I sent Jen a text about wanting to make a semi-spontaneous Kiehl's haul, but still needed a little convincing. Two hours later, I came home with all this shit. What are friends for if they can't convince you to treat yourself once in a while? Excessive, sure, but well worth it and hell, I deserve it! I say semi-spontaneous because I've been meaning to try more Kiehl's products (outside the Ultra Facial line) and have done lots and lots of research on MakeupAlley, beauty blogs, etc to see which of their specific products would work best with my skin, but I just hadn't gotten around to actually purchasing anything because of time and money.
I've been using Mario Badescu products for years, but I'm not sure my skin was ever actually any better because of them. Still dull and uneven as ever. Along with Mario Badescu's glycolic acid products and a variety of harsh drugstore ones, I was completely stripping my skin of all the good stuff and further aggravating it. Since my skin is combination (regularly moisturizing? pfft) as well as super prone to hyperpigmentation and breakouts, I'm hoping that a more gentle skincare routine will benefit me more than an overload of benzoyl peroxide and glycolic acid.
A week isn't enough time to see major improvements of any sort, but I am loving everything above (OK so the lip balm is glorified vaseline, but it smells really, really good). I am especially loving the Midnight Recovery Concentrate! From the Kiehl's website, "A replenishing elixir of pure essential oils distilled botanicals to visibly restore the appearance of skin by morning" which includes primrose and lavender oils. It leaves my skin ridiculously soft and moisturized in the morning without being an oily mess. Another customer instore bought SIX bottles right before me! Since I work such long hours, this is going to be an essential from now on in my routine. I haven't tried any products from the Rare Earth line prior to these, but I love that Amazonian Clay is a main ingredient. The cleanser provides gentle exfoliation for days I have dry patches and am in need of something stronger than the Ultra Facial cleanser. Oh and that Calendula toner has marigold flower petals in it and smells like ICED TEA! It's also alcohol free and a step above my Mario Badescu glycolic acid toner which more often than not, burned off multiple layers of my skin.
My skin is not perfect by any means and as a South East Asian woman, I suffer more from issues such as hyperpigmentation, scarring, and unevenness. It is a constant battle to find products that work well as a woman of color with problematic skin and a shame that dermatologists aren't easily accessible. I did notice that Kiehl's had a Clearly Corrective line for discoloration and received a few samples of the serum/exfoliator so I'll see where that goes.
Have you tried any Kiehl's products? What are your skincare issues as a WOC? What is your current skincare routine?
