What: A skin calming gel and replenishing facial oil.
For: Skin that is breaking out and/or generally awful.
Review: I don’t usually review more than one product at once, but this little duo is what saves my skin when it has the nasty combination of both breaking out and feeling dry and undernourished. This usually happens when I’m burning the candle at both ends, and the endless cycle of Christmas parties and end of year festivities has certainly had an impact on my skin.
I use the gel & oil both in the morning and at night. The gel is deliciously soothing and calming, cool to touch and sinks into skin instantly. As it is antibacterial it works on clearing up blemishes and preventing new ones, but doesn’t leave skin feeling cracked and dry like many blemish creams can. I then apply the oil over the gel and it is lovely and hydrating: when I wake up in the morning my skin always looks much more refreshed and glowing, and plumps up fine lines. It works really nicely under makeup too - just leave about 15 minutes for it to absorb fully before applying any foundation.
Clean creds: All ingredients used in Dr Alkaitis products are edible & 100% organic. That’s right, this stuff is so clean it’s literally good enough to eat!
Verdict: My skin saviours that I have on hand when the silly season gets a bit too silly. They’ve reached ‘can’t live without them’ status.
*These products were sent to me as PR samples.
What: A hydrating, replenishing, nourishing serum to use once a day under moisturiser.
For: Dry, damaged skin, or skin that generally needs to perk up.
Review: A sample sachet of Franc Essential serum arrived in my letterbox when my skin was supremely dehydrated, breaking out from late nights and stress, and generally looking pretty awful. I was skeptical when I read of the serum’s promise to “bring new life to skin”, because I thought anything that would take care of the dullness and dryness would be too rich for my acne prone skin. But Franc proved me wrong. From the moment I applied it, my skin felt so nourished and and instantly got the ‘glow’ back - and it looked great under makeup. It has a gorgeous sandalwood scent that I found really comforting, especially for cold winter nights, but I think it would also be great to apply to hot sun-exposed skin at the end of a day at the beach. I used a few drops every morning and night for about 2 weeks (a little goes a long way), and the serum took care of the dryness and generally awfulness of my skin, and to my surprise sped up the healing of my spots and no new ones appeared while I was testing it. I was very upset when my little packet of Franc ran out because it was just such a lovely all round serum! Maybe I’ll name my first born after him…
Clean creds: Made from premium natural ingredients, 100% free of sulphate, artificial fragrances and colours, parabens, mineral oils and petrochemicals, thickeners, fillers, foaming or bulking agents and animal derivatives.
Verdict: At $72 (AUD) it’s not cheap, but I think the 50ml bottle would last for ages. I highly recommend the serum - beautiful smelling, hard working, and delivers on its promises!
Buy from here.
What: Darphin Organic Chamomile Aromatic Care for sensitive skin
For: All skin types, but it works very well on my wintery dry skin that has been breaking out recently.
How: Five ‘dabs’ applied at night. I find this is more than enough to hydrate skin, and generally don’t use any moisturiser on top of the serum.
Result: Skin feels hydrated, nourished & glowy, and hasn’t caused any break outs (in fact, seems to speed healing of blemishes).
The Verdict: 9.5/10 (half a point taken off for the price [$98 for 15ml]- otherwise this is pretty much perfect!)
