Here's a review on Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid.
Price: Around P1,100.00+
Bought From: Free
Other Locations: Please inquire via Paula's Choice official Facebook fan page
THE VERDICT:
If I could award a skin care ingredient, it would be Salicylic Acid because it never fails to keep my skin looking amazing. I know the skin tends to get used to ingredients, but mine just yields to the power of SA. It has always been a staple in my skin care regimen, and I definitely panic if I realize that I'm running out of it!
My recent addition is Paula's Choice's Skin Perfecting BHA Liquid. I emptied my bottle just last week and I'm definitely getting one again because I've proven that it can really tame breakouts. I also love that Paula Begoun, the founder of the brand, is known for being TOO meticulous with ingredients and that says something. Read her entries at The Cosmetic Cop. (Of course outcome will still depend on your skin's reaction!)
PAULA'S CHOICE SKIN PERFECTING 2% BHA LIQUID IN DETAIL
This product contains 2% Salicylic Acid (BHA) which is a strong concentration but tolerable enough for the skin. One of my favorite cleansers contain 2% Salicylic Acid too. It claims to smooth and exfoliate the skin, prevent Blackheads, Acne breakouts, redness, wrinkles, manage Rosacea and Keratosis Pilaris (aka Chicken Skin).
Ingredients: Water, Methylpropanediol, Butylene Glycol (slip agents/penetration enhancers), Salicylic Acid (beta hydroxy acid/exfoliant), Camellia Oleifera (Green Tea) Leaf Extract (anti-irritant/antioxidant), Polysorbate-20 (solubolizing agent), Sodium Hydroxide (pH balancer), Tetrasodium EDTA (chelating agent).
It's also nice that Paula tells you exactly the purpose of each and every ingredient. It's prolly a first in the beauty industry!
More about this breakout buster after the break!
Skin Perfecting Liquid has a sheer, semi-oily texture, which I believe is meant to prevent skin from turning too dry because of the high Salicylic Acid content. I've read reviews saying that the consistency caused a few users to break out, but that's not the case for me, thankfully.
I use this product after cleansing my face thoroughly and using toner. Instructions said that it can be used twice a day, but I only use it once particularly during night time because it might be too drying for my skin. If you're planning to get this, I would advise you to use a very small amount only to cover your face. Otherwise, your skin will feel too tight.
The semi- oily texture makes my skin feel really smooth and prevents it from feeling itchy and dry, but I could feel tautness every time-it's not that irritating though, but if you want that feeling to go away completely and quickly, just slather on moisturizer right after.
Paula said that it can smooth skin overnight and she ain't kidding. Actually, it only takes an hour for me to feel that my skin is downright silky and soft. If you have oily-dry combination skin, I suggest you apply it on the oily parts only.
PAULA'S CHOICE SKIN PERFECTING 2% BHA LIQUID IN ACTION
Please excuse the post-acne marks! :p Most of them were zits that this product had eliminated.
Onto the effects. It took me two weeks to notice that indeed, it helps tame breakouts. Before this product came to my life, I would always wake up with a fresh zit. My skin adjusted to the product and by the second week, I've noticed that my acne episodes went down from daily to thrice a week. By the first month, from three it went down to twice a week. By the second month, it went down to once a week and by the third month-the month where I finished the product-breakouts have been greatly reduced to three times a month. YES! I COUNTED THEM! How KEWL is that?! I have also observed that my cystic zits healed a bit faster.
The downsides are: It didn't do anything with my blackheads and enlarged pores, and I also observed some redness especially on the sides of my nose by the first month of usage, but it went away by the second month. Also, some of my liquid bases tend to react with its formulation.
The only part where this product delivered fantastically is in the breakout and smoothing department and I still love it anyway because Acne is the last thing I want to see on my face. It would've been better if I experienced its other promises, but overall, I'm pretty satisfied with its performance. It's also a quick and effective exfoliating solution that you can use every night for flawless makeup application in the morning. ;)
PAULA'S CHOICE SKIN PERFECTING 2% BHA LIQUID IN DETAIL
Please visit PAULA'S CHOICE PHILIPPINES on Facebook for more information about this product.
9 Comments
Is there a store that carries this brand? I'm totally unfamiliar with this brand, but this product seems really effective on you Ms. M. I might just check out their other products, as I don't get much acne anymore lately. It seems all my acnes already came out when I was in high school and college haha.
ReplyDeleteWayne Goss is always raving about this brand... do they do consultations so you'll know what products to get? i think they have a wide range of options...
ReplyDeleteI learned Paula's Choice brand from you when you've sent me some samples. I searched your archives to see your reviews but to no avail. I wanna try the full size nung mattifier nila coz I have oily skin. I thought that this is not available in the Phils. so I didn't bother to search in the internet.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the brand.. will have thorough research first.haha! I got lots of zits on my forehead and my current brand which has SA isn't working anymore.. :( thanks for introducing this. But in the meantime will use products from drugstores. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I was wondering if you noticed any visible peeling with this?
ReplyDeleteScratch my previous comment haha! It's only 2%, I misread it as 20% LOL it probably won't peel visibly. But I'm glad to know it works well on acne and smoothening though!
ReplyDeleteSo far, the only beauty product I've used that spotlights salicylic acid is Body Shop face wash, but I do agree that it works wonders on blemished skin. I've read that Paula's Choice has won multiple beauty awards, so I'm definitely curious about what else they offer.
ReplyDeleteKat: I think you can only find it in one particular shop and recently, I believe they're open now to distributors.
ReplyDeleteMatromao: I wanna try their Resist-C line! :D
Roxanne: Hope you can try it soon!
Joyce: Nope! No peeling seen or felt, although it says it delivers micro exfoliation. :)
Marielle: It is! I think their head office is in Parañaque :D
Cat: I think they do when you visit their office!
I just bought the small size (1oz) of this product because i'm dying from blackhead on my nose. I've had high expectation on this but it i think this isn't just the right one for my problem. Because my blackheads is nothing less and the most reason i left this product is on 2nd/3rd days i felt my face is too tight and slowly my fine lines around my eyes are becoming more visible than before. I became paranoid and stop it immediately. But i agree if this product can make your skin smooth and glowing. If you wonder my skin care regimen with this product: sk-ii facial treatment clear lotion, pc skin perfecting 2% bha liquid exfoliant (not anymore now), sk-ii facial treatment essence, laneige water bank gel cream (glamglow supermud 3x a week). I was wondering if something's wrong with my skin care products but then i realize that i felt that way after i use pc. Sorry to say but that's my condition.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think of this post! :)