[REVIEW] ASAP Skin Care Range (yay) and why Levlen is demonic (not so yay).
Here's to the first skin care post on my blog, and for me it might just be the most important therefore it is a little long but also explains my obsession with skin care. This review will be on products that as far as I'm concerned helped clear up the worst acne I have ever experienced.
Through high school I never experienced major breakouts (I still had them just not severe ones) and until my first year of University I'd never experienced acne that had caused me emotional stress as well as physical blemishes. Cue February of 2012, It's the end of Summer and I was pumped for the start of my first semester at Uni. The breakout started small and having never experienced severe acne I wasn't too worried (a good skin care regime had been instilled in me since age 13) and continued using the products I always had. Then the acne began to worsen, old pimples weren't going away and new ones began to spread in lines from the top of my cheekbones (just beside my eyes) all the way down to my chin. For someone who hadn't experienced anything like this it's safe to say I freaked out a little. Ok, a lot. Crying-when-weeks-went-past-and-nothing-had-changed a lot. The pimples hurt, and those that did wind up going away left small pink dots/scars behind them like a final hurrah. 3 months went by, different products were tried and thrown away (Neutrogena, Cetaphil, Pervonia etc), changes in diet and exercise occurred until finally someone made a suggestion I hadn't even considered... changing the kind of Pill I was on. Turns out Levlen is a demon Pill that was set on destroying the healthy skin I'd spent my teens carefully looking after. Going off it or changing your pill doesn't suddenly make everything disappear however and I was stuck with the fallout of a 3month monster breakout and scarring. So now for today's review on the ASAP range which I used to clear up the worst of it.
What's special about this range is the AHA's (Alpha Hydroxy Acid's) and the antioxidants that they use in their products. Their range doesn't include harmful chemicals, harsh detergents, artificial fragrances or animal derivatives. It is not tested on animals and goes through stringent testing for all skin types ESPECIALLY ageing, sun damaged and acne prone skin. I used a very basic routine with this skin care that contained their Daily Facial Cleanser (morning), Daily Exfoliating Facial Scrub (evening), Clearskin Gel (evening), Anti-ageing night cream (evening) and a Sheer Tint SPF15 Moisturiser (morning).
Daily Facial Cleanser:
This cleanser left my face feeling squeaky clean without feeling overly dry. A little bit goes a LONG way so the 240ml bottle lasted me just over 15months. The key ingredient in this product is glycolic acid (AHA's) and I found that this didn't irritate the active acne I still had on my face. The skin that didn't have acne on it was also baby smooth after using this product TWICE. The smell is pretty relaxing (doesn't smell like chemicals like other cleansers) and the packaging is easy to use with a little press top opening making it easy to know how much you're going to put on your fingers since the cleanser itself is a very thick cloudy liquid.
Daily Exfoliating Facial Scrub:
The facial scrub contains small beads (key ingredient Glycolic Acid) which didn't scratch or irritate my skin like the 'exfoliating abrasives' in other products (I am LOOKING at you Neutrogena). Again only the tiniest amount was required to cover my whole face so this bottle also lasted just over 15months. I found this product to be a little more drying than the cleanser (exfoliants do that to me) however since this was my night 'cleanser' it was followed by the clearskin gel and the night cream which stopped my skin from drying out. Smell is similar to daily cleanser (I wonder why? hint: same ingredients) and the packaging and product consistency (albiet a little thicker with the beads in it the scrub) is exactly the same as well. I did in fact use this scrub at night and the cleanser in the morning, they do contain the same ingredients apart from the exfoliating beads and because of this you still get the same cleansing affect with the scrub.
Clearskin Gel:
This gel was what did it for me in this regime. It prevented major breakouts overnight (often with new pimples clearing in a couple of days) while helping clear the leftover monster breakout and dulling some of the pink scars. The ingredients in this product include:
15.5% Glycolic Acid.
2% Salicylic Acid.
Bilberry Extract- brightening agent.
Green Tea - antioxdiant.
Ultimately this was a fantastic product in the skin recovery process. It felt liquid/gel-like on my hands (product is clear) and then slightly tacky on my skin however the benefits are worth it. I sometimes found the screw lid on this annoying to put back on once product was on my hands (I don't like leaving lids off of things that have the potential to squeeze or spill everywhere) but you get used to it.
Anti-ageing Night Cream:
My first reaction to this product back in 2012 was 'why do I need an anti-ageing product when I'm not even in my twenties yet?' and so it was explained to me like this. Anti-ageing products work by trying to boost the bodies own natural supply of collagen. If it manages to do this effectively consumers would see increased skin elasticity, brighter skin, less wrinkles etc. Collagen also helps 'correct injury' to the skin. Something like recovering from acne can have a massive helping hand from products that boost collagen production and this night cream helped keep my skin moisturised while speeding up the healing process. I also felt like there was less oil on my face in the mornings (oily T-zone) after using this cream the night before compared to nights when I didn't use it. Texture was a basic white cream, thick enough to not fall out of the jar if it was on it's side, liquid-y enough to fall out if it somehow landed open and face down.
Sheer Tint SPF15 Moisturiser:
This is the only product in the regime I didn't use as much. Moisturisers tend to hang heavy on my face after about half an hour no matter how light they are. The colour that it comes in also didn't match my skin that well (typical woes of tinted moisturisers actually) since I'm so pale. It smells great and left my skin feeling refreshed, for about 15minutes before the humidity of Queensland began to mess with my skin's hydration balance.
Ratings:
Daily Facial Cleanser - 5/5 (smells great, worked effectively, wasn't drying, little goes a long way, neat easy to use packaging)
Daily Exfoliating Facial Scrub - 4/5 (smells great, worked effectively, sort of drying, little goes a long way, neat easy to use packaging)
Clearskin Gel - 4/5 (neutral smell, worked amazingly, not drying however slightly tacky, little goes a long way, sometimes irritating to use packaging)
Anti-ageing Night Cream - 5/5 (Smells great, worked effectively, moisturising/less oil production, little goes a long way, neat easy to use packaging)
Tinted Moisturiser - 3/5 (Smells fantastic, would be great in a dryer climate, little goes a long way, not much colour range, easy to use simply packaging).
For those wondering how long it took for me to see results see this part --> Originally the skin clinic I bought this from gave me two weeks worth of samples for free and within those two weeks I started to see changes a) in how fast new pimples were going away and b) in the clearing up of my skin (this turned my ASAP regime into a must have skin care routine and I immediately bought it despite it being a little bit $$$). The monster breakout was officially killed about 3months after using these products however major changes were seen on my skin in about a month and a half. I still have pink dots down my cheek from some of the worst of the acne though and so continues my skin care hunt for getting perfect skin back.
Why did I change from these products? Your skin is always changing. Mine is the same and developed a sensitivity to the products which caused drying out on my cheeks (slight flakiness). This happened after 12-16months of consistent use though so I was expecting to have to make some changes in my skin care routine around them.
Would I ever recommend Levlen? Hell has yet to freeze over so no. Boo hiss**. Would I recommend these ASAP products to a friend? Yes. Friend or stranger these products are worth it.
Wishing you beautiful, clear skin (and many other beautiful things).
BlueJaed.