A couple of weeks ago I nipped along for a 20 minute facial as Dr Dennis Gross was in town. I loathe facials and rarely do them but because I’m so consistently asked about retinols (post coming soon with lots of questions answered) I thought I’d give them a run myself.
I’ll say from the outset that while the skin care I was ‘prescribed’ by aesthetician, Renee, is incredible, the initial low acid concentration, professional Alpha Beta peel facial was the thing that allowed it to work well so quickly. And it’s not available in the UK, so you may not see the results that I’ve had in quite the same brief time frame. I saw an immediate improvement in clarity, luminosity, hydration and smoothness from the facial and I’ve managed to keep all of that going with the at home products. In particular, the Ferulic + Retinol Peel Pads that I’ve been using three times a week, in rotation with the Universal Daily Peel.
Additionally, I’ve been using the Ferulic + Retinol cream at night, and during the day, the Alpha Beta Exfoliating Moisturiser. I was also given an eye cream and a Vitamin C cream – the eye cream made my eyes water and using vitamin c then the moisturiser plus sun screen plus foundation was just too much so I dropped the Vit C and the eye cream.
My gut feeling is that what makes the difference is the peel pads – I’m actively looking forward to using them every evening and doubly pleased when it’s a Ferulic + Retinol day! Oh, I should mention the cleanser, Pore Perfecting Cleansing Gel, which is the biggest surprise to me – it’s a soap free wash-off which isn’t my ideal choice but it’s one of the best cleansers I’ve ever used. I don’t use it every single day but mostly – and sometimes twice! Unheard of!
According to Renee, my skin had enough oil (thank you Shiseido) but not enough water so I had some little flakes of skin between my brows. Those have disappeared completely, my skin is brighter, the texture is smoother, it’s more glowy and friends have noticed all of those things, commenting unprompted. After a week I found I needed to use skin oils additionally a couple of times because my face felt a bit dry so you may have to mix and match to find the right balance. I should mention also that prior to using Dr Dennis products, I was using Alpha H Vitamin B Copper Tripeptide which also may well have helped with the results.
I’m reporting my findings of two weeks of use (Mr BBB is in the US and has been given a shopping list of more peel pads – they’re much cheaper in the US) of products tailored to my skin by an aesthetician. Without a doubt they’ve worked beyond my expectations, but there’s a school of thought that continually keeping your skin in a state of turnover isn’t necessarily the best thing for it. And you really need to up your sunscreen. So, it’s going to come down to personal choice and doing your homework on the products or going to SpaceNK where they stock most of the Dr Dennis Gross range and getting advice there.
However, I feel comfortable recommending the Cleanser (£46), the Daily Peel Pads (£81 for 30) and the Exfoliating Moisturiser (£82) but only comfortable recommending the Ferulic + Retinol Pads (£85 for 14) and the Retinol + Ferulic Cream (£67) if you have used retinol before or have thoroughly researched. All the products are HERE. None of this is cheap – annoyingly, all of it is less expensive in the US – and if you had to pick only two products, I’d suggest the cleanser and the Daily Peels. It’s really a pity you can’t get the initial salon facial here in the UK, although you can get a no down-time light peel at most aesthetician run clinics if you want to kick things off. This range really does work but the peel pads are the thing – personally, I’d see these as something I’d use from time to time rather than all of the time which make the price possibly less painful and if it’s helpful, Space has £15 off a £60 spend til Monday.
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