[productsample] It’s very rare for me to have a reaction to any product, and never, ever from this brand, but this is one that clearly doesn’t suit my skin. I can’t quite boil it down to any one particular thing – perhaps kaolin – but my face did not like it one bit!

Ole Henriksen PHAT

My face was indeed glowing, and not in a good way. Because I like exfoliators, the promise of a polyhydroxy acid fuelled mask was a big draw. Allure describes these acids as cousins of AHAs in that they work in more or less the same way with the only difference being they’re good glycation slayers and the reason, I suspect, they’re in the mask. The Ole Henriksen brand is usually quite quick off the mark with coming trend ingredients, so PHAs are something you might see more of. The mask comes out of the pot a kind of pink colour, and you massage it until it turns white and then leave it for 15 minutes. It’s got a really strange fruity-plastic kind of smell.

Ole Henriksen PHAT

These acids also account for the name which I looked up and got varying results for the word – the one thing it doesn’t mean, by the way, is fat. So, several hours after use, my skin started to lose the fiery redness and yes, it’s very nicely exfoliated, especially across my nose, but I can achieve that elsewhere without the fierce heat and scarlet cheeks. I used Avene Extremely Rich Compensating Cream to bring down the redness and ward off any flaky skin that might occur afterwards – worked like a charm. So, if you are tempted, I’d suggest a trial patch on a small area to see how it goes – I haven’t read any similar reviews so perhaps it really is just me. It’s £42 HERE.

 

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