Tuesday 13 August 2013

SKIN CARE | REN Radiance skin care

REN is a brand that bloggers love and a brand that loves bloggers. So when this little beauty found its way into my postbox, I was extremely excited. I'm all about radiance when it comes to skincare and anything that promises to renew my skin is an instant winner with me. This little gift bag contained three of REN's best selling products from their Radiance line and I've been extremely excited trying them all out.

Micro Polish Cleanser* - £20.00 full sized
Gone are the days when I used to manually exfoliate my skin. Since discovering glycolic acid, it's rare that I come into contact with an exfoliator with beads in it but this one is pleasantly surprising. It claims to deeply cleanse and exfoliate the skin to leave it looking purified, renewed and radiant. REN recommend using this 2-3 times a week, applying it to damp skin and gently massaging in circular motions. Like I mentioned, I do like this. It leaves my skin feeling beautifully soft and it definitely refines my pores. However, I don't love it. If I hadn't have discovered the wonder that is acid exfoliation then maybe this would have been a firm favourite of mine. But sadly, I won't be buying the full size any time soon.

Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask* - £30.00 full sized
This little beauty is a firm blogger favourite. It promises to renew the complexion, reduce the appearance of fine lines and dramatically improve skin tone. I'm all for anything with glycolic acid on the ingredients list and anything that claims to improve my nasty scars so when I saw that this product was included in the gift box, I eeeeked in excitement. I couldn't wait to try it out and at first, I didn't like it. It irritated my eyes and once washed off, I didn't notice much difference to my skin - other than the way that it felt. It felt beautifully soft but that was it. No visible difference. It wasn't until the next morning that I realised why it was a blogger favourite. My skin looked brighter, healthier and more radiant as soon as I woke up. My blemishes and blackheads had been reduced and although I didn't see a difference in my skin tone, the brightening effect made me fall in love. Despite the fact that it does make my eyes water, I need the full sized version in my life.

Satin Perfection BB Cream* - £26.00 full sized
I'm not a big BB Cream fan and I've only ever come across a couple that I like so needless to say, I wasn't excited about this product at all. This BB Cream is silicone free and has colour adaptive technology which means that it blends seamlessly into your skin tone. Whilst this doesn't provide enough coverage for me (I'd say light but buildable) it does leave the skin looking even toned and luminous. The finish isn't dead-matte, it's more of a satin finish that makes the skin look radiant and healthy. If you're someone who doesn't require a lot of coverage then I'd definitely recommend having a little look at this as the finish is beautiful.

Overall, I'm impressed with this range. The Radiance Renewal Mask is perfect and I'll definitely be purchasing the full size. The Micro Polish Cleanser is a lovely addition that my skin has loved using however because I'm more of a chemical exfoliant gal, I won't be repurchasing. The same goes for the BB Cream. If my skin ever improves dramatically then I'll definitely look further into this as the finish is stunning.

Have you tried out anything from the REN Radiance range? What's your favourite REN product?
*PR Sample
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