Good morning all!
A few weeks ago I went to an event for Kiehls in their new store in Cardiff. The post on the event can be found by clicking here, and I’ve been using everything daily since I purchased it.
My skin has changed a lot over the last few years (thank you ageing!) and with winter in full force now I knew I needed to overhaul my skincare for something more appropriate.
I spoke to Katie in store during the event where she tested my skin and found that it is oily and also dehydrated – this I pretty much knew but it was good to have it confirmed.
I picked up the Daily Reviving Concentrate (DRC from now on) based on her recommendation and have been using it every morning for the last month.
The DRC is a dry oil containing Ginger Root, Sunflower oil and Tamanu oil and have 100% natural origins plus it is paraben free, mineral oil free, non-comedogenic and non-acnegenic. All of this sounds pretty good for me as I still worry about my skin reacting and bringing back the acne I had a few years ago.
I wanted to add more hydration to my skin routine without overloading my skin during the day, my face gets shiny enough throughout the day without any additional help but it also felt like a smooth grade of sandpaper and I was a bit stuck what to do.
I’ve been applying a few drops of this to my finger tips and warming it before applying to my face, I think it’s only supposed to be 1/2 drops but I often need 4 just to apply it to my whole face, my skin drinks it up so quickly!
I began with 1/2 but it wasn’t enough so I slowly increased it and everything is absorbed so I figured it was fine.
The oil is not only supposed to be very hydrating but is also supposed to help fight daily skin aggressors and helps to keep it looking youthful – all of which sound very promising.
I’ve been using this with the Ultra Facial Oil-Free Lotion during the day, and pairing it with the Midnight Recovery Concentrate amongst a few other products to get my skin hydration level up.
My skin feels a lot better and seems to faring well against the -5C temperatures we’ve been seeing this week. As a test I have not been using any masks or anything in addition to this to see what happened and my skin feels pretty good.
I imagine it will be the combined use of all products but my skin is feeling a lot more hydrated and has not reacted in any way whatsoever to the additional oil I’ve been plastering on.
My face during the day has been a lot less shiny, the oil seems to absorb straight away ( benefits of being a dry oil!) and the moisturiser has been great too – I’ll do a separate post on this soon.
There are however two downsides to this product which may or may not be an issue for you.
The first is price, this oil costs £37 for a 30ml bottle which I think is very high. I very much appreciated the chance to buy this with a discount at the event and I have loved the effects on my skin. Although I do believe in spending on skincare I do think some prices are just too high, are you just paying for the brand and some pretty packaging? I’m never sure and am also not sure on the source of the ingredients.
The second point is that unfortunately Kiehls are not cruelty free. M has gone cruelty free over the last few months and I completely understand why. I haven’t made the change completely yet but have been looking into it.
One of their employees has told me that Kiehls don’t test their products on animals when they are produced in New York, which is obviously great. However they are owned by L’Oreal and so their products are sold into China, where all products MUST be tested on animals to be sold, therefore they aren’t cruelty free.
I personally think it’s pretty ignorant of companies to continue to sell into a country that requests animal testing by law when they have the power to change it. If brands like Kiehls who are owned by L’Oreal can’t make a stand, how and why would others? Urban Decay are owned by L’Oreal, they are registered cruelty free and do not sell into China, so Kiehls could do this too. So I guess in this case it depends if you are trying to be cruelty free, and to what extent.
I would always like to think I’d avoid companies that test on animals if there was an alternative, there really isn’t any excuse to test on animals nowadays and so many other companies are cruelty free offering similar products that it is laziness.
For this reason I can’t say that I would repurchase this oil for my own personal choices where budget constraints and beliefs mean more to me than trying out new products. However if these factors aren’t an issue for you then I would absolutely recommend it, it’s one of the best oils I’ve tried!
Have you tried the Kiehls Daily Reviving concentrate? Do you use oils to hydrate your skin?
What’s your thoughts on companies that test on animals?
L xxx