After my skincare epiphany a short time ago, I’ve been seeking out calming, soothing products to treat my redness and inflammation with excellent results; I’ve had the opportunity to try a wealth of fabulous products and found some real stars – if you’re looking for a product range to treat similar issues, then let me introduce you to the aptly named Dermalogica Ultracalming collection, which is a great range of products designed to keep everything calm and balanced. I have six products from the range which makes up the bulk of the collection; there are two other products – an eye serum and a tinted SPF. I’ll give mini reviews of each products to give you an idea of where to start if you fancy trying out a product or two, but of course there is a kit available containing decent sized minis of the cleanser, mist, serum and eye cream if you want to fully immerse yourself in the collection. Dermalogica counters are very generous with sample sachets if you really want to make sure the products are for you before spending anything – a great option in particular for sensitive and reactive skin types.
The Ultracalming Cleanser is joint favourite in the range for me, as it’s so lovely, soothing and gentle, yet it really does cleanse effectively; when my skin is feeling particularly reactive I use a gentle micellar to remove all make-up, before going in with this – what’s interesting is that the micellar cotton will be coming away completely clear, then when I start using this I’ll find quite a bit of make-up appears, proving how important a double cleanse really is! The other thing I like about this is that an acid tone afterwards never strings, proving that the skin really has been kindly cared for. The Ultracalming Mist is a good example of a lovely product that’s a pleasure to use, albeit not absolutely essential. It’s a fragrant, soothing product that I like to use before serums or oils to give a bit more slip. It’s very soothing and it’s also nice to use sprayed on to cotton after the cleanser just in case you’ve left any residue. Ultracalming Cleanser starts at £27.20 and the Ultracalming Mist is £28.60.
I’d say the Ultracalming Serum Concentrate is probably the key product in the whole range that offers the most benefit, but I haven’t really given it the fairest of trials as I have another serum that suits my skin so perfectly (more on that soon!) that it’s difficult to deviate from something so effective. I will say that this is lovely and hydrating, very gentle and soothing, and it leaves skin feeling balanced without any tightness or excess moisture. The Barrier Repair quite frankly scared me, as someone who’s very prone to spots, as it’s got that primer-like silkiness that feels lovely under make-up, but less so as a finishing night product for those who problematic skin. I will say that it is the product I think Dermalogica are well-known for as people go a bit crazy for the fact that it’s such a great healer and it’s literally like repairing your skin and taking care of any sensitivity and hydration issues, but I was too scared to use it regularly! If you’re not spot-prone, you’ll likely love it. The Ultracalming Serum Concentrate is £53.15 and the Barrier Repair is £36.90.
The two final products are kind of what I’d call “finishers” and they’re both really good. The Redness Relief Primer has an SPF20 and it’s green, so it cancels redness, whilst also containing soothing ingredients, making it a really good all-rounder. I was blown away by this so start off with, but I’m not 100% certain that it didn’t break me out – keep in mind though that my skin reacts to the most ridiculous things (like spot treatments!) so I would recommend trying this even if you are spot-prone as it’s a worthy risk to take due to the multitude of benefits; I will be optimistically persevering! The final product is the Super Sensitive Shield SPF30 which is pretty my all-time favourite SPF; you can probably see in the picture above that this isn’t quite as new looking as the others and that’s because I’ve been using it every day for quite a while. It doesn’t cause me any problems with skin, doesn’t make me look shiny yet feels really lovely on. I’ve struggled with SPFs for years and this is such a great find, so it’ll be a definite repurchase for me. The Redness Relief Primer is £38.40 and the Super Sensitive Shield SPF30 is £39.40.
Find the full range here.
*PR Samples
