Normally I’d like to give it at least a month before reviewing a skincare product because that’s how long it should (in theory) take for your skin to show what’s really going on as your skin takes that long to regenerate. I bought this serum as I had a 20% voucher and I’ve been really keen to try it for ages, but £75 is a considerable amount to spend on something on the hope that it’ll work! However, I’m so pleased I did.
This serum is aimed at women like me who are no longer teenagers but still suffering from spots at a time where we should instead be focussing on anti-ageing solutions. The solution to these two problems often contradict themselves, as anti-ageing is generally perceived as aiming to keep oil in your skin to keep it supple and youthful, whereas the focus of beating acne is removing excess sebum and oil. So women in their mid twenties onwards who are suffering from spots have had to make a choice; do I anti-age and live with spots or do I fight spots and possibly risk speeding up the ageing process?
Thankfully, this issue is not uncommon. You only have to look online to hear of the many women in this age group who are suffering from acne related skin problems (in fact, Christina Ricci recently reported that she’s currently suffering from body acne at the age of 31) and this has resulted in skincare companies attempting to address this issue with 2in1 products that both fight spots and address the concern of premature ageing. One of these products is Skinceuticals Blemish + Age Defense Serum, which is part of their Blemish + Age Defense line that also includes a cleanser and toner.
I am really pleased with the results I’m seeing from using this serum. Not only have I not had one spot since I started using it (I have two evil remaining spots that are determined to hang around for as long as possible – but they’re huge cystic ones, not little surface ones; those were scared away quickly when I started using this serum) but my skin clarity is really impressive. My scars are fading rapidly, my pores and shrinking and most importantly, the fine lines that had started to appear on my forehead are fading too. I’m really impressed with this serum, especially if you consider I’ve been using it for less than 2 weeks and I’m already seeing a major change in my skin.
The downside of this product is that it’s very drying. For those of you who have very oily skin this might not be a problem, but I suffer from combination skin which means that my dry patches have been accentuated. However, my solution to this was adding Eucerin Q10 Night Cream to my night time routine. Also an anti-ageing product, this is a very rich cream that has been reviewed favourably among acne-sufferers. I will write a more thorough review soon, but it’s definitely rich enough to counteract the drying effects of the serum.
So the result is that I wake with skin that’s not only smoother and clearer, but also acne-free. I’m really happy I decided to go ahead with the purchase of this product, the only problem now is to work out how I’m going to afford to keep buying it!
Thanks for your review, I am not a spring chicken, well moe like an old boiler actually, and I have more spots than a teenager. £75 is a lot of money to spend so it is reassuring to hear your views – thank you.
Hi Kasza, It is a HUGE amount to spend, but the way I looked (read: justified) it was that I’m always on the lookout for new treatments for spots and spend a fairly decent amount on a monthly basis. If I just buy this every four months (you only use a few drops each time) then I should, in theory, end up spending less 🙂 I really love it, it’s made such a difference to my skin. thanks for your comment xx
sounds great
Hi. Thanks for writing the review on this product. There aren’t too many reviews out there and I am skeptical of the ones posted on their website.
I was just given a sample of this from a sales associate and am hoping it will help my angry skin but am scared to try anything new on it right now. Are you still using this product? Did you notice any negative affects from using it?
Any info you can give would be appreciated. 🙂
Hi Miremba,
At the time of writing the review I was definitely a huge fan of the product as it definitely does do exactly as it promises as it had a really positive impact on my skin and made a big difference to my spots.
However, whilst I still don’t doubt it’s ability as a treatment, I have found things just as good that are much cheaper and at the moment my go to products for stopping my spots getting out of control are the Etat Pur actives. I’ve been trying a few different ones for the past few months and the two that are doing amazing things for my skin are the Citric Acid and the Salicylic Acid. Last night I started using their Zinc Gluconate and whilst it’s still very early days, I had a couple of hormonal spots yesterday that have dried up considerably since last night, so the ZG is likely to be another keeper!
The Citric Acid and Salicylic Acid are easily as effective as the Blemish and Age Defense, the only difference is that each of the actives are less than £15 each, so it’s quite a big difference in price.
The only negative I’d mention about the Blemish and Age Defense is that it was quite drying, but that’s really nothing that can’t be counteracted with a good moisturiser and whilst I was using this, I used Eucerin Q10 night cream which is very rich but doesn’t give me spots.
Apart from the Zinc Gluconate, all the products I’ve mentioned have full reviews on this blog, so if you go to the search function on the right hand side and search then you’ll be able to read a more extensive review on them all. I’m fairly confident I mentioned the Skinceuticals serum in either the Citric Acid or Salicylic Acid review as a comparison too.
Hope this helps and let me know if you need any more info xx