It’s no secret that I’m a fan of man-made chemical skincare as I’ve always struggled with difficult skin and I find that generally, the carefully formulated hardcore chemical products are the ones that do the most for my skin – I realise many would disagree, but that’s my personal experience. Over the last six months or so my skin has finally settled down and I’ve been maintaining that by using fairly gentle products to keep the balance. I’m tending to favour textures that are balmy, oily and free from fragrance as I find this is allowing my skin to remain hydrated without causing spots – balance is the perfect word as it really is a balancing act; if I find my skin becomes too dry or starts breaking out then I’ll still reach for the old favourites from the more cosmeceutical brands.
With this new approach in mind, I was looking forward to trying the new-to-the-UK brand Freshly. They sent me their Antiox Facial Plan which is a gorgeous set of four products that all smell like freshly picked fruit, provide light, skin-caring textures and are just generally love to use. I love the Antiox Facial Plan as it’s pretty much an entire routine – if you’re feeling brutal, you could chuck out everything else and replace it with this quad as you get a cleanser, toner, serum and moisturiser. However, if you’re like me, you’ll need another cleanser as I’m a devoted double cleanserererer. The Fresh Green Micellar Water is pretty much as lovely as it sounds; cleansing, soothing and smells brightly of apples. It’s a joy to use and removes all make-up including stubborn mascara. The Purifying Facial Tonic feels like a very lightly exfoliating toner. It smells of limes and feels great on the skin – it’s particularly fab to use following a cleansing balm.
The Multi-Antioxidant Concentrate Serum is my least favourite product as it’s not really one I’m reaching for much. It’s a light, gel/serum that feels good on the skin, although it doesn’t really add much to the overall routine other than, presumably, a boost of antioxidants. The Multi-Antioxidant Facial Moisturiser, however, is completely different and I absolutely love it. It’s a gel-like moisturiser that really boosts hydration levels and feels almost like a serum, but skin looks and feels noticeably hydrated after use. It takes a few minutes to sink in, but it works great with other products and sits well under make-up; it’s actually the perfect hydrating primer and I think if you just try one product from the range, then it should be this one. The Freshly Antiox Facial Plan is 82 euros which roughly works out at £72 for the four full-sized products which you can find here – link.
