{"id":12511,"date":"2013-06-20T09:12:04","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T01:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mywomenstuff.com\/?p=12511"},"modified":"2013-06-20T11:50:58","modified_gmt":"2013-06-20T03:50:58","slug":"ren-glycolactic-radiance-renewal-mask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mywomenstuff.com\/2013\/06\/ren-glycolactic-radiance-renewal-mask\/","title":{"rendered":"Second time investigating the ap-peel of the REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’m about halfway through this 2nd bottle of the REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask<\/strong> and you know what? I still can’t quite make up my mind about it! So, rather than procrastinate further, I hoped that by writing about it, I’d figure out how I feel once I hit the conclusion \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n REN Skincare (rhymes with ‘ran’), some of you may be familiar with already. If you aren’t, its a range of skincare that hails from the UK and means ‘Clean’ in Scandinavian. Some of you may have also seen the REN video<\/a> used to define how clean was clean (Be warned not to watch it at work or in front of parents and kiddies! \ud83d\ude09 ) REN is formulated without a lot of harmful things like petrochemicals and parabens etc and they use bioactives from botanicals where possible.<\/p>\n The Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask is one of their star products and gets tons of raves and wins loads of beauty awards. I have been told that it operates like a skin peel, without the side effects of chemical peels like sensitive skin or redness but gives skin an almost instant radiant and brighter appearance. This is where I start feeling a little nonplussed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bioactives in this products are natural fruit acids from passion fruit, lemon, grape and pineapple along with papain from papaya to exfoliate the top layer of the skin and encourage cell turnover and also smoothen fine lines. So many people who love this one tell me they see instant results. Instant! Brighter, more radiant skin!<\/p>\n I tried this back in 2009<\/a> and I wasn’t entirely bouncing off the walls with glee. Sometime in 2012 I decided to try it again. I know, sucker for punishment this one \ud83d\ude00 So I picked up a full size bottle (wee bit cheaper at RM175\/50ml now from KENS Apothecary<\/a>) to see how it performed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It used to be called the Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel Mask but they’ve changed the name. The product remains the same though. It is housed in a double walled plastic container with the product contained in a pliable soft plastic “bag” that compresses everytime you pump out the product. This way, they ensure that you get every last bit of the product instead of having it stick to the sides of the bottle.<\/p>\n One of my main grouses the first time I tried a sample was that it was very hard to wash off. Then I realised why. You need to use a muslin cloth to remove the product! One is provided inside the box of the full size bottle so no worries right there.<\/p>\n Considering all the fruit extracts that go in there, you would be thinking that it would smell like a tropical fruit salad right? Erm… not quite. It actually smells a little funky. Like fermented fruit. Not unpleasant, lest you start wrinkling your nose with distaste, but definitely not perfumed either.\u00a0It also comes out a thick paste like fruit puree \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Slather a thick layer of this over your face, avoiding your eyes and lips. I warn you about lips because I have been having rather sensitive lips of late and when some of this mask touched my lips, I could feel a significant tingling. Not painful, but a little unpleasant.<\/p>\n In fact, you are expected to feel a little tingling or warming of the skin when using this mask. I didn’t experience any this time around but I did the first time I used it back in the day. Its the “peel” part of it, the same way that chemical peels do the job with AHA or BHA acids. The point of this mask is to leave it on so it softens your top layer of your skin and when you clean it off, it “peels” off this dead skin and reveals fresher brighter more radiant skin. With chemical AHA and BHAs there is a heightened chance of sensitivity and redness and especially sensitivity to the sun. REN promises us theirs will give you the same effect sans all the side effects.<\/p>\n After about 10-15 minutes of this goo on my face (it doesn’t dry, don’t hope for it to!), I take a damp muslin cloth and wipe off the product. I am usually a little lax about cream masks so I tend to leave them on longer than I should. But with this one, I took care to abide by the directions.<\/p>\n I usually need a few passes of the cloth to get most of it off and then I rinse it with more water. The immediate effect is that I feel that my skin does feel smoother. That effect is quite instantaneous in this regard. As for it perking up the complexion or smoothing out fine lines the jury is out on that.<\/p>\n I did notice that my skin did look a little clearer. I have been doing a lot of business travel and my skin feels and looks dull as dishwater. So might this be why I noticed the brighter effects almost immediately? I’m not sure. It does last, lest you think its a one off thing. My skin feels markedly smoother and it does seem to clean pores out nicely. I find that if I’m diligent and use this once a week, my skin looks and feels better and smoother. Foundation glides on and stay on like a dream. Its not a miracle. But its an effect that I notice improving over time, rather than an immediate one-off deal.<\/p>\n Oh and I had this horrible flaky skin on my nose and this mask took care of that. It was there before I did the mask and after that, flaky skin was gone. I then followed back up with more hydrating skincare to keep it away and its all good again. I think this second time around, I’ve found it to be better than before.<\/p>\n