Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Gel Exfoliant Review

20 July 2014

It has been a busy week; I completed my first full week at work this week which included some staying late days. When I got home I was exhausted and this heat has not helped to alleviate that situation! Anyway the new job so far so good, I like the people there and I’m just about coming out of my shell now so I’m happy about that. But on to the product review…


So if you would I have read my March wishlist you would have seen I was lusting after Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Gel Exfoliant. So around mid May I decided to purchase this in order to try and combat the blackhead situation. After being sold dreams I was convinced it was my blackhead cure. Let’s just say straight away – nope.

Let us get onto the basics and what the brand says about the product itself:
Skin Type: Combination Skin, Oily Skin Skin 
Concern: Aging, Blackheads, Blemish Prone Skin, Rosacea, Sensitive Skin 
• Exfoliates the skin's surface and inside the pore lining where clogged pores occur 
• Excellent for all skin types, especially normal to oily skin with stubborn blemishes and blackheads 
• 100% fragrance and colorant-free 

I’m no stranger to using acids on my face – I had horrendous acne as a teen and had a dermatologist who prescribed various things for my face and one actually burnt my face (it left me with flaky skin and then dark patches on my chin which took years to get rid of). So since then I really stayed away from acidy products but after seeing the reviews for this I thought I’d try it but like I said I WAS SOLD DREAMS. I thought this product would be great from me because I have oily skin and was battling the concern of blackheads.

So in terms of application everything was fine. The product is odourless which I loved; upon finishing applying the product for the first couple of times I felt a slight sting but nothing that was dangerous. The gel leaves a mildly sticky feeling on your face, which is actually fine because you’ll always be following the product up with something else so it removes the stickiness. I don’t use this all over my face, just on my nose, my chin and my cheeks. I would let this sink in for 10-15 minutes before carrying on with my night routine.

Now I have to say when I started using this product for the first month I only used it at night. Mainly because I do not wear an SPF (I know it’s really bad) and this product stated you had to wear sunscreen whilst using it. After a month I did not notice anything, close scrutiny of my face did nothing but back this up. Determined not to give up on it I started to use it in the morning once or twice a week (in addition to the nightly routine), but still nada. So this review comes just after 2 months of using it. I typically like to give things three months but I’m adamant my findings are not going to change within the next month.

I’m really upset that this product didn’t do anything for me. Like I didn’t notice any brightness in my skin or less breakouts and most of all I certainly didn’t notice a reduction in my blackheads! The great thing was that it didn’t break me out. I think that’s super important – if a product isn’t going to do what it’s designed to do the least it can do is not ruin your skin.

I really wanted to review this product because I had wanted to it for a while. I’m just gutted it didn’t work for me because judging from the reviews people have gotten great results and I would have loved for these pesky blackheads to have budged! I currently still use the product intermittently because I am not about to throw it out (cheapskate).

So I am still on the hunt for a blackhead treatment. I have actually looked into Microdermabrasion just because I'm that unhappy, but still have a couple of products I want to try first! Do you have any blackhead cures?

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