Normaderm Anti-Aging

This was my every day face cream for years and years- from whenever it first came on the market up until a few months ago. I have probably been through over 50 tubes of it. Obviously I loved it...until I didnt. When I started using it in my mid to late 30s, I was being plagued by hormonal breakouts as well as concerned about staving off wrinkles. My skin was combo to oily then. I grabbed this cream practically the first day it came out having been so frustrated at how few products were targeted to both wrinkles and acne. I didn't care for the fragrance, but my skin seemed to be able to tolerate it. I liked the light texture of the cream, and saw almost immediate results on my face. My pores were cleaner, fine lines plumped and breakouts reduced. I followed Vichy's instructions to use this cream twice a day every day. Over the years my skin gradually became dryer and dryer, and far more sensitive. I was using this and a few other fragrance filled, overly harsh Vichy products, and was slowly destroying my acid mantle. I didn't know that, and so my answer to the dryness was to try piling on more of this stuff (along with other moisturizers). This is clearly stated as "resurfacing care" containing glycolic acid, LHA and vitamin C, but Vichy's twice a day usage instructions treat it as a moisturizer not an exfoliant. I have no idea what the PH is, but I am assuming within the range to exfoliate because it does on my skin. I surmise it is a mild amount of acid (no percentage given), since I had to overuse it for many years to damage my skin- but in the end it did damage it. My skin is now dry, dehydrated and crazy sensitized. I have a lot of redness and broken capillaries- not sure how much is genetic/other stressors and how much I can blame on chronically over-exfoliated thin and fragile skin, but I'm certain it didn't help. I have a bottle of this that I may use up carefully- once or twice a week as a 20 minutes, then wash off, exfoliating mask- if my skin can tolerate it, but then will be saying goodbye to this product. There are other exfoliants on the market that do not contain alcohol or fragrance which have no business on my skin. My skin seemed to love this at first, which makes sense now that I've learned about how acids work. They can give great results, and they can also completely kill your skin with overuse. I also should have known better as far as the alcohol and fragrance (I read my Paula Begoun!), but my skin seemed to be fine with it for a very long time- what I couldn't see was the underlying irritation that slowly damaged over time...just like Paula warned it would. (Note: this specific product isn't reviewed in the Beautypedia, but their stance on alcohol and fragrance is clearly there, and I should have listened).

My favorite anti-acne/anti-aging moisturizer was discontinued so I've been on the search for about a year for a replacement. So far I like this one okay, I'll probably finish the bottle but I don't know if I will purchase again. I've only used this for a few weeks but here is what I've noticed so far. The good: Light weight, but still moisturizing Doesn't break me out Seems to be helping clear some blemishes The bad: Strong smell (doesn't bother me but it might others) Doesn't control shine, I feel oilier with this than with my night moisturizer I was using. Doesn't seem to have much anti-aging/smoothing effect that I've noticed.

I like it a lot. It's light, feels and smells fresh. It would be perfect for the summer time and also in a very humid place eg Hong Kong where I was on holiday recently - humidity was up to 95%. It provides sufficient hydration to my skin. It claims to be anti-aging due to the vitamin C, which is great to know. The packaging is a standard- plastic tube so nothing special there. In terms of the price, I remember buying it on sale, which swayed me into buying it otherwise I wouldn't try it at full price. Even on sale, I thought it was pricey but in hindsight, it is Vichy so you do have to expect that price tag. The amount you get is reasonable (50mls), it has lasted me a while. Another great thing is there was/is no skin irritation and no interaction with other skin care and make-up products I currently use. Overall, I like the product. I would buy it again only if it was on sale.

This might seem like a great product initially. It works great as a base for makeup. However alcohol is the second ingredient listed in this product. If you have dry or very dry skin just pass this one by.