Philosophy Help Me Retinol Du Jour 1.24.11

Happy Monday everyone! I have been using a new product for a few weeks and wanted to give it a good test drive before I reviewed it. I picked Philosophy's Help Me Retinol Night cream a while back, probably around 3-6 months ago. I must admit I kind of forgot about it.


Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I was looking at my skin and seeing some congestion. My skin didn't look "bad" per say. I had no breakouts (I rarely do, as I have very dry skin) but there was something not good about my skin. It wasn't glowing, or very smooth or CLEAR. Clear you ask? I thought I had no breakouts? I don't, but it wasn't clear you know like when you see a person and there skin is just so CLEAR and bright and glowing. That's what I meant. I was seeing flakes from dryness, congestion in my pores and eeeek even some fine lines from the dryness as well.

I was digging around my makeup and skin care drawers for some heavy duty moisturizer as I thought that would take care of the problem, but then I found this little miracle tube and thank god.

I have been using this for about 2 weeks now at night and it has made a boat load of a difference. Now let me start off by saying, this is NOT a moisturizer. This is a retinol treatment so you will still need a moisturizer for sure. I have been using this (a pea sized drop all over my face) and layering Cetaphil moisturizing lotion over it.

I have noticed a big difference. 3 differences to be exact:

• Clarity - my pore have been much cleaner giving the clear look to my skin as they are less noticeable. Especially on my nose!
  
• Dryness- even though this is not a moisturizer per say this has gotten rid of my dryness. Vitamin A which is retinol will speed up cell turnover and act as an exfoliatant, getting rid of dead lackluster skin
  
• Fine Lines- again for the same reasons as above it gets rid of fine lines by increasing cell turnover and encouraging collagen and elastin (what makes your skin firm and plump)

To educate you a little about Retinol products if you are not already familiar, Retinol is a form of Vitamin A. Vitamin A is too big to get through your skin however retinol is a molecular size therefore being able to penetrate your skin. Retinol does not only affect the inner layers of skin, but it also improves the outer layer as well. Retinol binds well with skin cell receptor sites. This allows the retinol to encourage greater cell growth, as well as the removal of old skin cells. This leaves your skin looking and feeling smoother, with a healthy glow.

There are tons of different retinols on the market from at Sephora to Drugstores to even prescribed by your dermatologist (Retin-A) so research and see which might be right for you. Retinol can be irritating to your skin as first and cause peeling. I started every other day and built up to once a day and did not experience any peeling or irritation.

I did my own research and I decided to go with Philosophy's Help me which is $45 and can be bought here at Sephora.

Let me know if you use a retinol, ever have or if you will give it a chance now.
x