As I have mentioned, my skin has been looking dull lately and my freckles are showing, so when I was offered the chance to try out a fruit based exfoliating gel peel, I jumped at the chance.
[re]fresh Skin Therapy Fruit Acid Peel – The Claims
Fruit Acid 15% Gel Peel is a professional-grade exfoliator made from of Glycolic, Lactic, Kojic, and Pyruvic Acid.
- Erases fine lines, dark spots and improves skin’s texture and tone while revealing noticeably smoother, healthier skin
- Skin is noticeable brighter and complexion is more even-toned after first application
- Shrinks pores and balances oil production across combination skin
I will admit that I was a little worried trying a peel at home. At a spa with someone who knows what they are doing, no problem, but at home – nightmares of burnt skin, redness and peeling. This wasn’t helped by the packaging’s note to leave the gel peel on for 1-3 minutes depending on tolerance!
I decided to try some on my hand to make sure that it did not burn, leaving it on for two minutes and no issues. This peel, unlike ones I have had at a salon really is a gel – a thin gel but stays put. You use the included dropper to measure out the amount you want and just use your fingers to apply to dry skin after cleansing. The dropper is great as you don’t waste product on applicators so you get more value for money. Once on the skin, it is just like having a wet face, not too sticky but doesn’t run either.
Unlike my hand, I did get some redness on my face and could feel a slight tingle after 90 seconds so I washed it off. It is great that you do not need a neutralizing agent for this peel, you just rinse it well with water. I didn’t notice much in the way of skin sloughing off with [re]fresh’s fruit peel but my skin feel tighter and looked brighter afterwards and the redness went away after about half an hour. It claims to shrink pores, mine looked big when I first rinsed the peel off, but after moisturizing, they were definitely less noticeable and skin around my eyes and lips plumped up helping with fine lines.
After my second use, I noticed a much bigger difference. I left it on longer despite the tingle and redness knowing that there was no lasting effects from the first peel. I could feel the skin that peeled off when I rinsed. At first, my skin looked worse after this peel. It was amazing how many deeply blocked pores I had which were now on the surface of the skin and leaving it on for longer, I had more redness. However, my pores were open and it was easy to unblock the pores using a Biore strip. After a treatment of Argan Oil serum and night cream, my skin looked so much smoother, brighter and hardly any noticeable pores.
As far as oil protection, after using [re]fresh’s fruit peel the second time, I wore makeup all day without having to deal with an oily t-zone in the afternoon. My makeup sat on my skin better with my primer not having to work as hard to fill lines and pores and just sat as a base like it should. I honestly did not expect to see a difference in such a short time (I did my peels just a few days apart) so was pleasantly surprised at the results. There was no noticeable impact on my freckles, in fact with brighter skin they were more noticeable, but “cuter” according to my friends.
If you are a beginner to peels, I would definitely recommend [re]fresh gel peels, they are fairly gentle on the skin, the gel consistency makes them super easy to apply and versatile enough that you can add on layers of it if you are experienced and want more of an impact. It is also affordable, less than the price of a peel at a decent salon for a bottle.
Buy [re]fresh Skin Therapy Skin Peels
You can buy direct from [re]fresh Skin Therapy here or on Amazon.ca (note they do ship from the US)
The fruit peel is around $35 but a coupon offer pops up on various pages of their website and is a little more on Amazon. Shipping is $6.50 to Canada or free when you spend $55. This item ships free from Amazon.
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This product was provided free of charge for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.
Cool sounding product; I have sensitive skin though so i’d be worried or it being too irritating for me… it would be great though for those stubborn pores like you mentioned
Not sure that I am brave enough to try it – my skin reacts badly to many products
wow i have never heard of this or tried it before but definitely would love to
I have never tried a peel before , never considered it , this is a great review , very informative so I may have to give this a try !
I have really sensitive skin so I have never tried a peel before. I may try one after your review, though.
I am not sure I would be comfortable doing a peel at home
I don;t think I would try an at home chemical peel, I would want to leave it to the pro’s but these products do sound nice.
I would consider trying it
[…] My skin has been terrible lately. With the changing weather, I have a sudden outbreak of pimples and orange peel like skin. Your makeup can’t cover everything, and with the recent heatwave, will not last the day, so I have been making a real effort to “fix” my skin. I have used [re]fresh peels before, trying their fruit acid peel. […]