Screening report: If you’re looking for a spa-quality facial treatment at home, you need the Active Peel System.
Who doesn’t love a good facial? Not only are spa visits soothing, relaxing and rejuvenating, but you also leave looking great. Whether it’s blemishes, fine lines, wrinkles, scars or uneven skin tone, facials are almost magical. I try to treat myself to a facial every month, but with travel, pandemic scares, and life in general, I often end up going months without treatment. As such, I decided to find something I could use at home that could tide me over between facial appointments.
I got in touch with my longtime esthetician, Agnes (thanks to Graceful Touch by Agnes!) who recommended the iS Clinical Active Peel System, which I promptly ordered online. I was initially intimidated by the word “system”, mistakenly assuming that the product would require a laborious, multi-step effort similar to the complicated facials she gave me for over a decade. False. This system is actually simple. step system that comes with two individually wrapped face swabs. Simply cleanse your face, wipe your face and neck with the first swab, wait three minutes, then wipe your face and neck with the second swab.
Now let me be clear, chemical peel facials are very different from extraction facials (where technicians extract all the waste from your pores) and purely relaxing facials, which may simply include a series of cleansers, moisturizers and facial massages. Literally chemical peeling of the face peel removing the damaged upper layers of the skin with a chemical solution. The process improves your skin tone and texture by removing dead skin, fine lines and texture to reveal a more youthful appearance.
The IS Clinical Active Peel System is a plant-based system that uses ingredients like sugar cane and fruit extracts to “resurface and polish” your skin. The first step exfoliates and the second step hydrates and rejuvenates. The box suggests using the system every other day but Agnes warned me that using it more than once a week would be too drying for my skin type (dry and sensitive). According to her, “People who need serious resurfacing, or who have acne or pigmentation can use the pads daily for two weeks, but then have to stop for a while. Not everyone can not use them daily as this will dry out their skin.
One quick thing to note about peelable tampons: they burn! No, it’s not terribly painful, and these home peels burn much less than spa peels, but there is definitely some brief discomfort. After all, beauty is pain, right? It feels a bit like a cold scorch, a bit like being in a sports drink commercial, being splashed with a refreshing “cold arctic breeze” flavor. Now that I’ve been using the system for a few weeks, my skin feels more refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to be the face model in a “cold arctic breeze” sports drink ad, if the opportunity presents itself.
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