Review: REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask

This is a product I have owned for a number of years now, so when cleaning out my bathroom cabinet I decided to do a write up on it. I often end up forgetting about my old favourites and writing about new-launches that I love, but this one deserves a mention and I will be making an effort, going forward, to tell you about those products I love and buy for myself when they run out (rather than get sent by PR’s).

I love nothing more than a mask that I know is literally eating away at all my dead skin cells (ewww), one that tingles and leaves my skin feeling soft, glowing and renewed. This is made up of Glycolic, Lactic, Citrus and Tartaric and infused with extracts such as Passion fruit, Grape, Pineapple and Lemon. It smells great – citrusy and fresh with and undertone of glycolic acid (which in my mind smells amazing as I know what it’s going to do to my skin, but smells a bit sour).

I use this twice a week after cleansing and leave it on for 10 minutes. For those with sensitive skins, maybe rather go on ‘feel’. Start with 5 minutes and build it up from there. The one con of this product is the texture – it is au natural so we can’t complain too much, but it is very gloopy and strange – nothing too bad though. I think we are all pretty obsessed with that microdermabrasion/scrub feeling on our skins so tend to ignore the glycolic type of peels, however, these should be what you look at if you suffer from sensitivity, redness, inflammation or acne – they do the job of getting rid of dead skin cells perfectly while not irritating the skin or breaking open pimples – leading to scarring.

My skin feels like it heats up a little with this on and tingles a lot, I love this feeling though (as I’ve mentioned). I am pretty ruthless when it comes to exfoliating and apply this to my lip area too (although it says you shouldn’t) but it does wonders for dry/chapped lips.

I have been using this with my Clarifying toner from REN (I reviewed it here) – another one of REN’s products that I adore! You can buy it online at Woolworths.co.za or in stores countrywide for R479.00.