Review – Stratia Soft Touch AHA

Hi guys! It’s me! Your super-inconsistent blogger! Heh.. Anyway, I was just looking through my site and saw this post that I had reserved and saved way back in the year 2017! *inserts horror face emoji* Yup, so that’s why you see this product Stratia’s Soft Touch in its previous packaging! Anyway, I thought that since I had taken photos and have already finished this product, maybe I could give you guys a proper review. 

Ingredients

Water (Aqua), Mandelic Acid, Propylene Glycol, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Panthenol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Matricaria Recutita (Chamomile) Flower Extract, Glycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate, Allantoin, Sodium Hydroxide, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate

How does the Stratia Soft Touch AHA fare?

Stratia’s Soft Touch AHA is claimed to be a hyper-gentle, highly effective exfoliant that sloughs off dead skin cells to help reveal smoother, clearer skin. Although AHAs are excellent in dissolving the intercellular “glue” between dead cells on the surface of your skin and revealing the smooth, bright skin underneath, many AHAs can also cause significant irritation and redness, especially to those with sensitive skin. However, the AHA included in this product (Mandelic Acid) is the exception. It is a much larger molecule than glycolic acid, so it doesn’t penetrate the skin as deeply and therefore causes significantly less irritation. Soft Touch AHA has 10% mandelic acid, along with skin-soothers like aloe, chamomile, and allantoin to give you bright, smooth skin with the least amount of irritation possible.

In a nutshell, Soft Touch AHA is a very gentle AHA product especially formulated for sensitive skins.

I usually use this product in the mornings straight after cleansing. True to its claims, it is very gentle and has never caused any stinging sensation to my skin. But guess what?! After a few weeks into using this product, my skin was the smoothest that it could ever be.. What kinda sorcery is this, Alli?? *Alli is the founder of Stratia Skin*

Anyway, to cut it short, I think that practically all skin types (except if you are truly super sensitive, then maybe do a patch test first?) can benefit from having this product in your skincare regime. In fact, I find that even on days when I use tretinoin, my skin is still able to tolerate this product. So if you are looking for an exfoliant but is scared to try one (just in case your face melts off), I think that this is a safe bet! 

Where can you find it?

You can purchase it from their official website. It retails at US$16 (50ml sized).

Review – Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta® Universal Daily Peel (Packettes)

I bought the normal strength version of the Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta® Universal Daily Peel to see how it compares with the extra strength version. I had previously used the extra strength version and loved it to bits! Hence I thought that I should do a comparison post for you guys in case you were pondering which strength you should get. In any case, I could only evaluate the products based on my own skin condition so please keep this in mind while you read my post.

Let’s jump into the ingredients list, shall we?

Ingredients

Step 1 Comparison

Ingredients (Normal Strength)	Ingredients (Extra Strength)
Water	Water
Alcohol Denat	Alcohol Denat
Glycolic Acid	Glycolic Acid
Potassium Hydroxide	Potassium Hydroxide
Hamamelis Virginiana Water	Hamamelis Virginiana Water
Salicylic Acid	Salicylic Acid
Polysorbate 20	Polysorbate 20
Citric Acid	Lactic Acid
Lactic Acid	Mandelic acid
Malic Acid	Malic Acid
	Citric Acid
	Salix Alba Bark Extract
	Menthone Glycerin Acetal
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract	Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
Achillea Millefolium Extract	Achillea Millefolium Extract
Anthemis Nobilis Flower Extract	Anthemis Nobilis Flower Extract
soy isoflavones	soy isoflavones
Copper PCA	Copper PCA
Zinc PCA	Zinc PCA
Lecithin	Lecithin
Disodium EDTA	Disodium EDTA
Alcohol	Alcohol
Polysorbate 80	Polysorbate 80
Fragrance	Fragrance
Linalool	Linalool
Benzyl salicylate	Benzyl salicylate
Benzoic Acid	Benzoic Acid
Phenoxyethanol	Phenoxyethanol
Sodium Benzoate	Sodium Benzoate

Step 2 Comparison

Ingredient (Normal Strength)	Ingredient (Extra Strength)
Water	Water
Sodium bicarbonate	Sodium bicarbonate
Ascorbic Acid	Resveratrol
Ascorbyl Palmitate	Retinol
Retinyl Palmitate	Ascorbic Acid
Retinol	Ubiquinone
Tocopheryl Acetate	Ascorbyl Palmitate
Resveratrol	Phospholipids
Ubiquinone	Retinyl Palmitate
Achillea Millefolium Extract	Tocopheryl Acetate
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract	soy isoflavones
Leuconostoc/ Radish Root Ferment Filtrate	Achillea Millefolium Extract
soy isoflavones	Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
Phospholipids	Leuconostoc/ Radish Root Ferment Filtrate
Copper PCA	Copper PCA
Sodium PCA	Sodium PCA
Zinc PCA	Zinc PCA
Dimethicone	Dimethicone
Lecithin	Lecithin
Polysorbate 20	Polysorbate 20
Polysorbate 80	Polysorbate 80
PEG-30 STEARATE	Alcohol
Octoxynol-9	BHT
Alcohol	PEG-30 STEARATE
BHT	Octoxynol-9
Tetrasodium EDTA	Tetrasodium EDTA
Sorbic Acid	Sorbic Acid
Sodium Benzoate	Sodium Benzoate
Phenoxyethanol	Phenoxyethanol

I’ve highlighted in red the ingredients that are in different order or just simply different ingredients. As you can see from the above tables, the extra strength version of the Alpha Beta Peel has 7 acids in total while the normal strength version has 5 acids. Also, the order of the acids are different.

Nonetheless, I’m sure that you can tell from the comparison tables above that most of their main ingredients are basically the same and are also in the same order.

How does the Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta® Universal Daily Peel fare?

In all honesty, I think that the effects of this normal strength peel did not differ too much from their extra strength version. All my thoughts on the extra strength version of this peel also applies to the normal strength version (Read my full review of the extra strength version of the alpha beta peel here). I love this normal strength version as much as its extra strength version. Therefore, the only noticeable difference for me personally is that the extra strength version of the alpha-beta peel has a much more pronounced smell of alcohol. Again I’m not surprised at this, given that alcohol ranks higher in its ingredients list.

So if you were pondering on which version to get, I would say both versions are basically the same with the extra strength version containing 2 extra acids. If you have normal combination skins, you could just purchase the normal strength version. If you have combination oily skins, you might appreciate the slightly more exfoliating effects of the extra strength version better. Either way, both versions had worked very well for me and I would gladly recommend this product to anybody looking for maximum anti-ageing benefits.

Where can you find it?

I bought this product from Cult Beauty Online. It retails at £73.50 (30 treatments).

Thank you for reading!

Review – Dr Dennis Gross Ferulic + Retinol Wrinkle Recovery Peel

Dr Dennis Gross Ferulic + Retinol Wrinkle Recovery Peel was another product that I picked up when Cult Beauty was offering their Summer Goody Bag 2017 with a purchase of more than £110. I’ve been using this product for around 2 months plus and I’m ready to share my thoughts on it with you.

As usual, ingredients are below for your reference.

Ingredients

Water/Aqua/Eau, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water, SD Alcohol 40-B, Butylene Glycol, Hydroxyethyl Urea, PEG-8 Dimethicone, Ethoxydiglycol, Retinol, Ferulic Acid, Centella Asiatica Extract, Bisabolol, Soy Isoflavones, Rehmannia Glutinosa Root Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Phospholipids, Sphingolipids, Squalane, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Sodium PCA, Lactic Acid, Mandelic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Extract, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, BHA, Trideceth-9, Polysorbate 20, Potassium Sorbate, Benzoic Acid, BHT, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol

How does the Dr Dennis Gross Ferulic + Retinol Wrinkle Recovery Peel fare?

Dr Dennis Gross Ferulic + Retinol Wrinkle Recovery Peel is a peel (you’ve guessed it!) infused with a high-performance dose of retinol+ ferulic acid to accelerate skin renewal and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, loss of firmness, and for a more even-looking complexion. Unlike its Alpha Beta Peel counterpart, this peel is only done in one step. You’ll just need to swipe a pre-soaked pad all over clean, dry skin and carry on with the rest of the your skincare routine. It is recommended to be used 2-3 times a week for best results.

I was using the Alpha Beta Peel in conjunction with this product and found it to be a much gentler peel than the Alpha Beta Peel (On nights where I used this product, I do not use the Alpha Beta Peel). There was absolutely no stinging sensation even from the first use which was markedly different from my experience with the Alpha Beta Peel. For the first one month where I used this around 2 to 3 times weekly, I kept wondering if this product was actually doing anything cause the Alpha Beta Peel was so much stronger. However after using it for around 2 months plus, I came to the conclusion that this product is in fact a significant factor for the glowing state of my skin. One of the best things about this product is that its formula is well-balanced with moisturising ingredients like Urea, Sodium Hyaluronate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice and Glycerin, thus enabling me to use this product even when my skin gets slightly sensitive while I was on my period. If you want a more layman comparison, I would say that the Alpha Beta Peel is like the strict parent who’s more abrasive in nature (using Glycolic Acid, Salicylic Acid, Ascorbic Acid etc.) and uses strong disciplinary actions to make sure that you do things right. On the other hand, the Ferulic + Retinol Wrinkle Recovery Peel is the kind of parent who’s slightly more gentle (using Lactic Acid, Mandelic Acid, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water etc.) and hands off but would “nag” you gently but persuasively to do things right.

I noticed that on nights when I used this product, my skin would have a calm gentle glow the next morning and it lasts till the whole day. In fact, I looked like I’ve gotten a glowing filter on my skin even when I do not use any foundation. I believe that even acid newbies should be able to incorporate this product into their skincare routine comfortably without too much fuss. This is a definite repurchase for me!

Where can you find it?

I bought this product from Cult Beauty Online. It retails at £77.00 (16 Treatments). 

Thank you for reading!