The acne series: Guest review of Aspect and Dr Aspect

In the first of my series of guest reviews on acne treatment ranges, I recruited Vanessa to trial some Aspect and Aspect Dr products. The products she received were:

Aspect Purastat 5 Cleanser which is described as 'an extraordinary one-of-a-kind cleansing formula that will exceed your expectations and change the way you think about the simple act of cleansing your face forever.'

Aspect Jungle Brew 'Chemical free because problem skin should be nurtured not tortured! If you suffer the misery of spotty, excessively oily or impure skin, you will no doubt have tried a myriad of cosmetic treatments with the hope of finding that magic clear skin solution only to find that the cure was worse than the disease'

Aspect Dr Exfol A Plus Serum 'A potent Vitamin A formula that has superior stability coupled with exceptional cellular renewal activity for clearer, smoother, more evenly coloured, younger looking skin.'

This is Vanessa's review:

My skin is troublesome to say the least. So when the opportunity came up to trial some acne-prone beauty products I jumped at the chance and boy, am I glad that I did! Why? Well, my skin is pimple prone – it always has been. 15-20 years ago I even went to a skin specialist and went on Roaccutane. My skin is stubborn so though this helped after a few months I found that my skin began playing up again after coming off of it. So my skin specialist put me on a second course of Roaccutane. This was great because this second course dried my sebum supply out enough to keep my skin under control – for quite a while at least. 

Enter my thirties: massive hormonal changes because I began a family – childbirth, breastfeeding played a big part in hormonal changes but luckily my skin stayed okay until my very late thirties when it started to get more oily – again!! Enter my fourties: increasingly oily skin for no apparent reason. Maybe the effect of the Roaccutane was finally wearing off!! So I was on the computer searching and signed up to several beauty blogs/website because I thought it sounded silly to head for the skin specialist again for yet another round of Roaccutane. But you know what? I would have been on it again if I hadn’t been invited to trial these truly amazing topical products by Aspect courtesy of The Science of Beauty blog.

So you probably have the picture of what my skin is like by now: pimple-prone, acne-prone, super duper oily t-zone, temperamental both to dairy products in my diet (triggered pimples!!) and also temperamental with hormones from the ‘monthlies’ which are sporadic at the best of times!! Genetically speaking, I got this annoying skin from my mum. Thanks Mum!! I watched her struggle with her pimple-prone skin all her life. So genetics, oiliness, the odd bad habit (like touching my face when I shouldn’t) and probably using the wrong products on my skin have made my skin the way it is. If I have a weak point then my pimple prone skin is my weak point. Everything else is great – it’s just that my skin is the pain and bane of my life.

As you can imagine I’ve tried and used many, many products which claim they’ll help control pimples and improve my oily skin type. (Though I’m dry on my upper cheeks and round my eyes and near my ears at my age now). Some products did help a little – just a little though and it was more for just ‘control’ after the next batch of pimples emerged but I have never, ever used anything as effective, gentle and downright amazing as these Aspect products (which I had never heard of by the way, before this trial).

The Aspect Purastat 5 Cleanser (240ml) slotted easily and simply into my ‘beauty’ routine by quite honestly being the most incredibly gentle yet anti-acne cleanser I have EVER used and I’ve used a couple of very good ones. This lime-scented and lime-coloured cleanser is so beautifully gentle that I can use it all over my face and there is not the least hint of dryness. It doesn’t strip my skin whatsoever. The pump top quality bottle is shaped like an upside-down cone. I’ve been using it for just over a month now and I estimate I’ve used only 40mls of this precious potion which makes it very very economical because it looks like it’s going to last me around 6 months! That works out around $10 a month or around $2.50 a week for the BEST cleanser I’ve ever used for my crazy skin type. It’s effect on my skin is highly cleansing and refreshing as well as calming – somehow it makes my skin feel more resilient against pimples and much, much less pimple prone. I’m honestly completely amazed something like this exists!

The other two Aspect products I received to trial for my pimple prone skin was two serums – one I’ve been using in the morning after cleansing – Jungle Brew (30ml) and the other I’ve been using at night after cleansing – Exfol A Plus Serum (30ml).

These fitted so easily into my normal routine – straight after cleansing and before I applied my moisturiser. In the morning I’d apply a sunscreen moisturiser after the Jungle Brew serum and in the night I’d apply an oil-free basic moisturiser after I applied the Exfol A Plus Serum. They both went onto/into my skin extremely easily – they both felt the same to apply. They are both a thin, slippery, easy-to-spread serum which, with one squirt from the pump pack would cover my entire face and upper neck area (as I was getting very stubborn pimple problems in the last year on my upper neck area too). At night sometimes I would apply the Exfol A Plus Serum without adding any of my nightly oil-free moisturiser on top.

These serums both are soothing, simple and effective. To me it seems like they have a compound effect with the use of the cleanser and so I love using these three products in unison on a daily basis.

These products are working for me like bottles of miracles! I would never have believed anything could help my skin as well as these Aspect products. After a few weeks of use my skin no longer feels pimple prone/acne-prone. It feels somehow stronger against pimples and doesn’t have that awful ‘just about to break out feeling’. Since starting these products my skin has had no further breakouts at all! My skin certainly looks a million miles clearer than what it did before I started using them too. My photos show the results! My face (and neck) is not congested like it was and I haven’t changed anything in my diet/nutrition but I still avoid dairy products. Maybe one day I will be able to eat and drink dairy again with the way these Aspects products are working for me!

I feel completely gob-smacked because I really thought I was going to be heading down the Roaccutane track yet again but after using these Aspect trial products I don’t have to.

I found these products to be very gentle but I did wear a sunscreen everyday as I normally do and I found that generally using moisturiser over the top of the serums, both for day and night, as my preferred way of using these. The night time Exfol A Plus Serum I found stronger than the Jungle Brew and I found that using the Purastat 5 Cleanser I didn’t need to rub at all and I used it for around 30 seconds to 1 minute to cleanse with and then I rinsed it off. I found it easy to rinse off. At night, after wearing make-up and sunscreens I would do a ‘double cleanse’ with it as the instructions say so on the website. This worked exceedingly well for me.

Something very worthy of mentioning is that these products are completely Australian and not tested on animals. It gets even better! They are wonderful cosmeceutical products which are free of all the nasties too – free of parabens, formaldehyde, sodium lauryl sulphate, propylene glycol, mineral oils, petrolatum, artificial colours and fragrances.

These unusual skincare products are truly what I’d call beauty products! Thank you The Science of Beauty and Aspect for allowing me to discover them through this trial. I am completely amazed with them!! They really work for me. I sit here typing this with absolutely no pimples!! I can easily say that they are the best products I have ever used in my entire life!

Before trial

After

After: close up

Aspect is a protected brand not available in department stores or online. For more information on salons that stock the Aspect and Aspect Dr range, check out their website.

Have you found your Holy Grail set of products to fix your problematic skin?

All opinions stated in this blog are my own (or in this case are Vanessa's). I have no affiliation with Aspect or Aspect Dr and received no remuneration for these comments. These products were provided to Vanessa for her consideration.