Hi, ladies!
Today I want to talk about one skincare item that really made a change in my skin improvement journey, Paula's Choice Hydralight Shine-Free Daily Mineral Complex SPF 30. I admit that I didn't actually care about using a daily face cream with SPF untill I came across Paula's Choice line of skincare products and I decided I should start using a BHA exfoliator. Those of you who are familiar with liquid exfoliators know that one requirement is that you should definitely use a sunscreen after as your skin may become more sensible to light, radiations etc.
So my choice was this light moisturiser, adressed for normal/combo/oily skin, with a broad spectrum SPF 30. I've been searching for a long time a daily moisturiser that can actually moisturise my skin and to mattify my problem areas where I tend to get oily : my nose, forehead and chin. My searches finally paid off as this little guy here is my answer!
Let's talk package first. It comes in this squeeze plastic tube with the standard lid on. You get 60 ml of product which is actually good especially since the consistancy is pretty dense and it lasts a long time. I've just finished one of them and it lasted me for about 5 months of almost daily use. Perhaps I would have liked a different type of packaging as it took a lot of effort to squeeze the last bits out of the tube, maybe a pump.
It comes as a very white, almost thick cream, very dense, but when you start blending it in your skin it's not oily or thick at all. It absorbs so quickly that in 2 minutes I can start putting my makeup on. Being a sunscreen, you need a pretty generous amount, about the size of an almond.
What I enjoy the most is that it leaves my skin sooo smooth and velvety and the smell is not bad. I mean it smells a little like sunscreen, but the smell is very faint.
Untill now, I've been using it only during fall/winter/spring when I'm not so oily in my T zone and I was amazed how matte my skin looked even after more than 10 hours of wear. It's also a great makeup base, my foundation/BB Cream/CC Cream blend in very well on top of this.
Because I have a true combo skin, while my T zone can become an oily mess without the proper care, the area around my mouth and on my jaw can become really dry and dry patches appear every now and then. This moisturiser took care of those areas also, because while I have oily areas, my skin is not actually moisturised enough so I have to use products that mattify the oily T zone and moisturises the other dry areas.
This helped me also a bit with my redness, it's not visible, just a little around my nose, but Hydralight did some good things also for that area so I don't have to correct it with concealer or highlighter anymore.
Overall, I can honestly say that this is probably the best skincare item I ever used, along with my 2% BHA Gel Exfoliator which I'll be reviewing next. I don't know how it will work for those of you with dry skin, but for those who are constantly fighting with oily T zone, deshydratated skin areas, this stuff is great! And using a sunscreen every day is a must, even during winter. I learned this the hard way, so don't do that, always use a daily skincare product with SPF, your skin will thank you later!
You can find it at Paula's Choice website or if you're from Romania, we have our own Paula's Choice online store. It's not a cheap product, it's around 28 Euro, but considering all the good stuff and how long it lasts, I think the price is more than fair.
Love at first brush