Brand Highlight – Paula’s Choice

Hello my friends!
I’m back and ready to get into some reviewing. If you missed last weeks post, I spoke about my goals for this year, you can check that out here. Today I wanted to bring back the classic brand highlight. As you can tell from the title, it is all about Paula’s Choice. If you’ve been on the internet for the past 5 years or more, you’ll know this brand is so highly raved about from Youtube, Instagram and probably Reddit to be honest (I don’t keep up to date with Reddit haha).

I purchased some of their products in late 2020, I picked up the famous 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant, the 10% Azelaic Acid Booster and the Niacinamide 10% Booster. I got two of them in a set and I purchased another separately (I don’t remember which I got in a set). They were 20% off from memory and since this brand has been on my wish list for some time, I decided to seize the day and get it while it was still on sale. Initially I wanted to hold out for Black Friday sales, but my skin was in need of these acids anyways so I got them earlier in the month. I am yet to open the Niacinamide Booster so this review will come at a later date. Let’s get into it!

2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant

One of their best sellers, no doubt! This comes in a bottle that you can easily pour out, whether it’s onto your hands or into a cotton pad. The packaging is very simplistic, with the main ingredient being salicylic acid, and it’s suitable for all skin types.

This product claims to help with:

• Unclogging and shrinking enlarged pores
• Smoothing and evening out skin tone

It also states that it’s a lightweight liquid that absorbs easily. You can use it once or twice a day and of course use sunscreen in the AM.

For me, my concerns were clogged pores and evening out my skin tone. So it’s been about two months since I opened it and I can say I have seen an amazing difference in my skin. It’s so much smoother and my skin tone has evened out. I can’t say I’ve seen a huge improvement in my pores, I feel like I still have the same amount of clogged pores here and there.

Overall, I’m still pretty pleased with my results from using this. It’s 118ml/4 fl. oz. and I have maybe half left? It doesn’t come in transparent packaging so it’s hard to tell. I’ll definitely be repurchasing this in the future, I wish they did sales more frequently though!

10% Azelaic Acid Booster

Azelaic acid is quite hard to get in Australia, we can’t get The Ordinary’s version here (has to be purchased from an overseas retailer) and now Paula’s Choice has also stopped selling their Azelaic Acid Booster here as well! There is a 20% version from Azclear, one of Ego’s brands, and you can get it from chemists. I haven’t tried it before, but I’ve heard the Paula’s Choice one is a little bit better.

So besides Azelaic Acid, there’s Licorice and Salicylic Acid. This helps to even out skin tone and can be used once or twice a day as well. You can add it into a moisturiser/serum or use it alone, I prefer to use it alone as a spot treatment or on areas with redness – my cheeks and chin. It’s also not irritating and fragrance free.

At first I used this like no tomorrow, I had so many break outs and redness due to hormones and wanted a semi-quick fix. I noticed it helped calm down pimples and over time I did see a bit of a difference in my skin tone, it helped reduce the redness in some areas. Since finding out that they’ll no longer be selling this in Australia, I have been using it so sparingly because I’m half way through my tube!

For a first time user of this acid, I’m quite pleased because I didn’t experience any irritation or pilling with my other skincare. It actually works really well with my other skincare products so that’s a plus!

I will consider purchasing the Azclear version once I’m out, though like I said I’ve heard the PC one is better because it doesn’t pill. Will update you with my thoughts once I get my hands on it!

Paula’s Choice is a pretty reputable brand, I’m happy with my purchases and will consider purchasing more from them in the future. If you’re just after one product, I’d recommend splitting your order with a friend because you can get free shipping when you spend over $99. The shipping was quite fast to me as well as I’m located in Sydney metro.

Have you tried any Paula’s Choice products before?

With love,