little white truths

I tested this product in one of my sample posts a while ago, and I enjoyed my sample so much that I went out and bought myself a tube of it.

In hindsight I'm glad I went for the 50ml tube instead of the 200ml one because it's not as good as I recall. It's always a bugger when that happens: I remember really liking it!

Asap claims/product details:

Verdict

The sample I initially tried of this product was 5ml in size and I noted in my mini review that I wasn't expecting to like it because I'm not big on gels (I have dry skin and usually need something heavier), but this ended up being my favourite product of all the samples I tried in that particular post.

I went on to mention that I felt the product claims were met because it did reduce inflammation and soothe damaged (dry and dehydrated) skin like mine; and it did feel healing and calming on the skin and also reduced the appearance of redness. It's designed for oily skin but it worked for me too.

This time around it's not doing the same thing, and I'm wondering if that's partly because my skin is drier than usual so this isn't cutting the mustard. Mind you, we're away in sunny Noosa at the moment so you'd expect something like this to be the right kind of product to bring (indeed, that's why I bought it) - but unfortunately the heat has made me realise that this doesn't do enough for me.

It's a green gel that smells faintly of aloe vera but it's not a strong scent so it shouldn't bother most people. It's quite thick in texture but it applies and spreads well.

I remember that the sample felt soothing and cooling when applied, but this tube doesn't feel anything like that. If anything, it just feels a bit thick and sticky on the skin and it does leave a tacky coating so that's something to be aware of.

I've been applying it to my face and upper body after being in the sun, and it honestly hasn't done anything for me so I'll be quite happy to get through it. It's also not hydrating in the slightest (at least on me) so I wouldn't recommend this if you're in need of some decent moisture. This is disappointing because I remember that the sample helped with hydration more than I expected it to.

In other news it also has a tendency to ball-up when applied, which is bloody annoying and it's one of the reasons why I usually steer clear of gels because I've found that to be a common problem with gel products.

On the claims: no this doesn't reduce inflammation or soothe damaged skin; no it doesn't calm the skin or reduce the appearance of redness; and no it doesn't hydrate.

Overall I'm bummed about this because the sample worked so well for me. Asap does note in the product claims that the colour of each batch can vary due to its natural formulation, so perhaps the efficacy of each batch can vary too - which may explain the vast difference between this 50ml tube and the 5ml sample. Either that or my skin is currently in a bad patch while before it was more balanced so the product did more for me. I suppose that both could be true.

Not for me.