I had a rocky start with Jurlique’s Herbal Recovery Gel. When I first started using it, it coincided with a little breakout. This breakout was later traced to a particularly delicious packet of caramel biscuits. After sorting out that little episode, I’ve been using this antioxidant cocktail for weeks now to try and assertain how it performs.
I’m a fan of the packaging – it feels very sturdy and the pump delivers very accurate doses of the product. However, I didn’t really feel that this mixture of herbal extracts with traces of Vitamin C, A, and E, really did a huge amount for my skin apart from deliver some extra moisture under my regular moisturiser. I also noted that one of the first ingredients in this serum is alcohol, which is odd in a product which is touted to be natural.
I think the key to this product is written on the box: ‘maintain balance’. When I drop whatever serum I am using in favour of the Herbal Recovery Gel around ‘that time of the month’, I don’t get a single, solitary pimple. It works even more effectively than the Dermalogica Overnight Clearing Gel that I’m been playing around with for months now. I think I can attribute this success to the small amount of lactic acid in the Herbal Recovery Gel, which is known to be a very mild exfoliant and clean out pores. Whatever the reason, this has now become my ‘go-to’ product when I break out, or think I might break out.
I do find, however, that sometimes when I apply this product it the smell makes my eyes sting for a few seconds, but I’m hesitant to use this as a strike against the product. After years and years of contact lense use, my eyes are still a little damaged and sensitive, so what affects me may not affect your normal eyes. In any case, it only happens occasionally, so I’m quite happy to keep using this product as a zit zapper.
I think this serum would suit a young person with combination skin who wanted something to boost their moisturiser and prevent breakouts. It would also suit someone like me who wants an easy to apply product which neutralises breakouts. However, if you’re after a serum that will tackle anti-aging issues, try a Vitamin C serum.
I purchased Jurlique’s Herbal Recovery Gel from Apothica.com for USD $48 plus $22.67 shipping to Australia.
Glad you’re liking this! I don’t really get many pimples so I’m not sure whether this is a must have for me.
A lot of botanical extracts require a small amount of alcohol to dissolve, so that’s prob why it’s on the ingredient list, but I’m not sure why there would be so much of it??
@Jen I agree – if you don’t suffer from breakouts you can probably skip this one. Interesting what you say about alcohol and botanicals! Alcohol is the third ingredient (behind water and glycerin), but it does account for some of it I suppose
Interesting, sounds like a helpful one for the occasional breakout
I’ve tried this a couple of times, but unfortunately I didn’t much like it. It always felt weirdly sticky on me, and the smell is really overpowering.
#Jade Pretty much!
@Dee That’s interesting! I didn’t find it sticky, but it’s interesting to hear that someone else had an issue with the smell!
I like the smell! But then I always like herbal/botanical type of smells that lots of other people don’t like. I find it does work well for me — I do have oily/combination/acne-prone skin. I agree with Dee that it can be strangely sticky sometimes though.
@Stacey Oh right! Do you find that it neutralises break-outs too? I don’t find it sticky, but perhaps I’m used to more ‘sticky’ products because I have dry skin
Yeah, the smell is pretty overpowering. I had the opposite reaction from you — this broke me out, ending in cystic acne. I didn’t realize at the time that it was the alcohol I reacted to poorly. It was horrible. I’m not even prone to cystic acne. I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth for Jurlique ever since, despite some of their products being quite good.
@Emily Wow, that’s terrible! You poor thing! I’ve had some sensitivities to alcohol in the past too, so I know how depressing it can be to clean up the resulting mess