Review: Medik8 Skincare {Ask Sarah Tries Stuff, So You Know What’s Worth Buying}

My skin is the bane of my beauty life. I have so many issues – I get cystic breakouts on my cheeks that leave red marks that last months, I have textured skin with big pores and I manage to have dehydrated yet oily skin that is quite sensitive. And I have hyper pigmentation on my forehead. Basically, I am at my wits end, trying to find a balance. Trust me, there are skin pics at the end. It has been an expensive game of trial and error, so when RY.com.au  contacted me and asked if I’d like to try out some Medik8 products, I was thrilled! I told them about my skin concerns, so that they could pick out some products for me to try.

A week later, I received a lovely package of goodies to play with! Of course I was super excited and had resist the urge to try it all at once but experience has taught me to be patient and incorporate one thing at a time. That way I can tell if something is doing an awesome job or isolate any trouble makers that disagree with me. I think one at time is the best way if you have sensitive skin. I tested everything out over a three month period, so everything had a fair chance to show me results.

I’d just finished my daily moisturiser, so I started out with the Hydr8 Day 360 Total Anti-Ageing Moisturiser first. I loved that it came in pump pack because they’re hygienic and easy.  Of course sunscreen is a must and I’m glad it was included, although I would prefer a higher SPF. The texture is creamy but not too thick and not gloopy. It feels lovely on the skin! It sinks but doesn’t leave you feeling dry. It works beautifully under makeup, no balling or pilling. It didn’t impact on wear time or make my foundation too dewy. Best of all, it didn’t break me out, which is amazing because many do. I was super happy with this and would repurchase.

Next up was the betaCleanse Foaming Cleanser. Again, I love a pump pack. So much easier when you have wet hands. I was using this as my morning cleanse because I found that it wasn’t great at removing makeup and I am way too lazy to double cleanse. I know I should double cleanse but I never keep it up. I don’t think it’s a fault in the product but if you are lazy like me, you should know this won’t remove eye makeup perfectly. It did leave my skin very clean but not dry. I really wanted to like this but it has Tea Tree Oil which I found can upset my skin and unfortunately this did. I ended up going back to my holy grail cleanser from Clarins. But there is bright side,  Mr Ask gave the betaClease a try and loved it! He has a normal to oily skin with occasional white heads and this cleanser cleared his skin beautifully. He has stolen it from my vanity and uses it daily. He has asked me to repurchase, so this was a win with him!

The Red Alert Serum is an oil style serum with an eye dropper dispenser. It’s not a dry oil but it’s sort of not greasy or heavy either. You only need a few drops for your whole face or less if you are only using it on areas of redness. At first I tried using this in the morning, underneath my moisturiser and it was good. It didn’t affect my makeup application or how my makeup wore. Then I had some red, sore hormonal breakouts on my skin and yet my skin was dry! One night I decided to get on to some facial massage with the Red Alert and it was game changing! I woke up looking much better and my skin felt so much better. This is now part of my night time routine, I use it only on my poor red cheeks and am really happy with the results.

The CE-Tetra is the same style of product as the Red Alert, in terms of packaging and texture. Again, this is designed for morning use but after my experience with Red Alert, I prefer to use it at night as part of my face massaging. I just don’t have face massaging time in the mornings! CE-Tetra is designed to minimise pigmentation and I have quite a bit on my forehead plus a sort of natural contour under my cheekbones. I use this on the rest of my face and down my neck. I feel like it has minimised my darker spots and also helped with skin texture. I notice that foundation looks less cakey on the textured parts of my face. I will definitely be keeping this in my routine.

Now, I hate to scare you with filter free close ups of my skin but I think you need to see! I so didn’t want to put my ugly skin out there, I didn’t even take proper pics. But I feel I should, so you can know (it’s not called ‘Ask Sarah Tries Stuff, So You Know What’s Worth Buying’ for nothing!). So you get these selfies! On the left is my naughty skin misbehaving. Yep, I have makeup on but no makeup on my skin, just moisturiser. On the right is a selfie I took showing off a new mascara (to send to my Mum & Sister) but with an other wise bare face. You see the differences? So when I say, I’ve really enjoyed these products, I mean it!My skin isn’t perfect but so much closer!

I think skincare is so important, especially now as I am closer to 40 than 30. I always welcome the chance to try new products and see how they work for me. I think it is worth investing in high quality products but finding the right ones can be hard. I really put these products through their paces, testing each one alone for a week and then combining them into my routine. I’ve been very pleased with them all, even though the cleanser wasn’t for me Mr Ask found it was his perfect cleanser.

If you are keen to try Medik8 before buying, why not book in for a facial or other treatment and see what you think? Or enter their comp to win a year of free skin care? I think the competition ends 30 November 2016, so head over quick! I hope you have enjoyed this review, if you have any questions about what I tried, feel free to ask. Also, let me know if you would like to see more skincare posts or maybe my current routine? Leave me a message xx

Ps. I was not paid to write this review but I was sent product to try free of charge (the moisturiser was full size, cleanser was travel size and both serums were 3ml minis). As always, I told it to you straight and gave my honest opinions.