As I’ve gotten deeper (and deeper!) into my 30s I’ve started caring more about skincare. And I’ve always enjoyed reading beauty blogs that talk endlessly about makeup and skincare. In fact, thanks to all those sites I’ve almost figured out how to do my makeup – and I’m not even 40 yet! 😉
Last year I set out to find a skin care routine that actually helped my skin. Like many of you, I’ve been getting messages/emails/texts from “friends” over the last few years encouraging me to try Rodan + Fields. And if I’m being honest, I ignored all of them, because I thought they were annoying and salesy. Do NOT ask me how my Mom is doing when you really just want to get to the sales pitch. Gross! So instead I kept reading article after article about skincare – 7 Step Korean Skincare, The Best Eye Cream for Women in Their 30s, The Best Moisturizers for Oily Skin, etc. But I kept coming back to the same problem: it was all too complicated. I needed a bunch of different products from different brands, and it was overwhelming and confusing. What I really wanted was a simple 3-4 step process that I could order all together. So I started looking for reviews from people who use R+F but don’t sell it, because to a super skeptical person like me, that’s the only way to get a truly unbiased opinion. But I couldn’t find many! And even the ones I did find were reviews where the person had been gifted the products to review, and I can tell you from personal experience that it’s harder to be completely unbiased when you’ve been given a product vs. buying it on your own. So I decided to try the products and write about my own experience!
My friend Ashley is an R+F distributor (is that the right term?!), and she’s never even ONCE asked me to buy this or try that. She has amazing glowy skin though, so I sat back and watched her do her skincare thing for about a year. I would ask her questions sometimes, and she’d tell me everything I wanted to know but never tried to convince me to try the products. Which obviously resulted in me wanting to try the products!
So eventually I took the R+F skincare quiz and ordered my first regimen, Reverse Brightening, almost a year ago. Before I tell you how I feel about it, you need a little backstory on my skin: it’s really oily and I’ve always used products for “acne prone skin” to keep breakouts to a minimum. My skin broke out when I was a teenager, and I’ve been scared to use any other types of products since then. Of course, what I’ve really been doing for the last 20+ years is stripping my skin of all oil and making it work overtime to compensate, but I was so paranoid that if I used anything that wasn’t for acne I’d have a massive breakout. When I got my R + F products in the mail I was completely expecting them to break me out, even just at first. But it never happened! And I haven’t had a breakout (other than rare hormonal stuff every now and then) since I started using it!
My skin felt different after the first use. I’ve struggled with how to explain it, but my skin just felt healthier. It took about two months for me to really see the difference and another couple of months before other people started noticing and asking what I was using. I don’t think I’ll ever be one of those people with amazing skin, and I’m totally cool with that! Genetics and years of baking the Florida sun have to come into play at some point. But I can say that my skin looks better than it ever has! And a fun side effect that I didn’t think about before is that I’m really serious about sunscreen now. If I’m paying a lot of money for my skin to look good, I’m going to be much more diligent about protecting it from the sun!
Which leads me to the next thing I want to say: yes the products work! But holy crap. They’re so expensive. If I bought all the products I’ve tried and liked: the brightening regimen, plus eye cream, plus hydration serum, plus the roller, plus lash serum, plus body lotion, plus lip hydrating stuff I’d be spending a TON of money. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars. On skincare. I have a hard time justifying even the basic regimen I’m regularly using, so all the other stuff seems a bit extravagant to me. In fact, I was going to say that I think the products are WAY overpriced, but then I started thinking about that statement. They are expensive. But they also work for me, so are they really overpriced? I don’t know. I think it depends on your budget and also how much you think “good skin” is worth. Does that make sense?! If I could find another line that is simple to use, works just as well for my skin, and is considerably cheaper, sure, I’d switch to that one. But I don’t know if it exists. This might in fact be the holy grail of skincare! And if so, it seems rather unfair to call it overpriced, doesn’t it?!
Thankfully my “supplier” gives me samples and lets me try out the newest products. So I want to give you a full run down of exactly what I’ve tried, how I feel about each product, and how much they cost with my Preferred Customer account:
– REVERSE Brightening Regimen $171 – I love this 4-step kit! It has definitely improved my skin over the last 9 months. (I used the REVERSE Lightening Regimen for a couple weeks and didn’t like it as much.)
– Lash Boost $135 – It really does make your lashes crazy long, like a camels! haha! But you need to use it continuously. Your lash growth cycle never stops, so they all eventually fall out. And if you stop using Lash Boost, once all your really long lashes shed, you’re left with the short ones you started with. This might be total common sense to most people, but I had never thought about needing to constantly use it. You’re only supposed to keep the same tube for 3-4 months, so you need to buy about 3 of these a year to keep your long camel lashes. (For the last month I’ve been using a different lash serum that I found at Sephora for half the cost. I’ll let you know what I think about that one soon!)
– Active Hydration Body Replenish $59 – I’ve only tried a sample of this, but my skin was so smooth! Basically, my entire body felt like a baby’s butt. It was amazing! No more old “Florida Grandma” skin. I should probably apply it to my chest 17 times a day. 🙂
– Active Hydration Serum $97 – I think this stuff is actually the secret to the whole company! Every.Single.Time. I see one of those dramatic before/after pictures where the woman looked like she was smoking 7 packs of cigs a day and hadn’t had a glass of water in 8 years but now has the glowing complexion of an angel-baby, the post mentions that she uses Active Hydration Serum (and usually the roller thing.) Every time. I’m telling ya. Check it out for yourself! I’ve used a bunch of samples of this, and it always makes me feel like there’s a wet blanket on my face. It drives me absolutely nuts. But I also wake up with that angel-baby glow, so I guess it’s worth it. The things we do!
– Radiant Defense Perfecting Liquid $59 – I really didn’t like this product, but let me explain. I’m a full face makeup or nothing girl. If you’ve seen me without it, I’m certain you assumed I had the flu. This product reminded me of a BB cream or tinted moisturizer, and I felt like it just sat on top of my skin. It’s perfect for people who love the idea of a 5 minute face, but I’m not one of those people! I genuinely enjoy sitting on my bathroom counter and spending 15-20 minutes on my makeup (including a FULL coverage foundation!) I have to put all those makeup blogs and videos I watch to good use! So if the idea of a creamy tinted moisturizer sounds good to you, then you might really enjoy this product!
– Micro-Dermabrasion Paste $72 – This paste is an amazing exfoliate that makes my face feel so smooth! I rarely use it though, because a.) It’s one more step in my now ridiculous skin care routine b.) my face wash already has a bit of grit to it c.) I am just too lazy. I have to draw the line somewhere! This feels like a good place.
– REDEFINE Multi-Function Eye Cream $55 – I like how this cream gives extra moisture to my under-eye area. It’s improved the wrinkles around my eyes too. But the biggest thing I’ve noticed is that my under-eyes aren’t as dry and craggly. Craggy? Crinkly?
– Gauze Pads $8 – I can’t tell much difference between using these gauze pads and these that I get from Target.
– Lip Renewing Serum $50 – Definitely makes my lips feel moisturized, but I’m kind of loyal to this stuff and can’t tell much difference between the two.
I hope this doesn’t diminish all the good I’ve said so far, but I think it’s important to tell you that I took a “before” photo last spring and then took an “after” last week. I had every intention of sharing it with you. But I’m not. Because there’s NO VISIBLE DIFFERENCE between the two pictures. Like I mentioned earlier, I can definitely see a change in my skin. And Anderson and several friends have mentioned it too. But the photos I took don’t show it. So… there’s that.
Okay, there you have it! I need a nap now. If you made it to the end, I hope this has been helpful for anyone who’s been curious about the R + F products! I’d love to hear about your experiences too. If you know about another line of products that fulfills all of my above requirements, you better not keep it to yourself! That’s just not right. And if you decide to order some R + F goodies and want to work with a consultant who won’t pressure you or try to up-sell you or any of that yucky stuff, here’s a link to my friend Ashley’s page. She’ll hook you up!
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