I am always scouring the internet searching for free samples that I can try and test and last year I was delighted to obtain a few from La Roche-Posay who are a company that specialise in skincare. Amongst the products I received were two 5ml tubes of Daily Renewal Fluid For Oily Skin and this review discusses my experience with using them.

~~ A little about my skin type ~~

During my teenage years my skin was very oily and as a result, was prone to breakouts of spots. Since I have aged my skin type can now be described as T-zone where I will often suffer with an oily nose and forehead and dry patches on my cheeks and chin. My job involves me spending a lot of time on the road and as a result I find that my skin can become considerably grimy. I follow a strict beauty regime where I thoroughly cleanse, tone and moisturise on a daily basis.

~~ Using the Daily Renewal Fluid ~~

The claims are that the product will "transform and smooth the skin texture and prevent repeated pore blocking". I took a look at the La Roche-Posay website to find out why they were making this claim and to learn about the active ingredients. I discovered that the Effaclar K range combines LHA and retinol Linoleate. This information might as well have been written in code, as I have no idea what LHA stands for and there was no explanation on the website.

I am not intending to discuss packaging, particularly as my freebies differed slightly to the larger version of 30 ml. However, the appearance of the tube with its' white background, blue logo and black text creates a clean and fresh image although some may consider it to be a little clinical. The paraben free white coloured fluid is similar to that of a lotion in consistency and is offers a very faint clean and fresh aroma. I was a little unsure of when I should apply the product, particularly as it does not replace a moisturiser, so I used directly after toning and prior to moisturisation.

It was easily applied to my skin and soaked in almost instantly and I found that I needed very little to cover my entire face. Whilst it was not uncomfortable I experienced a slight drying sensation on my cheeks and below my lips, so I was glad to apply my moisturiser directly afterwards.

~~ What did I think? ~~

The fluid is intended for those with combination to oily skin, irregular skin texture and blocked pores and whilst I often suffer with blocked pores around the edges of my nose I cannot admit to noticing any difference after using the two free tubes over a period of approximately one month. It is claimed that the fluid contains micro-exfoliating properties to unclog the pores, but these must have been tiny, as I could not witness any particles within the fluid. I am glad that I didn't fork out hard earned cash for this product, as in my opinion it is a total waste of money and I can achieve better results from using a facial scrub. On a positive note, I found the fluid perfect as a base for my mousse foundation, as it seemed to glide onto my skin with minimal effort and gave me a matt and shine-free appearance for the entire day. Once empty I was able to place the tube with the recycling.

~~ Price and Availability ~~

Boots sell a number of La-Roche Possay products, but this particular one does not appear on their website. However, I have checked on Amazon and at the time of writing you can make a purchase of the 30 ml tube for £14.30 plus £2.90 postage and packing.

Unfortunately, I can only award this product two stars due to the fact that the fluid is an excellent base for make up, but as for any other purpose I found it a total waste of time.

I hope you found my review useful and thank you for reading.