A great daily exfoliator (Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant)

Member Name: BeautyGeek

Product:	Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant
Date:	26/05/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Effective, can be used daily, cost effective

Disadvantages: Might irritate dryer skin conditions

I really love Dermalogica as a brand. Having only recently introduced myself to them, I've so far been very impressed with their products. I was fortunate to win this in a competition, along with the Precleanse which I also like, but that's for another review.

This offering from Dermalogica is a mechanical exfoliator (as in, you have to do the scrubbing to exfoliate as apposed to a chemical exfoliator which does the work for you) that is very gentle and rather different to a typical mechanical product. It comes in a plastic airtight tube with a shaker at the end that dispenses the product. It's designed with the usual basic Dermalogica branding. In the container is a thin white powder that looks rather scarily like cocaine - hence my fear of taking it on holiday with me, although it all worked out in the end.

To use, you dispatch some of the product into your hand - roughly around half a teaspoon - and mix with water. You then buff away at the skin as you would do with any other exfoliator. It is suggested that you do this for around a minute.

The thing that's interesting about this product is the fact that it isn't at all grainy, so you don't feel as if you're actually exfoliating as such. Once mixed with water it becomes pretty much liquid and spreads over the face effectively, but whilst using it I found myself wondering whether it would actually do any good. Before using this I used a Clinique exfoliator which is massively grainy and leaves you with completely smoothed skin, but you are very aware of the hardcore scuffing you're doing during usage. This is not the case with the Microfoliant as it just feels like you're washing your face with a cleanser. Until you wash it off! Then you realise that in fact it has done an excellent job at buffing the skin, but has done it in a very gentle fashion. Because it's so gentle, you can use it daily (hence the name) which is handy if you love that just buffed feeling.

This is a very good product. Not one of Dermalogica's best, but definitely innovative and a worthy member of my collection. I wouldn't say it smooths your skin as well as some others I've used do, but this is because the exfoliators I use are rather aggressive, so in comparison this well and truly holds it's own.

I would say that this keeps my skin pretty buffed and I notice a great difference after use. I use a lot of other Dermalogica products, all of which I started using at roughly the same time, so I can't say whether it's made a drastic difference to my overall skin or not, but I have dry patches on my cheeks and these are always smoother after use. I would say this product is best suited to those with oilier skins due to the fact that after use my skin can feel very tight (all over, including my oily parts) and in desperate need of moisture, so if you have very dry skin then I would imagine that this wouldn't help too much.

Word or warning, if you plan to use this in the shower as I do, then be extra careful when you open the bottle to dispense the product as if you get any water in the container then the whole thing is wasted. However, once the lid is closed you can drop it in the bath to your hearts content, as it's completely airtight.

I believe this retails at around £22, depending on where you get it from. Which, in my opinion, isn't too expensive considering what it achieves and the brand's reputation. You get a lot of product for your money, it's a good part of a daily skin regime and on that basis I would buy again.

Summary: A good addition to anyone's daily skin regime