I have a love-hate relationship with Kiehl’s. Some of their products I really love…at the moment, I am using their Butterstick Lip treatment, a product which I don’t know how I managed to survive without.
However, I dislike the fact that their is so much pricing arbitrage between countries. Anywhere outside the US, they are making up for foreign exchange exposure, transportation cost and any additional cost they can pick out of a magician’s hat.
I digress…so essentially, Kiehl’s have a bizarre pricing mechanism outside the US.
What am I testing?
A clay mask that promises to leave you with a “rosy” complexion. I am too dark to be “rosy” anything but I won’t hold that against Kiehl’s (yet). The product through its addition of “turmeric” is promising skin lightening.
My expectations are…
Therefore, my expectations are that the product causes skin lightening, and being a clay mask (i) spreads easily (ii) is not drying (iii) does not sting/irritate or burn.
Before and After
There is a disappointing amount of skin brightening – visually, there is not even one shade difference in my complexion.
The product is cool on application; it stings a bit and smells indistinguishable. It doesn’t smell of clay in case you are wondering. It has a heavier consistency than Forest Essential’s Mysore Sandalwood clay mask.
I left the product on for 5 minutes. It was ‘sticky’ to take off (not as in ‘sugar/honey/treacle sticky, just exceedingly difficult to remove. This forced me to use the exfoliating bits in the mask (crushed cranberry seeds) to take the mask off.
I didn’t do this, as I don’t want that physical exfoliation from my products. Instead I used a galloon of water and I am convinced that I have irreversibly and negatively impacted my carbon footprint.
Would I buy this product again?
The problem with this product is that its underwhelming: it doesn’t brighten my skin and its difficult to take off. I don’t like the cranberry seeds. On the other hand:
- It’s cheap as chips. On the US website, it costs US$ 18 for 28 ml. That’s lunch at the cheapest diner in Manhattan.
- Doesn’t dry out my skin and importantly,
- It does not sting/irritate my skin.
Overall, its a “no buy” for me.
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You may also be interested in the following face masks:
- Forest Essential Sandalwood face mask
- Uma Brightening mask
- Tumeric as a skin lightening agent
- Sarah Chapman Instant Miracle Mask
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