It’s my first time to try Dermalogica. Here’s what I really think.

Product photography by Perkin Gotohio

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Dermalogica, but I haven’t tried it until only a couple of months ago. I’ve always thought that the brand was a bit under the radar despite being around for some time now, with not much to offer my informed skincare routine. How wrong I was! I’m glad the Dermalogica PH team reached out and asked if I wanted to do a skin consultation. At that time I was struggling with flaky skin and blemishes (the former new, the latter not) so they recommended two products for me to try out.

But first, what is Dermalogica? It’s a skincare brand founded in 1986 by a cosmetologist named Jane Wurwand. Since the beginning, even before it being trendy, Dermalogica has been a “clean” beauty brand free of artificial colors and fragrances, mineral oil, lanolin, S.D. alcohol, parabens and microplastics. Sounds interesting no? Let’s go through what I have!

The first one is the Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant (P920/13 grams and P3,650/74 grams). Ok, I LOVE THIS STUFF. I’m not a stranger to powder facial washes since I’ve tried a couple of them previously from other brands, but they’ve always been quite high in pH level, which I find irritating to my skin. This one is at pH 5.5 - 6 according to my test strips. It’s fragrance-free and absolutely gentle on skin while providing some physical exfoliation and a healthy foam.

I like how this is packaged. It just has a small hole to the side to easily dispense the powder, so it never gets gross even when I’m negotiating it in the shower.

Sometimes I really don’t have time for a clay mask or even a gommage exfoliator, so having a powder format for clearing out dead skin fast is really useful. Instead of micro plastic beads, this cleanser uses Microcrystalline Cellulose - basically wood pulp - to do the physical exfoliation. It also has good stuff like colloidal oatmeal and rice bran for soothing skin, and a kick of papain and salicylic acid for some chemical exfoliation should you decide to let it sit on your skin as a proper mask.

Yes, there are a few ways to use this. The main variable is how much you use! The first is to work it as a normal facial wash. A finger nail’s worth should be enough, and you can melt it by creating a foam in your hands before washing your face with it. If you want to exfoliate, you can use maybe five times more and apply the powder directly on your face to get the full scrub. If you want to mask with it, you can use more to create a sort of paste and leave it there for 10 minutes, then scrub. It’s a really clever product!

Personally, I prefer to use a cream foaming wash daily, but this is my go-to exfoliating cleanser now which I use 1-2x a week. It helped with my flakiness so much so that they’re gone now, and has made my skin smoother and my blackheads less visible. So good! I will likely purchase when I run out.

The second Dermalogica product I tried is the Biolumin-C Serum (P5,500/30ml). This is a ightweight serum with Vitamin C and Lactic Acid to bring radiance to skin. I’ve tried Vit C products before but I’ve never really been happy with any. Until I came to try this! I’ve had some acne on my chin recently and they’ve already healed, but of course I have very dark blemishes developing already. But when I used this, the blemishes are looking a lot lighter than they normally would be! Like, two times lighter. That’s crazy. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve only used it for a week.

Because of that, the Biolumin-C Serum has also earned a permanent spot in my skincare routine. It is a bit pricey I admit, but it works. Finally, I don’t have to rely on just chemical exfoliation to fade my blemishes.

And that’s what I think of Dermalogica. Stellar products, and can’t wait to explore more!

Dermalogica is available in Lazada (www.lazada.com.ph/shop/dermalogica), Zalora (www.zalora.com.ph/dermalogica/), and BeautyMNL (beautymnl.com/brands/dermalogica).