Glow Recipe New Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Acid Serum Review

Oh how wonderful it would be to have perfect skin. I am always looking for skincare to help me with my acne prone skin. Over the years I feel BHA products help my skin more than AHA products. So when Glow Recipe introduced their New Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Acid Serum I was intrigued. After all I had never combined AHA + BHA products before.

Sephora website says this is “A powerful yet soothing AHA and BHA acid serum that gently smooths, addresses the appearance of breakouts, and visibly refines pores for clear, hydrated skin.”

Packaging Of The Glow Recipe Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Acid Serum

The pink glass bottle that has the serum is so cute. It has a pump to dispense the product. Also the packaging is recyclable.

Formula Of The Glow Recipe Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Acid Serum

This product is vegan and cruelty-free. Highlighted ingredients include Clarity Acid Complex 10% which visibly diminishes blemish-causing pore buildup. And also gently exfoliates dead skin cells, and smooths the look of bumps and fine lines. Strawberries that help reduce excess oil, exfoliate, and even the look of skin tone. Last but not the least, Hyaluronic Acid that hydrates skin by holding up to 1000 times its weight in moisture and keeping skin visibly plump.

According to Sephora “This powerful clarifying serum gently smooths rough texture and visibly clears pores and breakouts while calming and hydrating skin. It is formulated with a 10 percent Clarity Acid Complex including two percent salicylic acid and one percent mandelic acid blend to visibly clarify, decongest, soothe, and help prevent blemishes.”

My Experience

I use the The Glow Recipe Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Acid Serum as a part of my evening skincare routine. At the beginning my skin experienced some purging with this product. Especially on my forehead. One thing to note is that my skin is used to AHA’s, BHA’s and Retinols. So I am not sure why it happened. Also after a few uses my skin stopped purging/reacting and all was fine. So I continued to use this and my skin reacts positively to it.

This is a gentle acid serum, perfect for some one who wants to get into acid exfoliation. It has a fragrance that dissipates fast. I also did not find this drying which is a good thing. I guess that is because it has Hyaluronic Acid. If you are in the market for a gentle exfoliator or you are someone who wants to get into exfoliation, this is the product for you.

This serum has a great ingredient list. But since my skin is used to stronger chemical exfoliants I found this serum to be very gentle. I did see some brightening to be frank. And I don’t know what irritated my skin at first, the fragrance or something else?

*Gifted with no obligation to make a blog post about it.

Pros

Gentle exfoliation perfect for a beginner
Cute packaging
Vegan and cruelty-free

Cons

I experienced purging which is not necessarily a bad thing. So try it on a small area before using it on your entire face
Not for someone who is used to stronger chemical peels, in my opinion