While I sat and thought about how to start off this product review, I felt it was imperative for me to be as up-front as possible. Since this review is entirely focused around a skin care brand, I wanted to break down the reason why I ended up with the conclusion I did.Not a lot of people know this about me... but even though I do wash my face every single night with a relatively okay-ish brand of face wash that helps remove makeup and I do put some or other moisturising product on my face in the PM...my big confession is that the face wash I use is usually whichever is closest for me to grab and the truth is most nights I just lean across my nightstand and grab whatever is just laying there that's considered suitable as a night time moisturizer. It is only in the mornings that I rigorously cleanse and moisturize and I won't lie... It's really only because I want my foundation to be as smooth as possible. It's all about the makeup results for me. So honestly I've been terrible, horrible actually, at keeping with a night time skin care routine for as long as I can remember.
So when Opal Sky (The company that produces Oa Skin) contacted me about possibly doing a test of their products, I wondered at first if I should commit or not. I didn't want any company to go to the expense of sending me items that I was probably not going to end up using as instructed. But after having a good pep-talk with myself - I decided to go for it. It was high time for me to get into an age-appropriate skin care routine after all. The random grab, clean and moisturize just isn't going to cut it for much longer anyway. I had to grow up and Opal Sky forced my hand at doing so sooner rather than later. Much sooner actually, the products were being delivered to me within days of agreeing and it was my turn to step up and prove (mostly to myself, but also to my husband - because he said pretty much exactly what I mentioned above) that I could do this diligently.
Here's a breakdown of each of the Oa Skin products available:
Oa Skin Face Wash: Oa Face Wash is a slightly acidic, gentle skin cleanser that is free from petroleum derivatives, perfume and contains no paraben – preservatives. This is the only product that comes in a tube packaging. It retails for R170 on the Opal Sky Beauty Website. You use this product twice daily - Morning and Night. This face wash is a light-weight gel formulation with no real fragrance. There is a slightly subtle scent to it but nothing overbearing at all. Since it's a gel formulation, it doesn't foam up at all, which I appreciated. I found that it glided across my skin evenly but the bummer was that because it's a clear gel, I couldn't see if I had missed a spot, so I most often did it twice - just in case. The Oa Skin Face Wash did a good job at removing my bronzer, blush and foundation. I found that with my eye area, I had to use a little bit of elbow grease to get the job done. But to be fair, I almost only wear Colourpops Super Shock Shadows, and those babies don't just melt off. So it's not that the wash isn't good enough to remove my eyeshadow, it's the Colourpop shadows that have a really good long wearing formula and it just takes longer to remove all the remnants of the pigments. Ofter you have cleansed your skin, you won't feel anything other than that of a clean face. It feels clean. Not rubbery. Not tingly. Just clean.
The second step you will do morning and night right after you have patted your face dry is...Oa Skin Enhance: Enhance is a skin rejuvenation spray based on the immune molecule HOCl to make your skin appear younger and support it through the healing process. Enhance provides healing support after skin procedures and conditions like sunburn and superficial breakouts, as well as Rosacea. Enhance makes skin healthier and more radiant whilst a dramatic reduction in itchy skin conditions is experienced. This product to me is the step of a toner, but without the cotton swabs and dabbing required during the usual process of toning. The Enhance comes in a spray bottle and all you literally have to do is give your face a few good spritz's of Enhance. Enhance has a light clinical scent that honestly I prefer to some of the scents that the usual toners have. So once you've spritzed, spritzed and spritzed... you leave it to dry. When the Enhance has entirely dried on your skin, you can move onto the last step in your daily routine.
Depending on the time of day, you will either follow with the Revive (Night) or Nourish (Day).
The Oa Skin Revive: Oa Revive is a blend of essential oils, which will stimulate and soothe your tired skin. It is an excellent treatment for all stressed skins, particularly oily ones. The fragrance will soothe you to sleep, while the active oils will stimulate cell-renewal, reduce oiliness and deeply hydrate the skin. Revive is an oil based product and pulls into the skin fairly quickly. With just 2-3 pumps into the palm of your hand, you rub the product onto your skin and neck area and leave it at that. Unless you fall asleep within minutes of placing this product on your face, you won't have to worry about going to bed with an oily film on your face, it soaks up over time but the best is that in the morning, you skin feels more subtle, noticeably plumper and hydrated.
The Oa Skin Nourish: Oa Nourish is a daily moisturising serum to rehydrate & rejuvenate your skin. Based on Aloe vera extract it is beneficial to all skin types whether healthy, stressed or healing. This product in the range is the only one where I sometimes did end up still putting another moisturizer on after it had drawn into my skin, depending on the foundation I was going to be using. If I was going with a matte foundation like the Estée Lauder Double Wear or the L'Oreal Infalliable Matte, I definately needed a more intense moisurizer. If I was going with my MAC, L'Oreal True Match or my Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, the Oa Skin Norish was sufficient. The only other issue with this specific product is that if you put on more of the Nourish than you should (maybe you felt that more Nourish would equal more moisture, who knows) It can settle on the skin and create a film that peels in places so you end up looking like you have loose skin here and there when in fact it's the product. So just using two pumps of this product and ensuring you blend it out across the entire face, is enough.
The Oa Skin Intensive: Oa Intensive is a weekly, exfoliating skin treatment that can be used throughout the year. Intensive rejuvenates, moisturises and lightens the skin whilst restoring the skin’s oil/water balance, making the skin smooth, and improving sun damage. Results are dramatic and usually happen without redness or peeling. Instensive contains Mandelic acid, which is an acid used in chemical peels. I know that sounds harsh, but in this instance (and from my experience) it's not as bad as it sounds. There is some slight tingling when the product is placed on your skin and I had noticed two days after my first time using Intensive, that there was really fine peeling on my chin area, but it was gone the following day. The Intensive is applied using cotton wool and lightly rubbed onto face in small circles. Leave the treatment on for 20 - 30 minutes and then wash off thoroughly using face wash. Dry your face and follow on with the Enhance spray. If the treatment is done in the morning, follow with the Nourish. If the treatment is done at night, follow with the Revive.Additional Thoughts regarding the Oa Skin Range:
When I first saw the products, my initial reaction was that the packaging screams classy and expensive. I felt glamorous just being able to touch the bottles. Each product, except for the face wash of course, is packaged in the most vibrant blue glass bottles. Immediately I thought about what I could do with these spray bottles once they are empty! :)
None of the products have any harsh or overwhelming scent. They pretty much just smell a little clinical, kind of like a clean clinical smell, and I'm totally happy with that. I have this night oil that has a very heavy coconut scent... I don't mind it, but my husband can not stand it when I wear it. So that's a huge plus for me.
Even though the Revive is an oil based product, it is definately not heavy on the skin. It draws in gradually leaving your skin subtle rather than greasy. This is another plus for me since I generally go to sleep very soon after applying a nightime product on my skin and no one wants a pillow drenched in stale oil.
The only product I was a bit nervous about at first was the Intense. Simply because the instructions made me a little unsure of what to expect or what was to be considered normal, but after my first testing of the Intense, I was fine. As far as the very light and I mean tiny amount of peeling I noticed two days later, it never happened again.
The Oa range was one I religiously used as instructed for the last 3 weeks and I'm very, very happy I did. I have not skipped a step. I've done exactly as specified and I'm 100% in love with the brand. It's done wonders for my skin. I've had no further scary breakouts since about my third day into starting this trail. On the odd day, I may feel something is about to make an appearance, by the next day it's just about gone. I took this entire range with me when I recently traveled and although I was nervous of the glass bottles - they traveled perfectly well with very little precautions taken to make it so. My skin is showing me that it too loves this brand and I'm so, so happy I made the commitment.
After 3 Days of Using Oa in exactly the order and steps I mentioned above, I noticed that my skin definately felt smoother and appeared far more subtle. It may only be my imagination, but I swear I look glowy-er. I'm such a huge fan!
If you are in the market for a new skin care range, do yourselves a favor and give the Oa Skin products a test run.
You can find them or buy their products directly from the Opal Sky Website.
