Medik8 Redness Corrector Advanced Neutralising Cream

Our Rating: 4 stars

Reviewed by TIA Community Member on April 1, 2015

3 Comments

by Cheri

This was another harsh Chicago winter and my 59-year-old skin really suffered. Even though I use quality skin care products, I have very noticeable redness across my forehead, nose and cheeks. So I was thrilled to be given the chance to test Medik8 Redness Corrector Advanced Neutralising Cream ($105 in the shop).

Even before receiving the product, I went to Medik8's website to do a little research. Their claim is that this is a "complete anti-redness product". It helps redness "associated with sensitivity, reactivity, rosacea, hormonal changes, broken capillaries and thread veins". Finally, they state that it will reduce skin reactivity, thereby preventing future problems. Perfect!

When it arrived, the first thing I noticed, even before taking it out of the box, was the ingredients list. It had more ingredients than my grandmother's barbeque sauce! And many of them gave me flashbacks to organic chemistry class! But I have learned from TIA that just because an ingredient sounds scary, doesn't always mean it is. So let me try to wade through this.

Other than water, niacinamide is first on the list. This is vitamin B3. It has a reputation for improving skin tone, acne and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (scarring). Next up is aloe vera. I think most of us are aware of its soothing qualities. In my youth, I used to break off a piece of the plant and rub it on my sunburned skin. Don't you wish you could turn back time? Here's another scary sounding one: alpha bisabolol. Well, it turns out this is an essential oil derived from chamomile. Again, this is a very soothing agent that can aid in healing the skin. How about bakuchiol? This is yet another plant-based antioxidant that may have retinol's cell regeneration benefits without the side effects. Caffeine and potassium chloride are included to help constrict blood vessels, thereby shrinking broken capillaries. Perfluorodecalin (there's a mouthful) is said to help reduce the formation of new thread veins. I did recognize titanium oxide as a physical sunscreen.Apparently, though, there is not enough in this formula to act as a sunscreen as there is no SPF factor mentioned. I'm guessing this is included, along with a green mineral colorant, to help immediately mask the redness.

Well, so far so good. I wish I could stop there, but I must mention a couple of ingredients that may cause you to pause. PEG 75 is a polyethylene glycol. It is generally considered safe, but did make EWG's warning list. Cyclopentasiloxane is a type of silicone that may not have adverse effects when applied topically, but may be an environmental problem. Likewise, cyclohexasiloxane, even in low concentrations, can be harmful to marine life and therefore is on Canada's restricted use list. Who knew? So this is not the purest of pure formulations.

Even after reading this list I dove in, applying it both morning and night. At first, I was less than enamored. It felt very dry on my skin, but the directions do say you may need to apply more moisturizer. Another disappointment was that I could not see any discernible immediate redness correction. Even though the cream is green, it certainly did not mask my redness.

But I think you need to use a product for at least a month before you pass judgement. Wow, am I glad I did! After about one week I could see a definite improvement in my redness. But what I found incredible was the effect it had on a thread vein on the side of my nose. (I usually get those zapped away with IPL photo facials, but it's been a few months) After about three weeks that little capillary began to disappear! At this time it's about half gone. I wouldn't have believed a topical product could do that! I recently had a light micro-needling appointment and used this cream as a post-procedure product. It really did help relieve the redness and reduce the stinging.

So I give this product 4 stars. I wish it were more moisturizing, I wish it really did cover the redness and I wish I didn't have to worry about those potential health and environmental concerns