It’s my third bottle of the P50 Lotion, and I’ve had this bottle for about three years now. The time has come to get rid of it, even though I couldn’t manage to finish it. But before I throw it away, I think it’s worth to share my opinions about the product.   

The formula includes a mix of acids, niacinamide, and plant extracts, as the main ingredients. The active ones are, of course, acids, and we can find two great ones: lactic acid and salicylic acid. There’s also a bit of sulphur. However, there are many sensitising ingredients like vinegar which is quite irritating, especially when mixed with various acids. Other possibly irritating ingredients are myrrh & horseradish extracts, and thyme oil. So a mixture of components that can benefit your skin and cause trouble, as if acids weren’t tough on the skin on their own….  

I first started using this product nearly ten years ago with the hope to cure acne. I had read many positive reviews, and I bought the toner, serum, cream, and mask for oily skin from the brand. I stuck only to this toner and the yeast mask for longer, as the cream and the serum had seemed pointless to use. If I look at it retrospectively, all of the products didn’t help with my acne. I enjoyed using the yeast mask though, it reeks, but I felt like it had good clarifying power. I’ve got the biggest issue with the toner as it is highly sensitising. It made my skin red each time I used it, and my skin never got used to it. I mean it was tretinoin-like redness without the same results. So what is the point of using it? I think it’s a decent exfoliating toner to use once in a while, but not that special, there are many other options out there. Especially now, when there’s an abundance of skincare.

In my opinion, Biologique Recherche are one of the most overrated brands out there. I believe, there were a thing back in the 70s when their French competitors were offering products with only essential oils and plant extracts, they came out with a SPA brand that mixes active ingredients and plants, but then you end up with even more irritating products. Now they are nothing out of the ordinary; many brands do it. However, there is a bias towards BR; there’s a lot of craze around them, they are French and sell overpriced products. It sounds like a cliché. After reading all the rave reviews of BR’s products, people think: ‘How could it not work for me, if it works for so many people?’. Just because they bring results for someone who goes on an occasional facial to BR or has little to none skin issues and then ‘sees a difference’ or a blogger that got paid to write a review tells that they are magic from heavens. It doesn’t mean they are efficacious. I am not trying to say their products don’t work, but it doesn’t mean that they are necessarily that great either.

The P50 Lotion can exfoliate well, but it’s poorly formulated; there are far too many irritants. And I think it is easy to fall into the hype because there is nothing more pervasive in the beauty world than hype about a product. We get exposed to advertisements, recommendations from professionals, and people like me who write reviews. If many people say it works, then we feel like it has to work for us too. But, in reality, it doesn’t have to, and probably it won’t. Also, some people don’t necessarily take all reviews into consideration. Sometimes they look for positive ones to justify their shopping impulses (but I am not here to criticise anyone, we’ve all been there). This toner exfoliates, but it is a torture for your skin. I wouldn’t recommend this product. I don’t believe it’s worth the price, and the effects don’t justify the amount of irritation that comes with it. When you use tretinoin, you get red and flaky skin, but its task is to make changes on the cellular level, it works to alter how your skin functions. This one merely removes the dead skin from the top layer. Then why would you hurt your skin for that? If you like this toner, then carry on using it. However, if you are considering trying it out, then I’d advise you to go for something gentler or more science-oriented, so you get just acids no irritating formulas with vinegar and plant extracts that can cause skin damage. 

Ingredients: COSDNA