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A Little Back Story

When I first got into skincare at age 21, I started feeling self-conscious about the condition of my skin. I’ve always known that it was oily and extremely prone to breakouts, but before that, I’ve always brushed it aside and called myself out on being unlucky to have such skin. I was in my last year of university when I started seeing—actually scrutinising—the skins of my peers.

Over time, I started feeling lower than them. I know, I was being totally unfair to myself for feeling that way and putting myself down when I should have stood up for myself. But if I hadn’t felt bad about my skin condition albeit a pretty normal thing to have oily skin and breakouts, I wouldn’t even have dived into the world of beauty products, much less dip my foot into it. And, I might not even have this blog in the first place. Aside from the bad skin, I managed to achieve some pretty awesome goals just by feeling bad about my skin condition. And, if it weren’t for my bad skin, I wouldn’t have set my eyes on one of the most raved about beauty products out there, and that’s the one and only T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial by Drunk Elephant.

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About My Skin

It has been about two years since I started actively using beauty and skin products to improve the condition of my skin. And it is also during this time that I found out that my skin wasn’t oily, but actually terribly dehydrated. It’s so dehydrated to the point of overproducing sebum to make up for the lack of moisture. It took me pretty long to come across this piece of scientific information on the Internet that extremely oily skin could also be because the skin is so dehydrated that it tries to save itself but fails miserably. So, when I found about this, I entertained the possibility that my skin could be suffering the same thing.

I bought a bunch of moisturisers and hydrators (my fave hydrator being Bybi’s Mega Mist, excellent stuff in there with hyaluronic acid) and started testing this new hypothesis. Lo and behold, it’s actually true. It was that simple, but I hadn’t figured out until now, always thinking that my skin was naturally oily. (But in truth it is oily, on my back especially.)

The one that has remained true all these years is the acne on my skin, with its persistent reappearance time and time again. At this point of time, I’ve found two things that help kill it: Sebamed’s Anti-Pimple Gel to attack deep-seated pimples (whether they have a head or not) and Cosrx’s Acne Pimple Master Patch for pimples with a head (I’ve found that it works slower than Anti-Pimple Gel to get rid of it). But because I’ve only discovered these products many years after the advent of the acne fest on my skin, I already have quite a lot of acne scars, holes and pigmentation. Lastly, to tackle pigmentation, I use Palmer’s Dark Spot Corrector Fade Serum and Fade Cream which have retinol in them.

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My Skin’s Status Before Using T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial

As it has been two years since the start of my beauty/skincare journey, I’ve come across plenty of products and have tried a handful as well. To this day, there are only a few that I’ve continued to keep on hand. Here is a list of skincare products I use regularly and my purpose for using them:

• Facial Wash: Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser
• Hyaluronic Acid Hydrator: Bybi’s Mega Mist
• Moisturiser: Glossier’s Super Bounce
• Toner: Sebamed’s Clear Face Deep Cleansing Facial Toner
• Anti-acne Treatment: Sebamed’s Anti-Pimple Gel & Cosrx’s Acne Pimple Master Patch
• Anti-pigmentation: Palmer’s Dark Spot Corrector Fade Serum & Fade Cream

Just with this list of products, I have achieved positive results so far and happy to say that they will remain in my beauty cabinet for as long as I don’t encounter something better that might replace them, or at least until they become discontinued items, thus forcing me to look elsewhere for a replacement. By this time, I am more or less pretty dang sure that my skin is healthy, despite the recurrence of acne. I know this because my skin is reacting positively to these products (especially treatment products like Anti-Pimple Gel and Fade Serum) and producing the goal effect of these products within the expected time frame.

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Anatomy of T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial

Now that we’ve set the stage for the experiment, we can finally get into the main part of this post: T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial. From this point forth, I will refer to T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial as just Babyfacial for ease of communication.

When I finally got my own bottle of Babyfacial in the mail, I was pretty sure too that my skin was finally ready to be bombarded by a dollop of acids. (I mean, I graduated with a bachelor’s in chemistry, and I kind of miss all those hours of lab sessions when I was still in school.) Besides, I didn’t actively exfoliate though I had one tube of Bio Essence’s Bio-Renew Royal Jelly Exfoliating Gel, which I think is a pretty good exfoliator for beginners (if there’s such a thing, that is.)

Also, the last time I used an AHA product was many years ago when I tried to dip my foot into skincare but didn’t really come through then. And that product was Mario Badescu’s Glycolic Acid Toner. Wonderful stuff actually, that toner, but I was a broke student then to afford such a toner that I would like to use daily.

So, Babyfacial is an exfoliating mask that comes in a pink and white bottle with a pump mechanism to let out its creamy, beige-orange formula. It’s well-known for its industry-strength hydroxy acids, containing 25% AHA (glycolic, tartaric, lactic and citric acids) and 2% BHA (salicylic acid) as its active ingredients. The alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) are meant to exfoliate dead skin cells on the surface and accelerate surface skin turnover to reveal a brighter, smoother complexion. This here, I believe, because I’ve experienced using Mario Badescu’s Glycolic Acid Toner and it does brighten the skin after many uses.

The lone beta hydroxy acid (BHA), salicylic acid, on the other hand, works not only on the outside (like the AHAs) but also on the inside to unclog pores and break down sebum in pores and hair follicles. They access these deep crevices by easily penetrating the lipid (read: fatty or oily) layers of the skin because of its likeness in chemical structure to lipids. BHAs main goal is to attack comedones made up of dead skin cells, sebum and bacteria that can turn into acne, thus breaking them down and then flushing them out of your skin as, what I like to call, “exfoliating residue”.

Babyfacial also contains chickpea flour and niacinamide (Vitamin B3) as two of its many secondary active ingredients of which I’d like to highlight. Chickpea flour has a pretty solid list of good properties, but I’d like to mention just two: chickpea flour’s zinc content which helps fight bacteria thus is useful in combating acne, and also the fact that it helps soothe inflamed skin. This is particularly appropriate in Babyfacial as the high acid content (at a whopping 30%!) can be harsh on the skin.

As for niacinamide, it protects against oxidative stress, meaning that it contributes to cell regeneration, hence smoother skin, fewer acne and pimples, reduced fine lines and wrinkles, minimised pores, and all that jazz. It also helps protect against sun damage and at the same time helps to lighten hyperpigmentation. Talk about an all-in-one ingredient. Beats me that Glossier hasn’t restocked its Super Pure serum, because I’d like to try some of that niacinamide serum.

With its main ingredients listed as such, Babyfacial is meant to be an at-home “facial” that resurfaces to reveal greater clarity, improved skin texture and tone, as claimed by Drunk Elephant. Taking their word for it, let’s jump right into the Application.

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The Application of Babyfacial

Before putting on Babyfacial, I would cleanse my face with Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser, for this cleanser is a soft one that takes away only surface-level dirt but does not destroy your oil barrier. Which is an important thing to take note of if we’re using Babyfacial after that, because you don’t want a completely stripped skin to be attacked by hydroxy acids. That’s going to be some painful, tingling masking there.

When I’ve pat my face dry, I would pump out a little bit of the beige-orange mask, about the size of fingertip. Then, I would spread it over on one side of my face, letting the formula thin out into a thin shiny layer. I would do the same for the other side of my face, and for my forehead. I’d make sure that every part of my skin has at least been covered by the mask, even if it’s thin. The thing about Babyfacial is that, even in small amounts, you can start to feel its effects.

For me, I feel a slight tingling around my nose area, and sometimes on the higher parts of my cheeks, around nose-level. This area of my face is the sensitive area. When all of my skin is covered, I’d wait it out for 20 minutes as recommended and do other things while waiting. About 3 – 5 minutes into the mask, the tingling sensation will start to dissipate, and by the end of the 20 minutes, it feels like you’re just putting on a heavy cream on your face and perhaps even thinking why in the world you tricked yourself into putting cake cream on your face even. At least that’s what I thought in the last few minutes of the mask.

When the 20 minutes were up, I would wash my face off with warm water (as recommended again). Once again, while rinsing the mask off, the piercing, tingling sensation would come back. This is the part where we are instructed to immediately apply the Virgin Marula Oil to ease the stinging. Tip: always keep this oil prepared just before you rinse the mask off. The experience is like a hot flash of a revelation, except it landed on your skin. But you needn’t worry; this goes away fairly quickly. Sometimes, I like to switch out the oil for Glossier’s Futuredew, just because it’s also technically an oil-based serum and I figured it could help matte out the sting. (It does, thank God.)

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Any Results?

On my first try, I was (unreasonably) disappointed that Babyfacial’s magic didn’t work right away the way many people have experienced. My skin was its plain old self, apart from the fact that it feels a little uncomfortable because of the leftover tingling sensation. But then again, I kind of saw this coming because I’ve read other types of reviews where there were those who say they felt like they had wasted their money on an extremely expensive bottle of hydroxy acids that didn’t do anything for their skin. I was feeling a little conflicted because I waited a long time to finally get my hands on this expensive bottle of skincare and I wanted to like it so badly. I told myself that it’s okay, it’s only the first try. Perhaps for me, I’d need a bit more time for the mask to work.

So, I kept going for two more tries (once a week), and the results were still the same. At this point, I have psycho-ed myself well enough to take Babyfacial as more of a “magic that works inside” kind of product than a “results are visible to the naked eye” kind of product. At that time, I have “regrown” my love for Babyfacial purely for scientific reasons rather than physically aesthetic reasons.

Ha-ha, that is, until my fourth try that something really cool and totally unexpected happened.

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I Started Using a Vitamin C Serum

Let’s backtrack to the 3 or 4 days before I tried Babyfacial for the fourth time. I just received a new package delivered to my doorstep, and it’s from Glossier. I had bought a bunch of skincare from Glossier, some of them were repeat purchases, and others new. One of those new ones was Glossier’s Super Glow, a Vitamin C + Magnesium serum in a 30-ml bottle. Two weeks before, I bought my mom Ordinary’s Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%. She’s been having a good time with it, just that it gives a bit of an itch when you first put it on. So, I decided to get myself Glossier’s Super Glow, since I was already using Super Bounce and needed to restock anyway.

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Anatomy of Glossier’s Super Glow

Specifically, I bought a Vitamin C serum in the first place because of its brightening, dark-spot lightening and collagen-producing effects. I have never tried topical Vitamin C before and wanted to give it a try, as they say, believe it when you see it with your own eyes… I think that’s how that phrase went at least. As for Super Glow, the Vitamin C derivative that’s used is called Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, a more stable form of Vitamin C, as Vitamin C is known to break down when exposed to light and heat, and can degrade over time with repeated exposure to oxygen in the atmosphere.

As for Super Glow’s magnesium component, I wasn’t well-versed in this mineral, but later found out that magnesium helps to regulate cortisol levels (stress hormones) and hormonal imbalances, thereby reducing acne caused by stress and hormone imbalance. Additionally, it has redness-reducing or anti-inflammatory properties that can liven up dull skin. On top of that, the ingredient called Evodia Rutaecarpa Fruit Extract has pretty strong anti-inflammatory properties. I take it that this ingredient backs magnesium in the department of anti-inflammation.

Overall, Super Glow seems like a pretty usable product, especially for people like my skin type/condition, with hyperpigmentation from acne scarring, occasionally inflamed pimples, and skin that’s in need of rescue from dullness. I’m also suspecting that my acne is mostly caused by hormonal imbalance because my chin and lower half of my face is acne-prone while my forehead remains squeaky clean. (For the record, it was the other way around when I was in my teenage years.)

In those short days before I tried Babyfacial for the fourth time, I applied Super Glow nightly. I would squeeze the orangey-white serum onto my skin, once each on both cheeks, forehead, nose and chin, in that order. I would then spread it out and massage it into my skin till the layer seems to be almost fully submerged, leaving only the remaining liquid that needs time to sink in on its own. Following this, I would apply Super Bounce.

The three days that followed after, I didn’t notice any visible change in skin texture, but I must say I did notice a slight brightening effect all over my face. In contrast, the hyperpigmented parts of my skin remained darker in comparison to the rest of my skin. But perhaps that was because all of my skin was lightening at the same rate. I mean, I might be kidding myself here, just hoping to see what I wanted to see. But if I was speaking the truth, this is the truth I’d tell you: Super Glow does work to brighten the entire face, but give it, like, a minimum of 6 months for you to see any contrasting change.

But that’s just the thing, right? We don’t have all year or half of it to remain true to a bottle of Vitamin C that feels like it’s working too slowly for our liking. So here’s what I discovered while testing out my new products…

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Finally, The Results

On my fourth day of using Super Glow, I also finally jumped into my fourth use of Babyfacial. As usual, I wasn’t expecting anything different from the three tries prior to this. As I went on with my task with the Babyfacial mask on, all I could think of in the back of my mind was to tear the mask off my face because, to be honest, it does give a barely-there tingle that just keeps you awake at night. If you’re studying or working late and need to pull off an all-nighter, Babyfacial is certified company.

20 minutes later, I rinsed off the mask with warm shower-head water. I pat my face self-consciously, thinking about the absence of any visual improvement of my skin. I went over to the sink side of the bathroom and looked into the mirror and boy. Was. I. Floored.

Yeap—floored.

The unimaginable happened. That actual T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial glow was finally there, right there in the mirror, looking back at me. Excited yet? You bet, so here’s what this so-called glow looked like:

My skin was very much less dull, and a lot brighter. And under that sheen, my smoothened skin seemed to gleam. I turned my face slowly in different angles to examine the result, and it turned out fine. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that those hyperpigmented spots disappeared too, because, from my own experience, I’d need some kind of retinol targeting to get rid of them. But all in all, the glow was finally there.

The one thing that struck my memories when I first saw my illumined face was that I had only started using a Super Glow after three attempts of using Babyfacial and trying to get that brightened complexion. And it was only after using a Vitamin C serum prior to retrying a 30% hydroxy-acid mask that the brightening magic finally happened. I can’t say straight up that you have to use Vitamin C to make Babyfacial do its work, but it was a pleasant surprise that the results did come in.

The morning after that, I was still glowing, and my face was so bright I couldn’t believe it was my skin. I am obviously very happy with the results, after four weeks of trying Babyfacial to finally get the result I wanted, that is, with the help of Super Glow. Just for your reference, the glow remained for about 3 days, and it started fading back into my old complexion. I must say, though the glow didn’t last as long as I’d hoped it would, it must be my skin’s own natural chemical makeup, and I must be destined for this. As far as I’m concerned about getting good-looking skin, I’d have to put in that constant effort to make it last. Nothing is ever one-off, is it?

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The Verdict: “Babe, You’re Glowing”

So, would I recommend Drunk Elephant’s T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial? Heck, yes. If you’re like me and not seeing results as quickly as you had hoped, add in an extra brightener like Super Glow into the mix while those AHAs and BHA exfoliators do their work to rid you of dead skin cells. While they’re at it, that Vitamin C component is brightening your skin and promoting production of collagen so you get skin that’s not just brighter, but resurfaced as well. Best of luck to you on your chemical glow journey!