My Life in Culture: Opera singer Niamh O’Sullivan
My Life in Culture: Opera singer Niamh O’Sullivan

Sarah Finnan

Women at the Helm: Leader of the Social Democrats, Holly Cairns
Women at the Helm: Leader of the Social Democrats, Holly Cairns

Sarah Gill

The Christmas party edit: What to wear this festive season
The Christmas party edit: What to wear this festive season

Sarah Finnan

IMAGE Business Club members on the small habits that have improved their productivity
IMAGE Business Club members on the small habits that have improved their productivity

Sarah Finnan

Tried & Tested: IMAGE staff shares their favourite hydration hero
Tried & Tested: IMAGE staff shares their favourite hydration hero

IMAGE

Weekend Guide: 9 of the best events happening across Ireland
Weekend Guide: 9 of the best events happening across Ireland

Sarah Gill

Co-founder of the Hygiene Hub Ciára Dalton: ‘I wanted to make a tangible difference’
Co-founder of the Hygiene Hub Ciára Dalton: ‘I wanted to make a tangible difference’

Sarah Finnan

Winter wreaths you can use year after year
Winter wreaths you can use year after year

Megan Burns

There’s a new hydration mist on the market, and it didn’t come to play
There’s a new hydration mist on the market, and it didn’t come to play

IMAGE

Long live Irish shopping: inside Irish boutiques
Long live Irish shopping: inside Irish boutiques

Sarah Finnan

Image / Beauty

Can we talk about… Pestle & Mortar’s new glycolic acid, Exfoliate


By Holly O'Neill
29th Apr 2019
Can we talk about… Pestle & Mortar’s new glycolic acid, Exfoliate

How does this weather affect your skin?

For me, going from biting winds into a tropical office or taking a shower at my preferred temperate of boiling lava leaves me with dry skin on my upper arms and light dryness around my nose, forehead and cheeks. Since Isle of Paradise tan launched in Boots, I haven’t had to worry about tan gathering around any dry skin on my body thanks to the hydrating formula, but my face is another story. Make-up clumps, flakes and moves around on dry skin making even the lightest layer of foundation look muddy. Thankfully, glycolic acid came into my life and everything changed. An AHA moment, you might call it, if you’re a skincare nerd.

Swiping a cotton round with glycolic on my face two nights a weekend made everything smoother and glowy. I turned my old gritty exfoliators into foot scrubs. Yet the more I used the AHA I had started with, the less results I saw. I switched to Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Daily Peels and understood the hype, but the price was too restrictive for everyday use, so I saved my beloved packettes for special occasions.

Related: Can we talk about… the Bobbi Brown x Lulu Guinness collaboration? 

I no longer have to ration my glowing skin thanks to Pestle & Mortar’s newest product. Exfoliate, the first glycolic acid from the brand. It comes with the pH helpfully labelled (3.8) plus another label that I hadn’t seen before – ‘free acid value: 6.8%.’

”The free acid value is the percentage of the acid which is actually absorbed into the skin,” says Pestle & Mortar founder Sonia Deasy. “It’s agreed that a minimum of 4% is required for noticeable cell turnover. Furthermore, low pH formulations preserve the strength of glycolic acid for optimal efficacy on the skin.”

So, excited to try my first optimally efficient glycolic acid, I’ve been lashing it onto my skin. It’s a great big 180ml bottle that will last ages, housed in Pestle & Mortar’s gorgeous signature matte black packaging. It’s gentle, non-irritating and fragrance-free, so if you’re sensitive-skinned and afraid of glycolic acid, this is the one for you. My skin was not only smoothed instantly with all dead skin vanished but in the few weeks I’ve been using it, my skin tone has evened, my skin is brighter and the enormous pores around my nose that I could usually use to store things in are half the size they once were. The longer I use it, the less I need to, which I think is a pretty good sign from any skincare product.

Pestle & Mortar Exfoliate is available from pestleandmortar.com, €29


IMAGE Beauty Festival

Join us for an unforgettable weekend of beauty at Ireland’s first immersive beauty festival.
Tickets for IMAGE Beauty Festival are available now, from €45. We look forward to seeing you there on May 25-26.
beauty festivalMore like this: