I discovered Paula Begoun and her brand of beauty products, Paula’s Choice, years ago when I first moved to Australia. At that time, the range wasn’t as extensive as it is now and while I tried a few items and liked them, I moved on pretty quickly from them soon after I’ve finished most of them. Even though I enjoy her newsletter and articles on skincare, I have to admit that there are many times I’m skeptical at her favourite picks of skincare and makeup because they always include at least two of her own brand’s products in the list.
It’s hard to be objective about things like that especially when you have a vested interest in a few of the products so it wasn’t long before I stopped trying her products. A few years later, a number of bloggers whom I follow on Twitter began to discuss a lot about Paula’s Choice products and the brand started to intrigue me again. After they revamped the Paula’s Choice Australia website (they put the website on hold for a while and only allowed customers to purchase from the US website), I picked up a few items to try out. A couple of them were the Skin Balancing Invisible Finish Moisture Gel and the RESIST Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum.
I haven’t tried these products out before even before they revamped the packaging so they’re very new to me. And boy, it was love!
Skin Balancing Invisible Finish Moisture Gel (RRP AU$34.00 for 60ml)
Paula Begoun preaches a lot about using opaque packaging with openings as small as possible to maintain the integrity of the ingredients used in the products so it’s only right that her brand also practises what she preaches. The moisturiser comes in an opaque squeezy tube. It’s a very lightweight gel that has a velvety smooth matte finish on the skin. It’s not as silicone-y as a lot of makeup primers out there but you can definitely feel that velvety smooth texture in the moisturiser.
This moisturiser is perfect for day use for my combination skin. It’s a simple moisturiser that does the job and I love it for that. It controls the oiliness on my T-zone (very important!) and is a very good base for makeup. Oily to combo skin folks (particularly for those with oily skin), I reckon you’ll love this as much as I do. It’s 100% fragrance-free too.
Will I repurchase this? Most definitely! This will be even better come summer time when I just can’t be bothered with any sort of rich moisturisers.
RESIST Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum (RRP AU$44.00 for 30ml)
Like this moisturiser, this too comes in an opaque, squeezy tube. This serum has a very light and runny consistency so you have to be careful not to over-squeeze the tube lest you get a burst of serum on your hands.
Even though they call it a Concentrate Serum, it’s very lightweight and absorbs very quickly onto the skin. I really like this serum. It’s the sort of anti-aging serum that does a multitude of things to the skin. I liken it to the Estée Lauder brown bottle serum but at a more affordable price.
I’ve been using this serum for over 2 months now and it has helped even out my skin tone, keep the skin smooth and supple, and give it an all-round healthy and radiant appearance. It contains ingredients like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and more that do good things for the skin. It’s also 100% fragrance-free.
Will I repurchase this? Another resounding YES!
Verdict
If you’re venturing into skincare that does more for your skin than just moisturise it and want to give some oomph to your skin with ingredients that are proven to work (not just fluff ingredients), I recommend checking out Paula’s Choice’s range of products. She does have some good stuff going on there.
Having said that, not every single item is good (I had one that went into my August Miss List) but it’s worth checking out the reviews. Take Paula Begoun’s “top picks” with a pinch of salt especially when most of the products in the list are hers and search for independent reviews instead.
Paula’s Choice products are available for purchase on her website. I suggest to wait for sales and promotions before picking any up. I got mine on a 3-for-2 sale. At the time of writing, there’s a 15% off everything on the website. I don’t know when that promo is going to end so if you’re interested in getting anything on the website, this is a great time! 🙂
I haven’t tried any of the Paula’s Choice products yet. I’ve been very tempted by her matte shadow palette, but I haven’t taken the plunge. She is so informed and opinionated on skincare that I’ve always assumed her skincare products were great. I don’t know why I haven’t tried ’em yet other than the fact that I get so many skincare products to sample, I haven’t had to buy any in a while. Glad you found some that are working for you!
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She’s certainly opinionated about skincare all right. I find her scathing reviews entertaining to read. Then again, she writes such glowing reviews about her own products that I can’t help but think of the amount of conflict of interest when she’s reviewing other brands’ beauty products too. I still prefer to read independent reviews of her products. A lot are good, some aren’t. I’m glad too that these work for me. Makes me curious to try out other products from her brand too.
My favorite is her RESIST super antioxidant concentrate and her 2% BHA gel. The serum makes my skin really smooth and helps to repair my skin after breakouts really well, the scarring and redness faded quickly. I bought the samples from their clearance sales, which I didn’t know they are pulling out of singapore, and loved the super antioxidant serum. I guess once I finished the serums I have on hand I will probably find ways to bulk buy the serum. Haha.
What’s your skincare type like, Kay? Just wondering if I should get the 2% BHA gel next. Mine is combination with a very oily T-zone. If yours is the same, then I’ll be inclined to try it out too.
My skin type is combination, slightly oily on the T zone and I’m prone to blackheads on my nose and cheeks. I haven’t been using 2% gel for some time as I’m trying the BHA9. I still like the texture for 2% BHA gel because BHA9 feels heavy on my skin. Maybe you can grab a bottle of 2% next time you purchase and give it a go!
I’ve been very tempted by her matte shadow palette , Please help…..
I LOVE, I mean LOVE the Matte Shadow Palette. It’s all I’ve used this summer. Go for it!
I’m so glad you got this working for you, Paula’s Choice is my FAVOURITE skin care brand. Love.
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I heard a lot about Paula’s Choice from you on Twitter! These purchases are thanks to you. 😛
Her AHA & BHA Exfoliants for blackheads are amazing products .. I also would love to try her matte palette .. 🙂
Monica.
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Man, you’re the umpteenth person raving about her matte palette! It’s that good, eh? Right, time to give it a go! And those exfoliants too. 🙂
I’m a huge fan of Paula’s Choice – her products literally changed my skin. I think she’s very sound and really knows her stuff. Of course she reviews her products favourably but she reviews all others by the same criteria and will come right out and say it if other products are good. If she rated all hers well and all others badly, then I’d be suspicious but her opinions are balanced and of course she’s going to rate her own stuff – otherwise she’d be selling inferior stuff. The matte pallette is excellent – quite dark shades but the quality is great and with Wayne Goss as a collaborator, it’s got to be good! To anyone who hasn’t tried Paula’s Choice, I can’t recommend the range highly enough.
Oh yeah, Wayne Goss highly rates her products too. I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews on his YouTube channel. I’ll definitely be trying out more products from her, especially her AHA and BHA exfoliants. I’m down to the last few drops of the serum and have probably a week or two more of the moisturiser to go. About time to place another order!
I love the sound of the serum as I think it will work well under makeup.
Yep, definitely works well under makeup. 🙂