::Review:: MyChelle Sampler Pack - LOTS of products! (long)
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free skin care · Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:57 pm

I just got a Sampler Pack from MyChelle Dermaceuticals, LLC that they sell for $10 USD, which contains tiny sizes of nearly all of their products. I'd estimate that it represents about 75% of their total product line, at least for facial stuff. Normally I kind of hate samples, just because they amass in my bathroom drawer and I always feel like I won't ever go through them all, plus I'm sensitive so switching products around can make my skin go haywire. But I've enjoyed this line so much in the past, and they have such good-looking ingredients and yummy-smelling formulas, that I wanted to get a broad sampling. I've also seen this Sampler Pack for sale at one Whole Foods in my area (but not the other two), and I've seen various MyChelle products here and there, though they can be hard to come by. I think they're gaining in popularity though.

Slowly but surely, I'm making my way through the whole sampler pack. Folks can see from my signature what my skin type is like, but suffice it to say, I'm less useful at reviewing some of their products like the "Oil-Free Grapefruit Lotion" since my skin craves more moisture than that, even when it's being oily and acne-prone. I'll still sample it to see what the formulation is like, but just note that my feedback isn't as useful as someone whose skin type this would benefit. Here goes! I've divided it into stuff I liked and didn't like, so far.

YAY

-Sun Shield SPF 28: This stuff is a great sunblock - there are a couple other threads out there that discuss it. It's a very natural formula, with mostly clear zinc oxide and a tiny bit of titanium dioxide (less than 1%). The formula looks a bit thick and grainy when you examine the cream, plus very opaque white, but it goes on almost completely invisible, and very smoothly. It dries to a somewhat matte finish on my skin, so I don't look greased up for feel the need for powder on top. I usually do a light dusting of Jurlique Rose Silk Dust anyway, just to combat the oilies that'll show through the day in my T-zone, but I don't think it's really necessary with this sunblock. It has almost no smell at all (I said in a prior post in one of the other threads that it smelled like vanilla, but I had been baking and I think that scent was actually the vanilla bean I'd been scraping out that had deposited its fragrance on my fingertips, haha. Sorry to disappoint!). When I first used it, I put on only a tiny bit, and I think after walking around downtown in the hot sun and sweating all day, it had started to disappear a bit - but I would expect to need to reapply in that situation with any sunscreen. One thing to note is that this stuff does not feel particularly moisturizing - I feel better if I put on a separate moisturizer underneath, and I'm dry but not super-dry.

-Fruit Enzyme Scrub: This stuff is AWESOME, and I will DEFINITELY be repurchasing for a long time to come. It's a creamy emulsification with fruit enzymes as well as jojoba wax beads AND polyethylene beads, so it works on three levels. They recommend that you smooth it on your face when you get in the shower, leave it on for a few minutes for the enzymes to penetrate, and then scrub gently with your fingers and rinse off. The site says the jojoba beads deposit a tiny bit of moisturizing oil while they scrub, which is nice - and lots of products use both these and/or polyethylene beads, but I never find them to be small or prolific enough to actually scrub effectively. But this stuff has lots of beads that are really tiny, so you can get a really good sloughing scrub going, without it feeling like it'll be too abrasive. I always felt like Dr. Hauschka Cleansing Cream wasn't scrubby enough for me, but stuff like St. Ives Apricot Scrub was way TOO abrasive - it's SO nice to find a formula that's natural, that has gentle chemical as well as physical exfoliators, and that feels and smells so good. It left a mildly moisturizing film on my skin, like the jojoba plus a bit of lotion - it felt much the way my skin feels after I use Burt's Bees Orange Essence Facial Cleanser for OCM, but a bit lighter. VERY pleasant, and highly recommended. No foaming at all, the formula is just creamy with beads.

-Cranberry Cleanser: I had actually purchased a larger size of this stuff in the distant past, when my skin was oilier and more acne-prone. It's a very good cleanser, with AHAs and BHAs and shea butter to help counteract some of the drying. It's foaming and yummy-smelling and seemed to do a good job of exfoliating - like many AHA/BHA formulas, it could leave skin a bit flaky/dry without a moisturizer, but this is easily counteracted. I liked that it had gentle surfactants and no parabens or other freaky unnatural ingredients. I think it's hard to tell if a product truly helps with breakout-prone skin or not, but it seemed like a good addition to my regimen at the time. Now I prefer something a bit gentler on my drier skin for everyday use, but I can still use this a couple times a week for exfoliation and deeper cleansing, without feeling overly stripped.

-Clear Skin Serum: This contains salicylic acid, like my old standard Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum, but it's not as sticky or goopy of a formula. It stings slightly on broken skin, but doesn't really seem to dry me out. It doesn't seem to help vastly, either, but I don't really find that any particular product works magic on my hormonal acne - and it did seem to improve things a tad. I probably won't purchase, as there are already so many similar products out there, but this seemed nice as acne serums go.

-Love Your Lips: This actually wasn't a part of the sampler pack, but I've had the same tube of the stuff for a couple years and I just love it. It's a big, fat stick, a full half ounce instead of the usual smaller chapstick size, and it's a nice formula. The scent I have is Guava Orange Vanilla, which is as heavenly as it sounds, and they have several other scents listed on the website. The ingredient list is nice and natural and moisturizing and herbal, and the package says it has titanium dioxide for sun protection, but doesn't list an SPF or percentage (like they should!). But my package is from a couple years ago (and I've barely gone through any of this giant tube) so maybe they've updated that. It doesn't leave a cast at all though, like most TiO2 would - totally clear. Which makes me think there isn't that much of it, but who knows? I'm not gung-ho about lip balm, but this stuff is definitely a very nice formulation, and fun packaging. Somehow the big chubby stick is very satisfying to wield. Smile

NAY

-Pumpkin Renew Cream: This stuff is minty-green in color and smells like pumpkin pie, or close to it. I was hoping that such a delicious-smelling moisturizer would also be a great formula, but unfortunately this was not the case for me. I found it to not really deliver much moisture - it goes on nice and smooth, and soaks up very quickly, but in my opinion it actually soaks up TOO much - I like to still feel moisturized an hour or so after use, and this stuff just didn't do that for me. No stinging or sensitivity, though, which is good news for me since I'm quite prone to that. But I won't be repurchasing this. MyChelle's website has a little blurb about how moisturizers aren't SUPPOSED to stay on your skin, and that one that sinks in is a good thing - but much like how Dr. Hauschka says not to use night cream, I think that "brand philosophies" can be a bit misguided when it comes to the diverse array of skintypes that their customers may have. I like a cream that feels oily and emollient, even when I'm breakout prone, and this stuff felt like it had too much cetyl alcohol/glycerine, and not enough oil. Just my opinion though.

-Deep Repair Cream: This is marketed as a richer cream than the above-reviewed Pumpkin Cream, but I didn't find that to really hold up in my trial. It has a slightly grainy-looking texture, though it doesn't *feel* grainy, but it also soaks up too much right away and leaves me feeling a bit parched, especially in my cheeks. Since the MyChelle sunblock isn't all that moisturizing, I really want a powerhouse moisturizer to wear underneath, and this just didn't do it for me. I prefer to wear serums rather than creams at night, so I didn't want to try it as a night cream, but it's DEFINITELY not as rich as most night creams.

-Fabulous Eye Cream: I didn't think this stuff was anything special, as it was a lot like their other moisturizers - i.e. not moisturizing enough! I like my eye cream to be a bit more emollient than regular facial cream, and this has the same too-much-cetyl-alcohol, not-enough-oil feel to it. It didn't make me sensitive, but it just didn't impress me at all either. I still have a TON left of this sample so if anyone wants to try it I'd be willing to pass it along.

-Hand Cream: Much like the facial lotions, this stuff felt not moisturizing enough. Nothing special, really. Nicer than some hand creams like Aveda that are all marketing and no formulation, but it didn't wow me or anything - no surprise there.

-Cranberry Mud Mask: This didn't really do much for me - most mud masks are a bit bleh in my opinion, and this didn't blow me out of the water either. It has bits of what looked like ground-up cranberry peel in it, so that's... that. It had a mildly medicinal fruity smell, almost like cherry Halls cough drops or something, but not quite. Very subtle. I don't think masks are really that exceptional in general, so it's not surprising that I was lukewarm on this - probably a mask fan would have a better review, sorry! It didn't sting at all though, and while I didn't feel tight after rinsing, I did feel very cleansed, and a bit like there was maybe some mineral-y residue on my skin, but not in a bad way. I may have just needed to rinse more though.

Okay, there are still a TON more products in this pack that I haven't even had the chance to touch, but if I posted about them all this would be forty pages long. So I'm going to start here and I'll update when I get to some of the other, more interesting stuff - I have actually never tried anything with Vitamin C, polypeptides, or HA, and they have serums and/or creams with all three, so I'll post when I get to those but just FYI I won't have anything to compare it to. Hope this helps someone, and sorry I'm so darn long-winded with these things - I just get excited describing new fun products (and warning against crappy ones)!

Take care,

Virginia

free skin care · Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:28 pm

Hm, that's weird about the lack of contact info, huh? I guess it's just the phone number! If you guys want, I'll give it a call, explain the international interest, and try and get some broader contact info up on the sight. They would probably respond well if they knew there were interested potential customers who couldn't get ahold of them.

And Lotus, I don't really know about the CC issue, but my guess is that they would only take credit or debit cards, since that tends to be an online shopping standard. What would you prefer, PayPal? I'll make a list of things to ask about before I call.

And actually, now that I think about it, I signed up for their newsletter, so I'll check and see if that automatic email had any contact info:

Quote:

If you have questions regarding this mailing list, you
can e-mail us at info@mychelleusa.com

So maybe you guys could try that if you want - and I'll suggest that they include the email link on the site.

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