In my last post, my favorite night time skincare products for happy & healthy skin (read here), I promised you a review of the personalized skincare by FormelSkin. And as a woman of great honor, I shall hereby deliver it! I have been using their products for 3 months now. In this post, I will give you the truth about FormelSkin: Is it worth the money?
What is FormelSkin?
FormelSkin (click here) is a German company that offers personalized skincare. Before ordering a skincare set from them, you have to do a short quiz, and send in some pictures of your skin. All in all, I think it took me 5-10 minutes to complete. Based on your answers and pictures, a dermatologist will then recommend a skincare routine for you. You can also request certain ingredients, if you already know what works for you. I don’t tend to do that though, because I am not a doctor, and they will most likely know what’s best for my skin.
Each month, you then get your individualized skincare set, consisting of a cleanser, a serum, and a moisturizer, for 49€/month. If you’re using my code BBTCBMQDH at check-out, you get a 20€ discount on your first set*. You also get the option to add a sunscreen, but I have never tried theirs.
After about 3 weeks, you have to check in with your dermatologist, answer a few questions (e.g. “How happy are you with your skin right now?”) and send in new pictures. Depending on the results, you either keep the same serum for another month, or they change the ingredients. So far, I have had 2 different serums.
My Before & Afters
As mentioned above, you have to send in pictures of your bare face every month. I understand that this can be rather stressful for some people, because our skin can hugely impact our self-esteem. I have said it a million times now, I don’t have horrible skin, but I do get some breakouts. So even for me, posting these pictures isn’t easy. Please be nice.
The first two pictures are what my skin looked like before I started using the FormelSkin products, in September of 2022. Not too bad, a few breakouts as well as some redness on my cheeks.
Based on these pictures and answers to the quiz, I was prescribed a serum with azelaic acid. This ingredient is supposed to help with breakouts and rosacea (redness), but it really didn’t work for me. My skin got really dry and irritated, and broke out more than usual (see pictures).
As you can imagine, I was rather unhappy with how my skin looked and felt. Luckily, my dermatologist at FormelSkin recognized the problem, and changed the serum I got. Now, my formula contains clindamycin, an antibiotic to fight the breakouts. To help reduce dark spots and clear the skin, it has also got tretinoin in it. Since using it, the amount of breakouts has drastically reduced. I have already mentioned this in the post on my night time skincare routine, but it is worth saying it again. After I started using the new serum, I got an “under the skin” pimple twice. You know those kinds of breakouts that are quite painful and you can feel them coming a few days before they actually surface. But because of the serum, they never actually showed up! Not even a little bit of redness. Obviously, I was very pleased with that.
I still have quite a few dark spots/scars from pimples of the past. Partially, I think that’s unfortunate. Partially it is my own fault. Because I kept picking at my face. I know you’re not supposed to do so, and I am paying the price. But overall, I have seen a lot of improvement in my skin over the past month.
The truth about FormelSkin: Is it worth the money?
For me, this isn’t a simple yes or no answer. If you had asked me a month ago, when I was still using the formula with azelaic acid, I probably would have said no. My skin didn’t look nor feel good at all. Now, it’s a different story. But let’s break it down…
The truth about: The FormelSkin Cleanser
The first step in your routine is to cleanse your face. I really like the FormelSkin cleanser. It has got salicylic acid in it, which helps to brighten the complexion by removing blackheads. It doesn’t dry out my skin, but leaves it feeling seriously soft, even before moisturizing etc. And I can’t say I have ever had a cleanser work that well for me before. Absolutely worth the money.
The truth about: The FormelSkin Serum
This one obviously is the star of the show. And as I have already hinted to, I am very happy with the serum I have right now. I have seen a big difference in my skin since using it. Therefore, this one is worth the money as well!
The truth about: The FormelSkin Moisturizer
I use the FormelSkin Moisturizer both in the mornings (click here for my morning skincare routine) and evenings. It has a very nice, lightweight formula, which doesn’t leave my skin feeling sticky or greasy. I was gonna say there’s probably a cheaper alternative on the market, but now that I think of it, I can’t come up with another moisturizer like this one. Worth the money as well, I guess!
My final thoughts
You have probably already gathered from the bits above, that for me, the personalizes skincare set be FormelSkin is indeed worth the money. It’s not super cheap, but I have spent my money on worse things in the past. Plus, I now have a very solid base of things I use in the evenings (and mornings), which means I don’t buy as much other crap/test things to find they don’t work for me. With these products, I know there’s actual science behind it. And of course, there’s a dermatologist, that specializes in this kind of skincare. And, whenever you have additional questions, you get to contact them. They also have amazing customer service: one of the pumps on the moisturizers I got didn’t work, so they sent me both a new pump and another moisturizer.
Another thing worth mentioning: all of the products last pretty much exactly 4 weeks for me, so perfect timing. If you run out before your next refill, you can also request a larger amount of next time. Perfect!
As always, please let me know your thoughts on FormelSkin, and if you think it is worth the money! Have you ever heard of or tried these products before or is it your first time? I’m curious to hear!
Lots of Love,
Lena
* If you use my code at check-out, I also get a discount on my next refill. This doesn’t mean you have to pay more for your set.
Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored.