I’ve found a pretty snazzy product for helping manage outbreaks of Milia. It comes in the form of Skinfood’s yuja water toner, and oh my gosh it makes me all sorts of happy. It’s a great day when samples turn out to be seriously fricking good at managing problems you didn’t even know where to start with. 

The problem: milia, or milium cysts. They’re the tiny little white bumps you get under your skin that are basically an absolute pain to get rid of. They’re formed by dead skin cells, or excess keratin, getting trapped underneath the skin. Although they aren’t as annoying, or take as much skill (or product) to cover up as acne or larger blemishes, they’re not nice to deal with. Some cases may require medical intervention! Mine have never been particularly horrific, but they’re something that I’d rather not have. 

Skinfood claims that the duo – as well as the rest of the yuja water C line – brightens the skin from the inside out, due to the Yuja extract and essential oil used in the formula. The yuja intensely hydrates when it’s applied to the skin, locking in moisture and brightening the appearance for a soft, glowy look. Yuja as a fruit apparently contains 3x more vitamin C than lemon, so I’d certainly hope it would do something for the skin!

It does definitely hydrate. I’ve seen an improvement in the appearance of my skin when I use both the toner and emulsion in combination – using the toner by itself helps a little, since the vitamin C stimulates collagen production. But where the toner really sings is the fact it’s cleared up my milia. I didn’t really know how to go about sorting it out around the undereye area (the covering up of the undereye baggage really doesn’t help the delicate skin around the eye…) as any of the methods I’d looked up seemed particularly abrasive. Then I get this twinset as a sample, try it out and … well. Bye bye milia!

I use this once a day, as any sort of citrus extract can be quite harsh on my skin. I apply it about two or three minutes after cleansing, and usually with my fingers rather than a cotton pad. A little goes a long way, so don’t go slathering it on with the hopes that it’ll sort out all your problems immediately. 

For the emulsion, I use it when I feel that my skin needs a little extra boost in hydration, and again apply it with my fingers. It doesn’t feel heavy or greasy on the skin, which makes it quite a nice product to use either in the morning or at night. I’ve been using this as a quick hydration boost in the mornings recently, as my skin has looked quite tired since I’ve been trying to settle into a regular pattern with work and adjusting to being in South Korea again. 

Downsides: this duo (and the whole of the yuja water range, as far as I can see) contains a whitening agent, which isn’t great. The toner also contains alcohol, which isn’t great for sensitive skin, so I tend to use it sparingly and always follow with a moisturiser. 

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how this little sample set has worked for me so far. I’m not entirely sure I’d repurchase the full sized products when I run out, since there are more affordable options that do the same thing from different brands I’d like to try. I might do in the future, though I’d definitely be swayed more if they removed the whitening agent from the formula, and the alcohol. I’m not really a fan of alcohol in products. 

What’s your favourite product for hydrating tired skin? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to try some!

♥

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