Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant - review

Powder exfoliators are becoming a bit of a "thing" lately.  I've been trialling Dermalogica's version - Daily Microfoliant - on and off for the last couple of weeks.  Hardly daily, but "reasonably often" (maybe every second-third day).

This is a rice-based enzyme powder which really gently "microfoliates" dry and congested skin.  What that means is that it contains both mechanical and chemical exfoliators:  ingredients include talc, oatmeal, rice bran and rice starch (as the mechanical exfoliators, which help to polish the skin), papain and salicylic acid (as the chemical/enzymatic exfoliators, which help to dissolve dead skin cells), and a bunch of leaf and root extracts, hydrolyzed wheat protein (careful if you're a coeliac), some oils (tea tree leaf, grapefruit peel) - all which help with brightening and calming the skin.  And parabens.  It's scentless, which suits me nicely.

Per instructions, you're supposed to dispense about a half-teaspoon into (very) wet hands and create a creamy paste by rubbing your hands together.

Honestly, I found that a decent-sized teaspoon worked better.

You then apply to to your face in circular motions (avoid the eye area as per usual) until it's all over your face, then massage your skin gently for about a minute, before rinsing off.  Alternatively, you could mix it with your cleanser if you're a bit short on time, but I think using it after cleansing as another step would be a little better.  It rinses off very easily and supposedly suits every skin type, I can verify that it worked fine on both the dry and the oilier parts of my skin.

This is a lovely daily polish for your skin, it's really gentle and although I was somewhat non-plussed the first time I used it, with every successive use, I realised that it is intended (as per its name) to be used daily.  Even with this type of usage, it's not really going to replace your weekly "hard core" exfoliator, but it does make your skin polished and smooth.  My skin has become nicely softened and slightly more polished in the last few weeks.

As with most Dermalogica products, this ain't cheap - it will set you back between €40 and €55 for 75g, depending on where you get your mitts on it - it's available a few places online, and in a lot of beauty salons (also in Dublin Duty Free, which is a good place to buy your Dermalogica as they're a rather expensive brand range, in general).  Would I purchase?  Well, I've been making my way through a 13g sample size in the last few weeks, and I've barely dented it, so it really will last a while.  If I could guarantee the time and investment into using it daily, I most certainly would.  But because I honestly don't have the time for yet another step in my daily skincare regime, unlikely.  Look here for more info.