Dr Dennis Gross: Alpha Beta Peel

Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Peel*: £29.99 (five double sachets) available from My Natural Beauties 

I think the idea of a skincare peel sounds a bit scary. I don't know about you, but when I think 'skin peel' my mind flashes up with pictures of celebrities covering their raw looking faces as they scuttle out of plastic surgeons offices that I'm sure we've all seen them in trashy celebrity gossip magazines. But Dennis Gross Alpha Beta peel is a treatment suitable for even sensitive skin, containing natural ingredients and free of parabens and phthalates. It isn't a product that you'd necessarily stumble across on the off-chance, and so I thought I'd share a bit of information about how it works and introduce you to a brand you might not have heard of.

Rather than making your skin peel and fall off (eeek!) it contains ingredients to: reduce fine lines and wrinkles, reduce enlarged pores, fight blemishes and help with dark spots and redness. Research has shown some impressive stuff- such as 92% firmness and radiance, 88% minimised pores and 86% increased skin hydration. This skincare treatment slots in your routine in the place of a toner, as the directions state to apply to clean, dry skin. You're supposed to avoid products containing alcohol after using this, and so it's probably best to give most toners a miss anyway. Application is plain sailing, step one is applied in circular motions from forehead to neck until the pre-soaked towelette dries, and step two is applied two minutes later in the same way. While this treatment does have quite a powerful scent- especially step one- it feels gentle on the skin, and while I noticed a slight tingling it wasn't at all painful (even by my very wimpy standards).

I didn't notice any change in the redness of my skin, but it definitely feels hydrated and looks clear after finishing this treatment. I checked reviews on Makeup Alley to see what others had to say about this, and it seems that lots of people with acne got really good results. While I don't have acne it's definitely cleared up the blemishes I did have, and has had no negative effects on my skin whatsoever- which is great as usually anything that clears up spots results in flaky, dry and sensitive skin (talk about out of the frying pan into the fire). If you have quite problematic skin and nothing else has worked for you I think this would be a brilliant product to look into. It also contains anti- aging ingredients which is never a bad thing seeing as we apparently start aging as soon as we stop growing- ehh so unfair.