LaRocca skincare review

Sidenote - @ Anonymous commenter: I'm sorry you find my music incredibly disruptive, but it's a personal preference and I happen to like it like that. There is a pause button located on my music player and I'm sure there is a mute button on your computer if it bothers you that much (:

So anyways, this a way overdue review, but I got this in the mail a long time ago.

LaRocca sent me their 24K Gold Moisture, Eye cream, and Exfoliating cleanser. I tested out the eye cream and cleanser for about 2 weeks. I did not use the moisture since my skin is oily enough already. Maybe I'll test it in the near future though.
























The only thing I really liked was the cleanser, so I'll review that first.

24K Gold Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser

Price: $50 for 120 ml

What they say: A silky cream cleanser that harnesses the power of 24K gold to gently exfoliate skin while moisturizing and stimulating collagen growth leaving skin smooth and firmer.

Benefits and ingredients:

• Cellular Gold Complex an exclusive formula made with 24K Colloidal Gold which is known to promote electron transfer with the metal ions found in the skin to stimulate anti-aging cell turnover.
• Diatomaceous Earth gently and quickly exfoliates to smooth and soften skin texture.
• Orange Peel Oil gently moisturizes and energizes the skin.
• Green Tea Extract, a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, defends against free radicals, leaving your skin hydrated, smooth and radiant.
• Fulvic Acid, a natural source of approximately 60 bio-available minerals and nutrients, restores electrical balance to damaged cells and neutralizes toxins, resulting in optimum skin health.
• Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-6 stimulates collagen growth, improving firmness and elasticity.
• Aloe contains 8 of the 13 recognized vitamins, including important antioxidants A, C and F and provides 20 of the 22 necessary amino acids required by the human body.
• Chamomile Extract conditions the skin and helps retain moisture. It contains phenolic derivatives, which have antiseptic and healing qualities, azulene, which helps in reducing puffiness and cleans the clogged pores of the skin.

What to do: dampen skin with warm water, massaging 2-3 pumps of product over face and neck for two minutes and rinse with warm water. Gentle enough to use everyday.

The good stuff:

• Gentle but effective at scrubbing skin
• Smooth texture, not too abrasive
• Leaves skin feeling smooth and looking glowy
• Natural ingredients

The low-down:

• Extremely expensive
• Can get the same results with much cheaper cleansers

My take: Soo, while rubbing 24K gold all over my face did feel a bit luxurious, that was basically it. While it is a nice cleanser and despite all the good-for-you ingredients, I didn't really notice anything special about my skin that couldn't be achieved by using any other scrub or cleanser that I had. I do like the texture better than most exfoliants since theres no huge exfoliating particles in it and the feel of it was nice, but it's just too pricey.

Would I repurchase: Not likely.

And next came the biggest disappointment =(

24K Gold Eye Cream

Price: $135 for 30 ml

What they say: A premium multi-tasking eye treatment formulated with 24K gold, that energizes the cells to help lift, tighten, brighten and reduce puffiness around the eye area, while hydrating and strengthening dermal tissue. In an 8-week study, 63% of users noticed a decrease in dark circles under eyes and 70% of users noticed a reduction of puffiness under eyes.

Benefits and ingredients:

• Cellular Gold Complex an exclusive formula made with 24K Colloidal Gold which is known to promote electron transfer with the metal ions found in the skin to stimulate anti-aging cell turnover.
• Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7 Is a smoothing and regenerating peptide that significantly increases skin elasticity, firmness and helps decrease puffiness around the eye area.
• Palmitoyl Oligopeptide is a natural plant based peptide and is a tripeptide. It is responsible for stimulating collagen production and elasticin and helps nourish the skin.
• Fulvic Acid, a natural source of approximately 60 bio-available minerals and nutrients, restores electrical balance to damaged cells and neutralizes toxins, resulting in optimum skin health.
• Dipeptide-2 Helps improve lymphatic circulation and detoxifies the skin. It improves drainage of under-eye bags.
• Green Tea Extract and Vitamins C & E are potent antioxidants they defend against free radicals, leaving your skin hydrated, smooth and radiant.
• Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-6 stimulates collagen growth, improving firmness and elasticity. Reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
• Indian Gooseberry Fruit Extract naturally lightens skin and helps brighten the under eye area.
• Witch Hazel helps counteract inflammation.
• Chamomile Extract conditions the skin and helps retain moisture. It contains phenolic derivatives, which have antiseptic and healing qualities, azulene, which helps in reducing puffiness and cleans the clogged pores of the skin.
• Sodium Hyaluronate improves skin's moisture retention and reduces the appearance of wrinkles.
• Squalane, derived from olives, is similar to the skin's own natural oil, and helps to form a protective barrier while improving respiration of the skin.

What to do: Gently apply one pump to eye area patting gently morning and night. Use your third finger to apply along the occipital bone and right below brow bone.

The good stuff:

• Well, it's pretty looking . . .

The low-down:

• Burns/stings after applied
• No improvement in dark circles or puffiness
• Infact, seemed to make it worse!!!
• Extremely expensive

My take: I had high, high hopes for this eye cream =( Turns out, it was a no-go for me. The first time I applied it, my under eye area was burning. I thought it could have been from the cleanser I had used or maybe I scrubbed too hard? So the next day I made sure to wash my face really well so it was clean. Then I tried using it again. The same burning/stinging sensation happened. It happened every day for the 2 weeks I could tolerate using it.

In regards to my horrible dark circles and puffiness, I actually felt like while I was using this cream, they got worse!! In the morning when I'd wash it off, my dark circles looked even darker and the puffiness was horrible as ever. It didn't help that when I wash my face in the morning, this cream dried sticky and I had to rub it around to get it off, which made everything worse. Maybe I am allergic to gold?

Would I repurchase: NO.

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