By Jamika Martin

Paloma Serum

Written by Jamika

The Paloma Serum. 7% Glycolic Acid, 7% White Willow Bark, 100% beauty.

AHAs and BHAs are so so amazing for acne prone skin, oily skin, textured skin, scarred skin, like every skin! I'll get into what it does and why they're so great in a second, but I just want to share a lil' backstory of how this product became.

My first chemical exfoliant was a 2% BHA liquid from Paula's Choice. This is still a fave, but I loveddd how it helped with my skin's texture. Then, I started getting chemical peels and hearing how amazing Glycolic Acid is for acne prone skin. So, I started playing around with our own serum formulation.

In an ideal world, I probably would have used Salicylic Acid as our BHA because everyone knows how beautifull that works with acne-prone skin. However, the FDA has put a huge stake in very specific ingredients (like Salicylic Acid) and we would have to do a lot more regulatory work in the acne world if we wanted to include that in our formula. Sooo, we went with our tried and true White Willow Bark.


Now, a quick word on the name. We included Grapefruit Oil in this serum because it just felt and smelled so right. A super small percentage, enough to reap some of the naturally occurring vitamin c benefits that Grapefruit Oil has, but also enough to get that beautiful natural scent and color.

If any of y'all love tequila as much as I do, you've probably tried a Paloma before. Basically, it's a grapefruit tequila cocktail and it's so good. No tequila in the Paloma Serum, but it's just as fun, we promise.

Now let's dive into the ingredients.

INGREDIENT BREAKDOWN

GLYCOLIC ACID: This is an AHA, which means that it is a water-soluble acid that helps chemically exfoliate your skin (very different than physical exfoliation). It has a very small molecule size, which means it can penetrate your pores and absorb very well. Due to it's exfoliating properties, it helps break up clogged pores which is why it's so great for acne-prone skin. It helps to break up dead skin on the top layers of your face to reduce pore clogging and do an incredible job fading dark marks.

WHITE WILLOW BARK: This is the plant that Salicylic Acid is derived from! Basically, they extract naturally occurring salicin from the plant and put it through lots of chemical processes to turn it into Salicylic Acid. What this means is that White Willow Bark has lots of BHA properties. BHAs are oil-soluble acids which mean they can actually dive deeper into your pores to exfoliate dirt and grime build up. This is an amazing ingredient for texture and small bumps. It also makes it a great exfoliant for blackheads.

PALOMA VS BRIGHT CITRUS

We've already gotten so many questions on this, so we figured we'd break it down here for ya with the help of this really easy to read table!

Long story short, vitamin c is not formulated for breakouts or acne. It does an amazing job "boosting your skin's metabolism" as we like to call it. Basically, it helps to speed up your skin's healing process, making those dark spots, fine lines, etc... fade quicker.

However, chemical exfoliants can do this as well as help with breakouts. The way that dark spots, fine lines, etc... are faded with AHAs and BHAs is through chemical exfoliation. These ingredients dive into your pores and break up discoloration.

A key thing to note here is the power that AHAs and BHAs have on texture and acne. Because these are exfoliants, they can help break down: dead skin, oil, dirt, grime, and a lot of other stuff that can be clogged up in your pores. This exfoliation is what makes these ingredients so amazing for acne-prone skin and actively occuring bumps and texture.


FOLLOW US ON IG TO GET OUR LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT

111 comments

Leave a comment