"Like pretty much everyone else in this world, once every year or so, my skin will have a total freak-out for seemingly no reason. Sometimes it’s a pimple that doesn’t go away for three months, sometimes it’s an unexplained dry spell, sometimes it’s mysterious redness… the list goes on. My problem when it comes to addressing my skin concerns? That would be my unrelenting DIY mentality—I refuse to make an appointment with a derm before I’ve tried everything in my power to solve the issue myself. This means that during my annual skin freak-out, my Sephora rewards points nearly triple.
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A little over a month ago, I was dealing with symptoms that I had never experienced before: I noticed tons of congestion along my jawline, my pores felt more clogged than ever before, and all of my SPFs and foundations were pilling, despite the fact that nothing in my regular skincare routine had changed. This was when I decided it was time for an investigative trip to Sephora, where a sales associate introduced me to Alpyn Beauty. After one month of using two of their products religiously, here are my thoughts.
About Alpyn Beauty
Alpyn Beauty was founded by Kendra Kolb Butler, who worked in clinical skincare at Dr. Dennis Gross for nearly a decade before venturing out on her own to found Alpyn Beauty.
After moving to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from New York City, Kolb Butler’s mission was to create skincare products that blended wild plants with clinical actives. This means that Alpyn Beauty’s moisturizers, scrubs, and cleansers all contain sustainably hand-harvested wildflowers and plants, plus clinical actives like hyaluronic acid, peptides, niacinamide, and more. Their mission is to produce skincare products that are both sustainable and effective, which is a win in my book.
My skin
Aside from the rogue skin freak-out once a year, my skin is pretty consistently on the dry side. I can count on the fact that during the winter months, I will usually have to switch to a heavier moisturizer in order to prevent flaking. Besides swapping out my moisturizers twice a year, though, I know that my skin responds best to a set routine, which is why addressing the sudden texture and clogged pores that rose up for me this year felt like an insurmountable task.
My experience with Alpyn Beauty
I can be pretty picky when it comes to skincare brands, so it’s a big deal when I’m introduced to an entirely new brand in-store and buy the product that same day. This reflects how much of a difference I felt by testing the Wild Huckleberry 8-Acid Polishing Peel on my hand. I had been using a viral BHA exfoliator, and while it was working just fine for everyday use, the clogged pores I was facing weren’t everyday problems for me; my skin needed a little extra exfoliation to help the congestion I was facing. While I’d been instilled with the fear of using a physical exfoliant for years (with over-exfoliating as my top concern), I was less daunted by the mask-style formula of the Polishing Peel.
I used the Polishing Peel 2-3 times a week at night, just as I had been using my former chemical exfoliant. Since I have dry skin, I try to be diligent about not over-exfoliating by skin cycling. After just one use of the Polishing Peel, my skin instantly felt softer and less clogged; however, to my pleasant surprise, the results persisted throughout the next few days—even on mornings when I hadn’t exfoliated the night before.
The Wild Huckleberry 8-Acid Polishing Peel is a double-exfoliating peel mask. This means that the product exfoliates in two ways: chemically and physically. The intended result is a buffing and brightening effect, which comes from the micro-exfoliating bamboo powder and the chemically exfoliating AHA/BHA complex.
I know that my skin loves bakuchiol, hyaluronic acid, and squalane, so it was the list of ingredients that sold me on the Melt Moisturizer. Unlike the Polishing Peel, I was able to test this product both morning and night every single day. Though the results were not as instantaneous as the polishing peel, after about a week of use, I started to understand the pros of using a light-weight moisturizer that truly sinks into my skin, rather than sitting on top.
One month into using both the Polishing Peel and the Melt Moisturizer together, I can honestly say that my skin has transformed. Whether you are facing a random bout of clogged pores and texture like I was, or you struggle with those problems on a consistent basis, I would highly recommend giving Alpyn Beauty a try. In addition to clearing up the congestion I was dealing with, using these two products in tandem has made my skin look brighter and bouncier.
The Melt Moisturizer is intended to be just as hydrating as a heavier product without laying on top of the skin; instead, it retains moisture by “melting” into the pores. The product includes two powerhouse ingredients for hydration, hyaluronic acid and squalane, plus bakuchiol, which is a plant-based retinol alternative.
The prices
In my opinion, the prices for both of these products are on the higher side. The Polishing Peel is $56, and the Melt Moisturizer is $60, each for 50 mL; however, I will say that I haven’t needed to use much product to see results, so I know both will last me quite a while. Also, given the results and high-quality ingredients, both are well worth the money to me. There also are mini sizes of both the Melt Moisturizer and Polishing Peel available to give it a try before pulling the trigger on the full-size version.
The final verdict
I might just be enabling my own DIY skincare shopaholicism, but I think the before-and-after images speak for themselves: Alpyn Beauty has totally saved my skin this summer. The clogged pores and congestion that I was struggling with just over a month ago are almost entirely gone with no changes made to my routine except for the addition of these two products. The next time my skin completely wigs out on me, I know exactly where I’ll be turning first.
Alpyn Beauty products that are on my wish list
Given how well the first two products I tried from Alpyn Beauty performed, I can’t wait to try more in the future. These are at the top of my wish list:
