Hi everyone!  I hope you’ve had a great holiday season and 2016 is off with a great start for you.  I hadn’t intended to take quite this much of a break from this blog but I’m back with lots of new things to talk about, so I should be posting much more regularly for the next while, simply because I have things to say!

To start, I’ll share my review of a rosacea product called Rewind by Alon Labs.  It’s a facial serum I was sent for free about a month and a half ago in exchange for an honest review of my experience in using it (I first told you about this in my post called I’m a Rosacea Skin Care Product Guinea Pig).

As per usual, this is not a sponsored review. I am not affiliated with Alon Labs in any way and I am not being paid to talk about the product or give the review.  The company sent me the product after having seen me on Twitter (I’m @treat_rosacea and they are @AlonLabsLLC), when they asked me to take part in a social media campaign they were running to help to show people with facial redness that there is hope and they don’t have to be miserable with their skin condition.  I inquired into who they were and they asked if I’d like to try their product.  I agreed and told them that I’d be happy to give an honest review of my experience (I offered the review, they didn’t ask for it).

With all that explained, I’ll move on to what this post is all about: the review!  Here is the video version of my review, with the more detailed written version, below:

What I liked about Alon Labs Rewind Facial Serum

• It is very quick to apply.  There is a bit of a learning curve because it’s extremely watery, so trying to apply it exactly according to the directions causes a lot of product loss (at least it did in my case).  Once I got into the swing of it, it was a matter of using a bit at a time, instead of all at once, and it was as fast to apply as a moisturizer.

• 

  It can be used with any other products. I appreciated that this wasn’t a part of a system or a line of products. While I understand that many rosacea skin care products work best when they were designed to be used together, I have yet to find a full series from which I like every single step.  This is especially true because my skin care needs change from winter to summer. So the fact that I could use this with whatever cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen I wanted was great.

• It was unfragranced. It did have a bit of an odor and I have the nose of a bloodhound, so I could notice it even through my moisturizer for the first while that I was using Rewind, but I eventually got used to it. It wasn’t unpleasant as much as it was just “there”. That said, I would far rather use a product that has a bit of a mild smell due to its natural ingredients than have to tolerate the reaction fragrances cause on my face.
• It is made from natural ingredients. I’m not the kind of person who uses only “natural” products. I also know that just because a product contains natural ingredients, it doesn’t mean that they’re any more safe or effective than chemical ingredients (there’s a great ASAP science video called “This is Not Natural” to explain this), since there are some great natural products out there just as there are great chemical products but both categories have their dangerous ingredients, as well.  That said, I do appreciate a product that does contain researched natural ingredients that are safe, gentle and effective.
• It was formulated by a plastic surgeon. In fact, even better, the skin care expert behind Rewind created it for his wife.  Assuming he loves his wife, this was good news for the rest of us haha!
• It came with great support. Any questions I had were quickly answered by the team at Alon Labs when I communicated with them through direct messages on Twitter.

What I didn’t like about Alon Labs Rewind Facial Serum

• The price.  It’s currently US$74.85 on Amazon.com, which translates to about a bajillion Canadian dollars, plus shipping.  I know the exchange rate isn’t the fault of Alon Labs but today’s exchange rate (January 9, 2016) would mean that I’d have to spend CAD$106.07 plus shipping every thirty days.  I’m a writer and am neither J.K. Rowling nor Stephen King, which automatically means that I can’t afford to pay that amount every month.
• The expiration rate. This product comes in two bottles which must be mixed together to create the active formula to use on your face.  Once you mix them together, you have 30 days before they expire and don’t work anymore.  While the FAQ on the official Alon Labs website said the average user uses the whole bottle within that time, I was following the sensitive skin schedule for the product which meant that I still had about a quarter of the bottle left by the time the product expired. If I hadn’t been sent the product for free, I would have been miffed about that.  The FAQ does say that you can put it in the fridge to buy yourself a few more days but since I didn’t know exactly how many days it meant, I refrigerated it but used it for only one extra day.  It would be cool if it were a “starter kit” or something like that, where you can mix smaller amounts to avoid that issue.
• The initial breakout/flare-up. To be fair, the FAQ on the official site does clearly state that an acne breakout may occur during the first few days of use.  My face broke out with acne AND had a massive flare-up for two solid weeks.  My rosacea has never flared as much and as solidly and I’ve never had so many pimples all at once.  I was tempted to give up on it but decided to stick with it to be to with the company that was so generous to let me try the product for free.  Lo and behold on the 15th day, my face started to clear up and it cleared up very quickly and visibly.

It’s a shame that the first two weeks were wasted with a flare-up and break-out because it meant that I had only 2 weeks to see what the product could actually do for my face.  I’m under the impression that Rewind would have continued to benefit and improve my skin redness if I’d been able to continue to use it for another 2 to 4 weeks.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to continue to test it despite the fact that I still had more product, as it had expired by that point.

Overall, I think this is a very promising product.  No single rosacea skin care product works for everyone but this one looked as though it would work for me if I were to keep using it.  If you have the means and are searching for an anti-redness product with all-natural ingredients, that was developed by a plastic surgeon and that offers great customer support online, then Alon Labs’ Rewind is certainly worth trying out. I’d recommend speaking to your doctor or dermatologist, first, just to be sure it is appropriate for you.

As for me, I’ve since moved on to the next product I’m testing, which is the Smarter Lights (formerly Light Therapy Options) prototype meant for people with rosacea and that combines red and amber light therapy.  Very exciting news coming very soon.  If you’re interested, please feel welcome to subscribe to this blog and to my YouTube channel, where I’ll keep you up to date!

See you again, soon!