Hi Rosy Friends. I’ve owed you a blog post about my daily rosacea skin care routine, so I thought I’d get started by writing about a skin care line I’ve been using for the last three months because it makes up the vast majority of the care products I’m currently using on my face.

To start, as usual, this is not a sponsored or paid post.  I’m talking about products I found by doing my own research and that I paid for using my own money. If you’re one of my regular readers (THANKS!) then you know that it’s very important to me to be open about how I came upon a product and whether it was given to me or whether I bought it, but I just thought I’d add a reminder for anyone who is new to my blog (Welcome!).

The Face Addiction Soft Skin Care Line

The Face Addiction products are all-natural, free of chemical preservatives, free of colourants or fragrances, paraben-free, sodium laurel/laureth sulfate- (SLS) free, not tested on animals, gluten-free and made in Canada.  Pretty spiffy, right?  Of course, I’ve tried a lot of products that sounded great “on paper” but that didn’t react well with my skin, so here’s how things went from the point that I first contacted the company.

Yes, I contacted the company.  I always reach out to companies – big and small – with questions about their products in order to be sure that I understand the product I want to test, I know how to use it, and I know whether or not other people with rosacea have tried it and have had positive/negative reactions.

The first thing I want to point out about Face Addiction is that the customer service is AMAZING!  I contacted the company via email and the response I received was very quick.  It was more than clear that I was receiving assistance from someone who was extremely knowledgeable in this area and who knew the products inside and out.  Very, very impressive.

Testing Face Addiction as a rosacea skin care system

I tried several products from Face Addiction.  Here they are in the order in which I use them as a part of my rosacea skin care routine:

• Face Addiction Soft Cleanser
• Face Addiction Soft Tonic
• Face Addiction Diffuse Elixir
• Face Addiction Soft Cream
• Face Addiction Hydrate Mask (2x per week)

Here’s what I thought of each one…

The Face Addiction Soft Cleanser gave a great first impression for the system as a whole.  It is a creamy cleanser with a gorgeous smell (the product is unfragranced, but it contains damask rose as one of the ingredients due to its soothing properties, among others).

To use the Soft Cleanser, you massage it onto dry skin as though you are using a moisturizing lotion.  It even starts to feel like it’s “sinking in”.  At that point, add water and massage it again. That seems to draw the cleanser back up to the surface of the skin, bringing all the unwanted dirt, excess oil, product and other ickies with it.  For me, that included makeup and sunscreen!

I have yet to find anything that I apply to my face but that this cleanser won’t gently remove. Still, it leaves my skin feeling soft and calm. I have since re-ordered this product and intend to make this my cleanser from now on.

Ingredients: Aqua (Deionized Water), Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Coco-Glucoside (and) Glyceryl Oleate, (Vegetable) Glycerin, Cetearyl Glucoside, Stearic Acid, Cetyl Alcohol (a gentle, fatty plant oil derivative), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Octyl Palmitate, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Sodium Citrate, Royal Jelly Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Hydrolyzed Silk Peptides, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Rosa Rubginosa (Rosehip Oil), Xanthan Gum, Rosa Damascena (Rose) Flower Essential Oil.

After the first short while of using it, I reviewed it on my YouTube Channel:

Next, the Face Addiction Soft Tonic.  This is used on freshly cleansed skin.  At first, I knew that it felt soothing and cooling but didn’t really see the need to re-order when I replaced the other products from Face Addiction that I liked.  I’ve since changed my mind and have re-ordered.  In fact, I’m hoping it will arrive within the next couple of days or so.

The Soft Tonic helps to provide the skin with a proper pH balance, as far as I understand it.  It’s a liquid that is gently spritzed onto the face and for me, it provides relief after cleansing.  Even though the Soft Cleanser isn’t even slightly irritating, just the action of massaging my face and splashing water on it causes my face to become red for about an hour afterward (it would do this even if I didn’t use the cleanser. My skin is very reactive.).  This tonic, which is used in the same way as a toner, helps to reduce that post-cleansing heat and redness in a very significant way.  I didn’t realize how much it was doing until I stopped using it.

Ingredients: Aqua (Deionized Water), (Vegetable) Glycerin, Hammamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel), Tamarindus Indica Seed Extract (Tamarind), Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Sodium Citrate, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract (Chamomile), Camellia Sinensis (Japanese Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Royal Jelly Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Allantoin, Polysorbate 20, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit Seed) Extract, Rosa Damascena (Rose) Flower Essential Oil.

Here’s my video review on my YouTube Channel:

The Face Addiction Diffuse Elixir is not part of the Soft line, but it’s from the same brand and it is meant to help to heal and soothe the skin.  That’s just what it does.  It seems to complement the first two steps and give my skin a better overall healing advantage.

If I’m staying in all day (as opposed to going out in cold weather, for example), it’s even adequate as a daytime moisturizer.  It works well under makeup.  I haven’t tried this line in the summer yet, but I suspect this will be my daytime moisturizer throughout the hottest months.  I’ve re-ordered and am so glad I did.

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Glycerin, Octyl Palmitate, Olive Squalane, Propolis Cera, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Tocopherol ( Vitamin E ), Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria )Flower Extract, Allantion and Sodium Carbomer.

Here is my video review on my YouTube Channel:

The Face Addiction Soft Cream is the moisturizer I used throughout the coldest months this winter.  It was a great moisturizer that was able to stand up to the frigid temperatures and dry indoor conditions.  I found it very gentle and absorbed surprisingly quickly.  For the first time in many years, my face never once built a scaly dryness on my cheeks and jawbone area.  The moisturizing from this product is incredible and yet it didn’t cause me to experience pimples.

This summer, I imagine I’ll be able to skip this step during the daytime, relying on the Diffuse Elixir alone for moisturizing.  That said, I’ll continue to use this product at night to help my skin to heal and rejuvenate itself at night. This winter, this moisturizer sat very well under makeup. I had no doubt about re-ordering this product. Absolutely!

Ingredients: Aqua (deionized water), vitris vinifera (grape) seed oil, persea gratissima (avocado) oil, caprylic/capric trigliceride, (vegetable) glycerine, (olive) squalane, cetearyl glucoside, emulsifying wax NF, stearic acid, glycol distearate, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, butyropermum parkii (shea butter), rosa rubiginosa (rosehip oil), leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate, tocopherol (vitamin E), royal jelly extract, saccharomycea, sodium hyaluronate, hydroxyethyl cellulose, and rosa demascena (rose) flower essential oil.

Here is my video review of the Soft Cream on my YouTube Channel:

The last product on the list of rosacea skin care products I’m using is the Face Addiction Hydrate Mask. I hadn’t actually intended to purchase this product but after talking to the company for so long with all my questions and after purchasing the entire Soft line and the Diffuse Elixir, the Hydrate Mask was thrown in as a gift.

Boy am I glad they sent this to me!  I use it twice per week (on Saturdays and Wednesdays, in case you’re wondering, haha) and love it. After using all the other products in my rosacea skin care routine, I apply a thin layer of the Hydrate Mask before bed and leave it on overnight.  It’s not like other face masks in that it doesn’t leave a gunky, sticky or slimy film on my skin.  It absorbs right in as though it were simply a heavy-duty moisturizer.

My skin absolutely loves this mask.  It’s soft, smooth and isn’t the slightest bit irritated.  It gives me the chance to feel like I’m having a bit of a spoiled, pampered, spa-like experience.  It’s been a looooong time since I’ve used anything that doesn’t have a medical feel to it, so I couldn’t be happier with the fact that I can use something this special and “pretty”. I haven’t run out of this one yet but this will definitely be on my re-order list.

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Glycerin, Cetearyl Glucoside, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, Emulsifying Wax NF, Stearic Acid, Caprylic/Capric Trigliceride, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Powder, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Rosa Rubginosa (Rosehip Oil), Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Royal Jelly Extract, Xanthan Gum, and Rose Absolute Essential Oil.

Here is my video review on my YouTube Channel:

I feel like I’m doing my face a serious favour by using this product line.  As you’ve seen from previous posts, most of my skin care products have been from a lower price point than these ones, but they last for so long that it actually works out to be about the same cost when all is said and done.

That, combined with the fact that they work wonderfully and actually offer a spa-like experience instead of one that smells like it should come from a prescription bottle is enough to convince me to stick to this one into the foreseeable future.

I can’t say that everyone with this skin condition would have the same reaction (or lack thereof) to using this as a rosacea skin care line but if you still haven’t found one or all of the pieces to your own routine and are looking to try something out, this might be a great option to discuss with your doctor or dermatologist.

Have you tried Face Addiction products or do you have another skin care system that you’ve fallen in love with and that is safe for your rosacea? Please share in the comments below!

I’m already planning my next blog post.  The hope is that I’ll have it written sooner rather than later.  I’ve been using soap nuts instead of regular laundry detergent and fabric softener over the last while.  I can’t wait to tell you what I’ve discovered!