My Facetheory review rosacea skin edition, round two. Second Facetheory haul, which means I liked the first one enough to go back – that tells you something. These products were gifted in exchange for an honest review, and after a few weeks of actual use (not just a first impressions video), here are my thoughts. Note: I no longer have an active discount code for Facetheory.
If you missed my first Facetheory review, that’s over here. And if you’re managing rosacea skin specifically, my Anua azelaic acid serum review covers the active I use daily for rosacea management.
What I picked this time
Facetheory let me choose from the website again, so this is a fairly random selection. One body product, another mask, and a few things I either hadn’t heard much about or that had really good reviews. I’ve had them a couple of weeks.
Colloidal-C Anti-Redness Toner
Anything with anti-redness on the label is going to get my attention. It’s a redness-reducing toner with high beta glucan, oat kernel, vitamin C, licorice and aloe vera.
I’ve been a fan of colloidal oats for years, going back to the old First Aid Beauty and Aveeno products, both for my rosacea and for the eczema patches I get on my chest.
The cons first, because there are a few. It’s a really thick toner. It has a very strong oat scent, which you will either not mind or actively dislike. And it can go cloudy and congeal, with bits floating in it, so you need to give it a proper shake before every use or you’ll get clumps. When I went back to the website afterwards, other people had mentioned the same thing in the reviews, so I don’t think I just got a bad batch.
It also leaves a tacky finish. That does go once you layer something over it, but it takes a while.
Here’s how I actually got on with it though, and this is the bit worth stealing. I soak a cotton pad, split it in half, and lay the halves on my cheeks like a tiny sheet mask, right where the rosacea is worst. I do the same on eczema patches when they’re itchy and inflamed. It works far better the longer it sits there, and used that way it’s genuinely soothing. It calms the eczema itch and it helps the redness on my cheeks.
Used as a normal toner it doesn’t do nearly as much, and on my oily skin it sits heavy. If your skin is dry I suspect you’d love it.
Would I repurchase? Probably not. I’d rather have the Porebright toner with the 5% niacinamide that I covered in my first Facetheory review. I’ll happily finish this one though.
Centasooth Botanical Serum
This one was a disappointment, and I want to be careful about how I say it.
Dragon’s blood, centella asiatica and evening primrose oil. The reviews on the site were great, including from other people with rosacea saying it had really helped them, and I grabbed it straight away on the strength of that.
It did not work for me. It felt greasy and oily, it didn’t sink in, and it made my cheeks flush further and stay flushed for a long time afterwards. Borderline a proper rosacea flare, which is the exact opposite of what I want from something sold as soothing.
My skin isn’t your skin, and clearly it’s working for plenty of people. But it was a fail for me and I won’t be trying it again.
One genuinely useful thing here: Facetheory’s return policy is good. If something reacts, contact them, and they’ll refund you and help you pick something more suitable.
Glycamide Body Cream
This surprised me and it’s my favourite thing in the whole haul.
It’s a replenishing body cream with 9% glycolic acid, sold on smoothing, firming and refining.
I have keratosis pilaris, the chicken skin bumps, across both arms and on my legs. My elbows get so dry in winter that moving my arms feels like the skin is cracking, and it genuinely hurts. So I kept this on my bedside table and started using it on my arms and elbows, then moved on to my legs.
It really helped the KP, and it sorted out the dry painful elbow thing.
What convinced me is that the result held. Normally I’ll find a cream, my arms feel smooth, and a few hours later the bumps are back, which makes me think it was just the dimethicone giving me the illusion of smooth skin rather than anything actually changing. This one doesn’t do that.
It’s a thick cream but it sinks in quickly. Not the sort where you’re lying there afterwards with your pyjamas stuck to you.
I accidentally ordered the gently scented version rather than the unscented, and I don’t mind at all. It’s a soft bergamot, slightly lemony, and it isn’t strong. I’d rather have things unscented where I can, but for body products I’m not fussy.
Large jar and I’ve barely made a dent after weeks of use. I’ll be repurchasing this one. No idea about the firming claim, that’s far too soon to tell, but for KP and dry patches it’s excellent.
Pink Clay AHA Face Mask
Kaolin clay, vitamin C and lactic acid, in a light skin-tone pink. Unscented, so what you smell is the clay itself.
It’s a nice mask and I did enjoy it. It exfoliates without being harsh, and like the green tea mask from my first haul it doesn’t dry down to that cracked desert stage where you daren’t smile in case your face falls off. It keeps some moisture in it.
Between the two masks though, I prefer the green tea one. That was more soothing, and this left my cheeks a bit red, which is fair enough given there’s an AHA in it.
So I won’t repurchase, but I’m not abandoning it either. I’m using it as a spot treatment now, just on the chin when I break out there.
Amil-C Whip Moisturiser
A lightweight whipped moisturiser with 5% niacinamide and dual action vitamin C, and I like it a lot.
The texture is genuinely light and it sinks in quickly on combo skin, oily t-zone and dry lower cheeks. No fragrance I can detect. It hasn’t flared my rosacea, it hasn’t broken me out, and I got none of the tingling I’d expect from a traditional vitamin C serum, so it’s gentle.
It works nicely under makeup. I use it in the morning and something else at night. I’ll likely repurchase, unless I end up preferring the SPF version, which I have sitting here untried because I can’t test everything at once without my face catching fire.
The thing to watch with Facetheory: don’t stack your niacinamide
This is the most useful thing I can tell you about the whole range and nobody warns you about it.
A lot of Facetheory products carry the same actives. Several have azelaic acid in them. Several have niacinamide. And the percentage often isn’t in the product name, it’s in the small print underneath. The Amil-C Whip is called a vitamin C moisturiser, but it’s also 5% niacinamide.
So you can very easily pick three products that all sound like they do different jobs, and end up putting 20% niacinamide on your face in one routine without realising.
I can’t handle more than 5% without flushing. So when I switched to the Amil-C Whip, I stopped using the Porebright toner, because that’s another 5% and together they’re more than my skin will take. If yours copes with more, brilliant, but plenty of us can’t and I’m one of them.
Read the secondary ingredients, not just the product name.
How I’d introduce them
Patch test on a small area first. Then bring them in one at a time, giving each one a few days before you add the next.
If you start a whole new range in one go and something goes wrong, you have no way of knowing which product did it. That’s exactly how I’d end up with a rosacea flare and no idea what caused it.
FAQ
Is Facetheory worth buying for sensitive skin?
Facetheory is a UK-based brand that formulates specifically for sensitive, reactive, and problem-prone skin. Products are generally fragrance-free and contain evidence-backed actives.
Is Facetheory good for rosacea?
Facetheory’s fragrance-free formulations and sensitive-skin focus make them a reasonable option for rosacea-prone skin. As always with rosacea, patch test new products and introduce one at a time.
More skincare posts
- Facetheory Skincare Review: My Initial Impressions
- The Anua Azelaic Acid Serum Review: Fine. It’s Fine.
- Seborrhoeic Dermatitis on the Scalp vs Face
- 6 Malassezia Safe Moisturisers That Don’t Feel Like Grease
- My Current Discount Codes
