I recently received some L’Oreal Skin Genesis products to test - the Oil-Free Lotion and the Serum Concentrate. I love testing new products, however, if you read my avoid alcohol in cosmetics post, you’ll see that I had previously blasted the Serum Concentrate, although to be fair, I hadn’t tried it til now.

L’Oreal Skin Genesis Serum Concentrate
This product contains alcohol denat as its third ingredient, so normally I’d stay away from this product, since alcohol is an unnecessary aggravating and drying ingredient to use on your skin. Begrudgingly, I used this product for a week. The product is a lightweight serum, and even though it contains alcohol, it didn’t dry out my skin, luckily. However, the product really didn’t do anything for my skin during the week I used it. It’s supposed to “layer by layer, recreate stronger, tighter, brighter skin.” It contains Pro-Xylane, which is something that L’Oreal has patented to “reignite skin’s natural cell activity layer by layer.”

Since Pro-Xylane is a relatively new skin care ingredient, I wouldn’t want to spend money on a product that doesn’t have a lot of proven claims to back it up yet. Pro-Xylane could be the greatest thing ever, but I would like to wait to see more evidence. The Serum Concentrate does contain Hyaluronic Acid (sodium hyaluronate) which is an excellent moisturizing ingredient.

Since this product contains alcohol and is a bit pricey for a drugstore product (around $19), I would not recommend using it.

L’Oreal Skin Genesis Oil-Free Lotion
After applying the Serum Concentrate, you are supposed to use the Oil-Free Lotion. The lotion has an extremely unpleasant medicinal/floral scent that lingers way too long. The lotion feels really nice going on, it doesn’t contain alcohol, and it feels really hydrating at first. However I have dry skin, and this lotion wasn’t enough to hydrate my skin, so I ended up needing an additional moisturizer, which didn’t go on well over this product. If you have normal skin, this could be a good lightweight moisturizer. While this product also boasts containing Hyaluronic Acid like the Serum Concentrate, the ingredient is way down the list, and therefore its benefits are negligible.

If you have normal skin and need a lightweight moisturizer, this could be fine to use. I personally would stick with something that contains proven anti-aging ingredients - like peptides, retinol, or antioxidants. Pro-Xylane may end up being a great anti-aging skin care ingredient, but personally I’m not ready to go out of my way to use it.

Final thoughts
Both of these products come in great packaging - an opaque pump, which keeps the contents air-tight and fresh. Neither of these products contain pore-cloggers in the first ten ingredients, which is good. However they do contain pore-clogging ingredients after the tenth ingredient, which may or may not be a problem for acne-prone skin.

Read more about L’Oreal Skin Genesis at TotalBeauty.com