RYX Skincerity Honest Review

I know, I know, I did a bit of fear mongering in my previous post about rejuvenating kits and magic skin care sets that are selling like hotcakes over Shoppee and Facebook and Lazada these days. I'm using my humanity card right here and reason that I'm human, I make mistakes, often in the name of beauty. My most recent mistake being...

Skincerity honest review

Let me be clear though. I tried my hardest to love/like/tolerate RYX Skincerity Starter Kit. I really wanted it to work. After all, I had so much to lose: 1) my self-respect, for trying yet another rejuvenating set just after announcing I'm done with rejuvenating sets; 2) my skin, which was not in good shape after stopping Fairy Skin mid-purge; and 3) some more money.

Backstory. So in December 2019, I decided to use Fairy Skin Derma - the pink one - because I wanted to be pretty for the holidays. However, after a couple of days of use, I discovered that the brand and variant had an FDA warning for containing hydroquinone and tretinoin, which are deceitfully not stated in the product labels. I also discovered that most rejuvenating kits have those two ingredients. I also discovered that hydroquinone and tretinoin are harmful and not just in a magkakarashes ka kind of way, but in a mabubulag ka kind of way.

Blindness is a bit of a stretch, but your vision will suffer over time due to ochronosis, especially if the products you use also have mercury in them. And, I mean, if a brand dishonestly labels their products by not stating hydroquinone and tretinoin, I don't see how they can be trusted that their products do not have mercury and other more dangerous chemicals in them. I'm not saying Fairy Skin has mercury - it probably doesn't - or that you'll go blind by using the kit - you probably won't - I'm just saying I no longer felt comfortable using the products.

To add to my other gruesome discoveries, I also discovered that it's the hydroquinone/tretinoin combo that irritates my eyes, nose, and gives me weird headaches. I stopped using Fairy Skin and swore to never go back to using beauty kits/rejuvenating sets.

So why am I back? Simple answer: I hate being ugly. See, the issue is more than skin deep and it's way too dark of a topic to be discussing in a product review.

I'm currently using Fairy Skin cream topically during this COVID 19 quarantine, only because my options are limited. And because, unfortunately, RYX Skincerity did not work.

Ok. Now the RYX Skincerity Review. Again, I really tried my hardest to make it work. The reasons I chose the brand are:

I. THE PROMISES ARE JUST TOO GOOD. 

Reviews are glowing. Before and afters are impressive. And what got me buying is this gutsy statement: safe for pregnant and lactating moms. Now, you'd think that after all my discoveries I'd be more wary of claims. I did my detective work and the brand has no records of warnings on the FDA website or elsewhere online. I only found one blog where the user of the product developed an allergic reaction, which I thought was okay because it happens even to the highest quality products. I was still apprehensive because, well, you don't just trust beauty products after knowing what I now know lel. I ordered a kit and discovered that:

II. RYX IS A SAFER OPTION.

I guess the reason RYX specifically claimed to be safe was that they actually do not have hydroquinone/tretinoin and other banned ingredients proven to be unsafe for pregnant and lactating women. It made me wonder though what RYX uses as an alternative. Because, sad fact, hydroquinone, tretinoin, mercury, etc. are effective in bleaching and rejuvenating the skin, without those three, skin care products are generally ineffective in performing skin miracles. Luckily, RYX is a responsible brand, because:

III. RYX KITS HAVE PROPER LABELS.

RYX Skincerity Ingredients List

I apologize for the poor image quality. But as you hopefully can see, the ingredients list is not haphazardly made. It's done in proper order, with water (aqua) or alcohol (ethanol) being at the forefront because as a rule, you list ingredients with the highest content first and the lowest content last. If a beauty kit lists ingredients randomly and only mentions the good bits like "glutathione, papaya extract, goat's milk" or some vitamin, you better be wary. That's an obvious sign of dishonesty. I mean, if soap is all vitamins, it won't lather, the label needs to include all the other ingredients so the users would know what they're putting on their skin. Five stars for RYX for including everything in a neat list. It's easier to see how it's supposed to carry out its promises. And I guess it does for some, because I've so far seen mostly good reviews, and better:

IV. RYX HAS A STRONG FANBASE, I FOUND IT VIA WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING.

So in December, I was done with rejuvenating kits. In January, I met with a relative who's a decade older but has skin like a decade younger than mine. I asked her what she uses and she said Cetaphil, but she had this cousin who had problematic skin who saw miracles from RYX Skincerity and she tried that too and it was good. So I was like, yeaaaah, nooo, okaaay back to rejuvenating kits, I guess? Note that these two girls are well travelled, snooty women. I was a little surprised that they even use rejuvenating kits, especially local ones. She insisted that I try RYX, so I placed an order right away.

V. RYX HAS DECENT PACKAGING.

What turns me off from rejuvenating kits are the shabby packaging with the gaudy colors and off-putting names. I won't be naming brands, but do a quick Google image search for "Rejuvenating Set Philippines" and you'll see an array of embarrassing examples. When I first saw ads for RYX, I immediately thought it was a Korean brand, though I also thought it was piggybacking on the popularity of COSRX. RYX branding has hints of it being local, which isn't a bad thing. I'm rather glad Philippine products can look decent and compete with international brands, looks-wise.

VI. LASTLY, THE RYX CEO IS GORGEOUS AND HAS AMAZING SKIN.

Just to be clear, she is not a friend lol. This is not a paid review. Just saying I find her pretty. It's odd that she volunteers to be the model, but hey, who wouldn't be proud to have her face plastered everywhere when you're that pretty? Also, why hire a model when you look like one? 

Rica Detiquez, RYX Skincerity CEO

Am I shallow for buying products from a brand just because the owner is pretty? Absolutely. Am I proud? Not very much, but come on, if I can look as good as her, I'd probably solve 99% of my problems. Ha. Just kidding.

Here comes the sad part. RYX Skincerity, with all its honesty and pretty packaging and pretty owner, is simply not compatible with my skin. I tried very hard, I've said that about 3 times over the course of writing this blog. I really did try. I gave it more than a month. I stopped using other products even makeup, just to be sure it's not all the other things that I'm putting on my face that's causing my breakouts, but /sigh/. 

I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, just maybe, the previous rejuvenating kit did so much damage, especially because I stopped using it mid-purge. Maybe it was that. But I rested my skin weeks prior and had stopped getting pimples before I started using RYX. I tried blaming my diet, sleeping patterns, periods, hormones, vitamins, stress levels, etc. But I had to be honest with myself, none of those was doing anything horrible to my skin. RYX made me itch and break out in spots I didn't use to before. I also didn't see any improvement. 

It was hard letting it go, I have basically put all my hopes in this brand, it was supposed to be my Holy Grail, I was supposed to be telling people by now about how wonderful it is and be like my relative and her cousin and the owner and amaze people with my blinding white, perfect skin, but alas, it's simply not meant to be. 

To be fair, I still use the facial wash. It's the gentlest I've tried, and I've tried dozens of brands over the years. It leaves the skin soft and smooth and nice to touch. I normally don't feel happy with gentle cleansers because I have oily skin and I use heavy makeup, so I'm used to multiple step cleansing with harsher, heavy duty soaps. But the starter kit facial wash is a game changer. An absolute gem. 

I also still use the SPF 60 sunscreen. It doesn't break me out. It's also very mild and lightweight. It lets my skin breathe and doesn't interfere with makeup. 

The serum I still keep. I plan to use it on my sunspot-infested chest area. But it goes on thick, and can be sticky so. The toner, I still do not know what to do with it. It stings, and smells off. I'm guessing one of these two products, and both used together that irritates my sensitive skin.

My skin right now. It has recovered and is so far being nice, only one pimple for this month. Going  completely makeup free during quarantine definitely helped. Moral of the story: love the skin you're in, be gentle with it, protect it, and STOP EXPERIMENTING WITH IT.

Bottomline: RYX as a brand is ok. It's the safest rejuvenating kit in the local market. But know your skin and listen to it well. RYX may be your HG if your skin is not highly sensitive. Also, plus points for affordability despite the more expensive packaging. Also, the owner is really pretty, I just have to say that again.