Arbonne Skincare Review

Skincare is one element of my beauty routine that I have never felt like I truly had nailed down. In fact, I think I had a better routine in high school (thanks, mom!) than at any other point in my life. I hopped around quite a bit in college, searching for that routine that was easy, effortless, and kept my skin clear but never really settled on anything. There was a brief love affair with a face wash by Mary Kay but then they discontinued my foundation shade and the love affair rapidly died because of the perceived hassle of only getting on product from them. (College Stacia was the world's best at taking care of herself.)

After college, I developed (or realized, I honestly have no idea which) my gluten allergy and suddenly began noticing that I was sensitive to a lot of the products I'd been using for years.) Ever since then it's been a struggle for me to find products that work with my skin both as someone with combination skin who still breaks out if I use a product that doesn't agree with either my dry or my more oily areas AND as someone who is sensitive to liquid products that contain gluten.

Now that you've received a brief outline of my skincare routine up until this point and my current struggles, let's actually talk about the product this post is focusing on - Arbonne's RE9 Advanced Skincare System.

I decided to try a week long sample of this line after chatting with an Arbonne representative I follow on Instagram (@fetching_mua) and discovering that the line is gluten free. At the moment, that's enough to peak my interest and get me to want to try a product. I used the products for the week, formed my thoughts, and decided to share them with you; especially since this skincare line is an investment.

In a moment, I'm going to dive in to a few specific items from the line, but overall I'll say that I'm very impressed. The products (particularly the face wash) have an ever-so-slight orange scent, which I loved. I do not think that it would be strong enough to irritate anyone with scent sensitivities, and I didn't notice that it lingered for longer than 5-10 minutes after completing the routine. Michael didn't notice anything. All of the products really did work and layer well together. Even though there are so many pieces to this routine (coming from a girl who doesn't have a great routine and likes simplicity, remember) the numbers on each vial made it really easy to brainlessly flow through this routine. (Which is honestly the only way I can survive an evening routine with the hours I've been keeping recently, so hopefully these numbers are also included on the full-size bottles.) Over my week long trial I did actually notice texture improvements in my skin, which was very impressive to me. (Though I am a horrible blogger and forgot to get a before photo.)

To dive in to a couple of the products individually, let's start with my least favorite part, the one strike I have against this system - the Corrective Eye Cream. This is the one product in the routine that did not work out for me. Every time I applied the cream around my eyes my skin experienced a slight stinging/burning feeling. It wasn't intense enough to actually be painful, but it was noticeable enough to not be enjoyable. My skin never physically looked irritated or red in any way, so I'm not sure what was going on. However, this sensation was enough for me to not maintain an interest in using this particular product after my trial.

Phew! Now that my least favorite part has passed, let's talk about two of the three highlight products - the day creams! There are two - the Restorative Day Creme and the Extra Moisture Restorative Day Creme. Both feature broad spectrum SPF 20, which I love. The other detail that I love about these two items is that they layer well under foundation and I didn't notice them causing any oxidation issues throughout the day. (Victory!)

My very favorite item in the line was the Night Repair Creme. It was a thick creme that feels lightweight once applied. It absorbs quickly into my skin (hooray for not going to bed feeling like more moisturizer is going to end up on my pillow than absorbed into my skin!), and leaves my skin feeling so soft in the morning. I can't think of a single thing not to love about this item!

So, will I be adding this skincare line to my own routine? Honestly, getting the entire line is straight up out of my budget at the moment. And with the cons I mentioned about the eye cream (that tons of other people do not have issues with), that makes purchasing the line in its entirety a little less appealing. I am very interested in the night cream and think I'm most likely to purchase it, if I purchase anything. Before making an investment of that size, I think I'm going to sit on it just a bit. I'll definitely update you if I decide to purchase any of the items!

What skincare system do you enjoy using as part of your routine? Leave a comment below and let me know!

xoxo,
​Stacia