Welcome to my other product review from Beautyheaven's Glosscar Marketplace. Omega Hydroxy is a "night rejuvenation" treatment from a rather new brand "Beauty by Nicholas".
Claims
Reveal your inner glow with Omega Hydroxy. Forget the pain, costs and downtime of laser and chemical peels. This deeply exfoliating, resurfacing treatment helps brighten and revitalise your skin, leaving it feeling seriously clean, refined and renewed.
You'll see a lighter, smoother complexion as Omega Hydroxy cleanses pores and brightens dull, lifeless skin, softening fine lines while firming and lifting. It's suitable for all skin types and ideal for aged and acne prone skin. Omega Hydroxy gets you glowing in n time and you'll notice a more radiant complexion with regular use.
Ingredients
Omega Hydroxy is primarily an AHA (glycolic) treatment /exfoliant / peel (whatever you prefer to call it). That said, I found that this product is exceptionally comprehensive - I almost feel like it's chucking in everything "just in case". Here are some notable ingredients:
AHAs
Present in the form of glycolic acid and lactic acid. AHAs refine skin by exfoliating the surface layer of dead skin cells.
Acetyl Hexapeptide-8
This peptide is believed to decrease the look of wrinkles by relaxing muscles. However, for this peptide to be able to penetrate well into skin, the product has to be carefully formulated.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a skin brightener, antioxidant, and collagen booster. It is present in two different forms in this product. 3-O- Ethyl ascorbic Acid - a stable derivative of Vitamin C which may be metabolised in skin into ascorbic acid (the potent form of Vitamin C). Magnesium ascorbyl phosphate - another stable form of Vitamin C, which has been proven to improve uneven skin tone and increase skin hydration.
Hemectants
Bind water to skin. Present in two forms: glycerin and sodium hyaluronate.
BHA / Salicylic acid
Helps unclog pores and fight acne.
Vitamin A
Present in the form of Retinyl Palmitate; speeds up cell turnover and collagen production. Retinyl Palmitate should not be used on sun-exposed skin.
Other good stuff
Shea butter (nourishes), ceramide (lipids - plumps skin), linoleic acid, linolenic acid (fatty acids - nourish and repair damaged skin), bearberry leaf extract (contains arbutin - skin lightener), licorice extract (skin brightener).
My experience
Packaging
Omega Hydroxy comes is a big 50mL opaque and airless pump which is great in protecting the product from light and air. The annoying thing, as usual, is the inability to tell how much product is left in the bottle. I have been using 2 pumps every night for almost 2.5 months. It is still going strong.
Usage
The minimal instructions on the box read "apply to cleansed skin, gently massaging over entire face. Your skin may tingle as the ingredients get to work. Use at night only." Seeing that this product has so many active ingredients, I wanted to apply it as close to skin as possible (like a serum). However, the texture is quite thick and it feels more like a lotion than a serum. At the end, I decided to apply this as the only product after my cleansing steps in the evening. Only on very rare occasions I top up with some hyaluronic acid serum and moisturiser. Two pumps give me plenty of product to cover my face and neck. It gets absorbed within minutes and there is no greasy feeling.
Results
Has my 2.5 months of persistence paid off?
Texture
I am most impressed by the product's effect on refining my skin's texture. My skin feels very smooth to touch except a few small stubborn bumps on my cheekbones (they have been there forever so I wouldn't expect any skincare to be able to remove them completely). Omega hydroxy does live up to its claim of making my skin feels "clean, refined and renewed". However, I think the comparison to "laser" is exaggerated.
Overall glow and radiance
Thumbs up on this aspect as well. I have stopped using ascorbic acid (a skin brightener) before starting on Omega Hydroxy. The overall radiance has been well-maintained (if not better).
Pigmentation
Omega Hydroxy doesn't do so well in reducing my pigmentation. In fact, it doesn't have any impact on my existing pigmentation spots, and I swear I could see new ones coming out right in front of my eyes in the past month. I am slightly disappointed, given that the product contains quite a few ingredients that target pigmentation.
Wrinkles
I cannot make a fair comment on this as I do not have many lines and wrinkles apart from my eye area, which I have intentionally avoided to have Omega Hydroxy applied on. For the deep horizontal lines across my neck (which probably came from me looking down at my phone too much!) there has been no improvement.
Hydration
Given that I have skipped my hydrating serum and moisturiser in my evening routine 95% of the time, I am very surprised that my skin is still plumped and well-hydrated in this cold weather.
Congestion / Breakout
This is not one of the purposes that I use Omega Hydroxy for. However, it does claim that it is "ideal for acne prone skin". Half way through using Omega Hydroxy I weaned my baby from breastfeeding, so there was a hormonal change in my body which caused a few pimples to appear around my jawline. The salicylic acid in it was not able to completely keep those pimples under control. That said, I would never find out whether I would have a much bigger outbreak if I was not using Omega Hydroxy.
Summary
Pros
An all-in-one evening treatment
Increases overall glow of the skin
Refines skin texture
Provides decent hydration
Can be used as either a serum or a moisturiser depending on skin type
Cons
Difficult to estimate how much product is left in the bottle
No effect on pigmentation
Does not eliminate breakouts, pimples and blackheads
Cannot be used during the day
Conclusion
Omega Hydroxy is a very comprehensive treatment that I enjoy using. It is quite reasonably priced ($59.99 from Priceline) considering all the active ingredients packed inside the bottle. It would have been ideal for me if it could correct pigmentation, so perhaps I would come back to this at a later stage when my pigmentation has faded.
Overall rating 4/5
Ingredients list
Water (Aqua), Glycolic Acid, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Caprylyl Glycol, Stearyl alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Sodium Hydroxide, Lactic Acid, 3-O- Ethyl ascorbic Acid, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Sodium PCA, Glycerin, Caprylic/ Capric Triglycerides, Cetyl Alcohol, Water, Glycerin, Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi(Bearberry) Leaf Extract, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Metabisulfite, Phenoxyethanol, Salicylic Acid, Sodium Lactate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclohexasiloxane, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopherol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/ Sodium Acryoyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Cocos Nucifera(Coconut) Oil, Zea Mays(Corn) Starch, Butyrospermum Parkii(Shea) Butter, DL-α- Tocopherol Acetate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Xanthan Gum, Ceramide, Disodium EDTA, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Glycyrrhiza Glabra(Licorice) Extract.
About me
Makeup artist and hair stylist based in Sydney. Founder of the well-known award-winning bridal specialist team Faces Makeup and Hair. Beauty junkie with an obsession for skincare.