Moon Juice’s New Toner Is the Green Alternative to a Beauty Industry Staple
If you’re like me (and thousands of other women in the world), then you’re well aware of the cult sensation that is Biologique Recherche Lotion P50. The foul-smelling, complexion-benefiting toner has been deemed everything from “Jesus in a bottle” to a “magic elixir” — and for good reason. Where many skincare products take time to show off their effects, P50 has the ability to transform skin overnight, shrinking the appearance of pores, blemishes, and dark spots, and resurfacing skin as a whole. The only problem is that it’s formulated with a bunch of not-so-clean ingredients that don’t fit well with the green beauty trend. And while it’s remained one of the most talked-about products in the world for the last four decades, as of 2018 it finally has some serious competition.
Enter Moon Juice Beauty Shroom™ Exfoliating Acid Potion ($39). The plant-powered liquid came to life after Moon Juice founder Amanda Chantal Bacon turned 35 years old and began asking herself how to properly care for her aging skin. She came across P50 and, while she loved the youthfully renewed complexion that awaited her after a week of use, one look at the chemical-laden label and she knew she needed to do something. And so Beauty Shroom Exfoliating Potion was born. It’s designed to do all the things P50 does — resurface and restore a clearer, tighter, brighter, younger-looking complexion — without all of the questionable ingredients. Where P50 is formulated with lactic acid, salicylic acid, sulfur, and gluconolactone, not to mention onion and horseradish extracts (I mean, no wonder it smells), Moon Juice’s take on the beauty staple relies on a potent blend of exfoliating AHAs and BHAs, featuring 25 percent glycolic, lactic, and salicylic acid, paired with hydrating niacinamide and calming reishi. The result? Radiant, resurfaced skin that’s free of redness. At least, so they say.
As always, it was the idea that yet another beauty brand was promising something so far-fetched — to replace a cult-classic skincare craze — that made me peek at my calendar, nail down a week, and roll up my sleeves to see if this new SKU was really worth the hype.
As someone with sensitive skin, I’m always a bit hesitant to drench my skin with exfoliants. However, since I’d come to know and love P50 for the way it smoothed the outer edges of my face, I figured I didn’t have much to worry about from its clean cousin. As such, I cleared a spot on my vanity, stocked up on cotton pads, and took an unfortunately dark selfie to document the beginning of what would be an eye-opening complexion transformation.
So, a bit about my skin. Apart from a proclivity for redness, ever since I moved to NYC, my chin has experienced breakouts like clockwork in the week leading up to and following my period (I blame hormones, humidity, and hella bad pollutants in the air). What’s more, my skin has a nasty knack for enlarged pores on my cheeks surrounding my nose and semi-translucent blackheads on the tip of my nose. Cute, I know. Now, apart from these key areas, my skin is pretty low key — consistently combination, and pretty much free from worry thanks to a dedicated skincare routine. Nevertheless, as soon as I heard that there was a new product that could help tone down redness, dissolve the build-up of pore-enlarging and blackhead-causing makeup, dirt, and debris, and smooth skin as a whole — including the areas that P50 didn’t do much good for — I was down to give it the old college try.
And y’all, thank god I did. My skin has literally never looked better or brighter. While I could notice a new tightness after the first time I dabbed a Beauty Shroom-soaked cotton round onto the problematic areas of my face (seriously, my skin looked snatched), it was after a week that the results really began to sink in. Gone were the random red splotches and cavernous pores (okay, so I’m a tad dramatic), and in their place was a rosy, crystal-clear, nearly poreless complexion that looked more like a Korean beauty ad than my makeup-free face staring back at me. As much as I swear by this product now, it’s worth noting that it, unfortunately, was no match for the occasional chin zit. While a minor bummer, definitely not something that will make me reconsider keeping the complexion-perfecting product in my lineup.
Will you try this new liquid exfoliator? Tell us @BritandCo!
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(Photos via Rebecca Norris/Brit + Co)
