What to Splurge on at Peter Thomas Roth

I like to keep my skincare routine really simple. I probably shouldn’t admit that I am pretty lazy when it comes to having a good routine with products and washing my face every night, but I am. I like a basic face wash, or Micellar water if I fell asleep on the couch and am too tired to pull my hair back and splash water all over my face and counter, a toner spray and some rosehip oil when my skin is dry.

If I am really ambitious, or had coffee that day and am awake past 9 pm,  I’ll whip out my essence to dab on my face before using an antioxidant serum and some lotion before sealing it all in with oil.

It took me a while to learn to layer skin care products in order of thickness so that they can penetrate each layer and get to your skin. I like a serum that is randomly from Trader Joe’s, a mousturizer with Hyalauranic acid  from the Sephora line and my Rhada organic cold pressed rosehip oil from Amazon, so none of my stuff is that fancy or pricey.

I say all this because I’m not someone who would pay a ton for products like the Peter Thomas Roth line, but when they had their sample sale I couldn’t hold back. You know this if you read about my shopping problem, but this is one of those sales that was actually way too good to pass up.

I’m talking $2-$5 samples that usually cost around $30 for just a travel sized amount of product. So I stocked up on about 20 goodies (for around $85) and was excited to see what I liked and might consider spending big bucks on in the future.

What I got:

• Un-Wrinkle Cream Cleanser
• Firmx Peeling Gel
• Un-Wrinkle Turbo Serum
• AHA/BHA Acne Clearing Gel
• Max Sheer All Day Moisture Defense Lotion
• Un-Wrinkle Peel Pads
• Acne Spot and Area Treatment
• Anti-aging Cleansing Gel
• Anti-aging Buffing Beads
• Beta Hydroxy Acid 2% Acne Wash
• Mega-rich Body Lotion
• Mega-rich Shampoo
• Mega-rich Conditioner
• Irish Moor Mud Purifying Cleansing Gel
• Irish Moor Mud Mask
• Rose Stem Cell Bio-repair Gel Mask
• Cucumber Gel Mask

Some of the products I got to share with my mom because I don’t need a lot of the intense wrinkle stuff quite yet, and the acne treating products I got for the stubborn pimple that pops up every now and then. So, the things I was most eager to try were the masks and some of the face washes/cleansers.

What I loved:

• Irish Moor Mud Mask
• Rose Stem Cell Bio-repair Mask
• Cucumber Gel Mask
• Un-Wrinkle Turbo Serum
• Anti-Aging buffing beads
• Anti-Aging Cleansing Gel
• Un-Wrinkle Cream Cleanser

What wasn’t great:

• Max Sheer All Day Moisture Defense Lotion
• Mega-rich Body Lotion
• Mega-rich Shampoo
• Mega-rich Conditioner
• Irish Moor Mud Purifying Cleansing Gel

I’ll start with my favorites. I washed my face with the Anti-Aging Cleansing Gel for a couple nights and liked how well it cleansed my face and that it wasn’t super drying. Then, when I switched to the Anti-Aging Buffing Beads I was in love with how smooth it made my face. The Un-Wrinkle Cream Cleanser was very soothing and moisturizing and kind of felt like washing my face with lotion and after I patted my face dry it felt like I already applied a moisturizer for the night.

I also really liked the three masks that I got. The Irish Moor Mud Mask was very thick and messy to put on, and also made me and Michael look too scary to add pictures. But, once we let it sit for the 10-15 minutes and managed to get it all off, I was so impressed with how soft both of our faces felt and that our skin looked really smooth the next morning like our pores had shrunk over night.

The rose and cucumber gels were kind of similar but I liked them both equally. The cucumber being really soothing after a hot day and the rose making my skin just feel very refreshed.

Like I said earlier, I don’t have a lot to treat in the wrinkle department— yet, so I don’t like to use retinol or intense products for a few more years. I do, however, wake up with a lot of wrinkles on my upper chest from sleeping on my side and squishing my chest together when I sleep. They usually take several hours to go away, so before I left for work yesterday I decided to smooth some of the Un-Wrinkle Turbo Serum on my chest and was really impressed that they seemed to lessen in a couple minutes and go away completely in the next hour. I don’t know if this is meant to work right away or this is a gradual product that helps change your skin, but it worked for my chest so I think this would be great for wrinkled faces.

The things I didn’t love reminded me of other products that cost a fraction of the price and are just as good, if not better. I put the Max Sheer All Day Defense lotion on for a couple days. The squeeze lid gives the perfect amount to cover your face, which is nice, but it smelled heavily of sunscreen and reminded me a lot of the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Face sunscreen I have used it the past. It did blend well under my makeup but it didn’t feel that light and I definitely felt like I was wearing sunscreen. So, I wouldn’t get this again and would probably just stick with the Neutrogena since it seemed so similar to me.

The Mega-Rich Body Lotion was something I was looking forward to because I am always looking for a good quality lotion that won’t upset my sensitive skin. For being described as Mega-Rich I was expecting something thick like a body cream but it was surprisingly sheer and didn’t moisturize that well. It smelled really good, and really familiar. Then I looked in my cupboard and saw the Eucalyptus Tea Body Lotion from Bath and Body Works on my shelf. It smells almost identical but the Bath and Body Works lotion actually is actually super hydrating and long lasting.

The Mega-Rich line fell short with the shampoo and conditioner as well. I use different stuff a lot because I like to find something that make my hair soft and shiny without being too heavy on my curly/wavy hair. These were just okay so I wouldn’t try these again.

Lastly, the other product that was just kind of – meh, was the Irish Moor Mud Purifying Gel. It seemed pretty similar to the other cleansing gels without being as good so even though I loved the mask, the cleansing gel didn’t do too much for me.

I haven’t tried the wrinkle pads or the acne washes yet because unless my skin is breaking out I don’t like to use something like that because I find them to be pretty drying, but I’ll update after I do and once my mom gets back to me on the wrinkle care! The one night I put a thin layer of the Acne Clearing Gel on my forehead to treat a couple upcoming zits I didn’t notice any difference but it was worth trying for the $5.

I’m not sure when they have these sample sales but they have had two in the last 4 months, so keep an eye out if you want to do your own trial run or feel like splurging on my favorites!

Do you guys use Peter Thomas Roth? What are your favorite products?