PSA: If you have oily skin or large pores, the My Skin Mentor Dr. G Brightening Peeling Cream is the cream of your dreams. Read more to find out why.
As you may all know by now, I salivate at the thought of any skin care product packed with actives that will work hard to whip your skin into shape. Cosrx is one Korean brand that uses a lot of active ingredients with little to no fillers, so I’m always on the lookout for more brands that will provide more actives (especially chemical exfoliants) in their products.
Enter My Skin Mentor Dr. G: A brand created by Dr. Ahn, a renowned dermatologist in Korea who has treated celebrities and created patented technologies for acne and damaged skin. I met with Dr. Ahn personally before curating the brand and he also taught me a thing or two about skin care during an extensive interview earlier this year.
Out of all the products under the Dr. G line, my absolute favorite is the Brightening Peeling Cream, which my teammate Diana Xiao first tested and raved about it. She claimed it had made her oily skin super soft and hydrated in the morning, while minimizing her pores throughout the night.
Taking a look at the ingredient list, it really did have a promising mix of chemical exfoliants that would help clear clogged and enlarged pores, flaky dead skin cells. I was especially impressed by the blend of AHA, BHA and PHAs in the formila. Soon after testing, it quickly became my holy grail. Here’s why…
The ingredients:
Not only does it contain high concentrations of brightening ingredients, such as niacinamide and saccharomyces ferment filtrate (yes, it also contains the most important ingredient in the cult classic Missha First Treatment Essence), it has a very impressive line up of chemical exfoliants that will mingle with your skin throughout the night to clear pores and dead skin cells. The Dr. G Brightening Peeling Cream includes:
AHAs: It contains glycolic acid and lactic acid. Not only do these AHA’s soften your skin and gently exfoliate, they also attract moisture to your skin.
BHA: The peeling cream contains salicylic acid. This BHA that actually has a smaller molecular structure which means it works deep within your pores to clear out dead skin cells
PHA: It contains pluconolactone, which is a PHA. PHAs are a new generation of acids that are trending in Korea because they have larger molecular structures that can gently exfoliate the surface of the skin while attracting moisture. This is great for sensitive skin.
The application:
If you swatch the product, upon first glance you would be surprised to see that this creamy texture would actually be good for oily, acne-prone skin. But it is! It absorbs quickly and contains tea tree oil, a superb acne-fighting ingredient. Similar to the texture of the Cosrx Blackhead Power Cream, this cream contains ceramides, jojoba seed oil and squalane to fortify skin cells and protect and preserve the skin barrier function throughout the night.
One of my favorite aspects of this brightening cream is the way it feels on the skin. It’s extremely cooling and nourishing, and my skin slurps it up upon contact. At the same time you can actually feel the tingling of the chemical exfoliants working. The scent does not involve any added fragrances, and smells faintly medicinal, which is a winner in my book.
The bottom line:
For all the reasons above, I’ve found my next holy grail night cream that has helped me maintain soft, bright skin. It’s nourishing for the colder months, but still great for the summer and spring when I have more oil production and blackheads to cut through. I welcome the My Skin Mentor Dr. G Brightening Peeling Cream to my nightly routine two to three times a week in place of my regular night cream (similar to a sleeping pack!), and I’m always excited to wake up in the morning to see the magic it worked while I was snoozing.
+ Have you tried the Dr. G Brightening Peeling Cream? I’d love to know what you thought about it in the comments!
