[Review] Mizon AHA 8% Peeling Serum

Hello my pandas,

How are you feeling?

I had a little mental breakdown yesterday because there's just too many things I have to do right now (including fighting with bureaucratic shit from my old university, finding a job, applications for universities, etc...) but feeling a lot better today and I was feeling like writing a review for you guys ^^

This time it's Mizon's AHA 8% Peeling Serum, the "sister" of Mizon's AHA & BHA Daily Clean Toner (review here).

What they say:
Get your glow on with Mizon AHA 8% Peeling Serum. AHAs are a mild exfoliant which will smoothin skin and fade sun damage . Ideal for removing acne scars, and overall reveal younger-looking skin. Use on dry to very skin.



Ingredients:

Aqua, glycolic acid, potassium hydroxide, butylene glycol, propylene glycol, sodium lactate, hydroxyethylcellulose, sodium hyaluronate, peg-60 hydrogenated castor oil, panthenol, allantoin, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, portulaca oleracea extract, carica papaya (papaya) fruit extract, arnica montana flower extract, artemisia absinthium extract, achillea millefolium extract, gentiana lutea root extract, alcohol, polyquaternium-10, disodium edta, methylparaben, propylparaben, fragrance

Checking the ingredients on Cosdna nothing is flagged red, just a few ingredients are marked yellow. I would say this looks pretty good.

silver, light-reflecting packaging

I already wrote something about acids and chemical peelings in the review about the AHA & BHA Daily Clean Toner from Mizon here.

Just a short recap: Chemical peeling happens with the help of acids such as AHAs and BHAs. There are many more, but those two seem to be the most popular at the moment. AHAs are more suited for dry, thickened and sundamaged skin while BHAs are more suited for oily, blemished skin.
The effectiveness of chemical peelings depends on the pH of the product and concentration. According to Paula "AHAs work best at concentrations of 5% to 10% with a pH of 3 to 4". (Source)
The Peeling Serum from Mizon has a concentration of 8% and according to my testing a pH of 4. This is the maximum of what Paula suggest but firstly at home testing is never 100% accurate and secondly her words are not a definite law so it looks like this product is in the range of working perfectly fine.

But remember that the pH of your skin is also important when it comes to chemical peelings. Most of them work fine with the natural pH of your skin (around 4.2-5.6) however a lot of cleanser have a very high pH and will therefore rise the pH of your skin. Water has also a quite high pH so even washing your face with pure water will raise its pH. You can either wait 15-20 minutes after washing your face or use a pH adjusting toner (like the Mizon AHA & BHA Daily Clean Toner...maybe that's why the two products look like twins ^^) to bring down the pH of your skin. (Source).

There's a lot of very interesting articles out there and since I'm in no way an expert I suggest you to dig deeper into the world of acids and pH yourself. I tried to give a little overview for this review, I hope it was understandable.

On to the actual topic of this post: this little guy.
The package is a little bottle. I must say, I wish they would have used the same design/material as they used for the Toner, the frosted glass optic was so nice. You still get the impression that they belong together though, since the cap is silver as well and they used the same turqoise color for most of the lettering.

AHAs work best at concentrations of 5% to 10% with a pH of 3 to 4 - See more at: http://www.paulaschoice-eu.com/learn/explaining-exfoliants/#AHAs_vs_BHAAHAs work best at concentrations of 5% to 10% with a pH of 3 to 4

The white plastic makes it look a bit cheap but on the other hand clumsy me can't break it by dropping it.
With this product the sealing is not on the plastic bottle but on the outer packaging (see pictures above).
The coolest part about the packaging is the mechanism of the cap though.

Here is the cap when you haven't done anything.
But when you twist the cap...

The button in the middle pops up and you can fully twist the cap off.

A little pipette is revealed that is always filled with the right amount of the product when you unscrew the cap. So no annoying pumping, the packaging is doing the work for you.
If you push the button on the top now the product will come out of the pipette.

The product itself is a colorless liquid that is much like water but not quite as runny.

It is easy to spread and has a citrusy smell much like the toner. After spreading it your skin might feel a little bit sticky but not to a point that's uncomfortable.

Some people might feel a tingling or even slightly stinging experience after application due to the acids.
I however rarely ever feel anything, just when I have little wounds/fresh pimples. Everyone's skin is different and a concentration of 8% AHA might be too much for some people, especially when you have sensitive skin, for my skin it seems to be enough or not even enough.

With a chemical peeling you are supposed to wait for 20-30 minutes before applying the following product to let them work their magic. I mostly brush teeth or watch shows during that time. Just remember that your skincare routine will take more time with chemical peelings.
Another thing to remember: chemical peelings will make your skin more sensitive towards the sun so sunscreen is a must!!

Now, was this good for my skin or not? I will show you some before/after pictures.
These pictures are from October 2014 and November 2014, so roughly 4 weeks between them. I used the serum about 2-3 times a week in the evening, since it was my first time using a chemical peeling.

before - after

before - after

before - after

As you can see, you can't see much. Sadly.
I must admit, I'm probably not using it as much as I should, mostly because I didn't see results after a short time (yes, I'm an impatient perfectionist....not always good when it comes to skincare).
Also, AHAs are more suited for dry, sundamaged skin while my skin is oily so I guess a BHA would bring the results I'm looking for (I have one on the way, I'm curious if/how that will work). However my skin did always feel nice and smooth after the 20-30 minutes and wasn't dried out so I guess something was happening. Just not the thing I was looking for.

I'm still using it and now use it about 4-5 times a week, but my skin is overreacting and breaking out lately due to stress so I can't really say if it works better now.

I don't think this is a bad product - just not the right product for my skin type. I can see this working for someone who's main issue aren't oilyness, breakouts or blackheads and who wants a rather gentle chemical peelings or someone who just got into chemical peelings.
I will probably not repurchase it.

Pros: cool packaging, fresh smell, exfoliating effect, didn't dry out my skin

Cons: not suited for my skin type, wasn't really effective

Overall: 3/5