Farmacy’s proprietary soothing honey blend offsets the impressive 14% acid in the their Honeymoon Glow AHA Resurfacing Night Serum. I don’t know about you but I’ve never been as tan and happy as I was on my Hawaiian honeymoon; if I could have that glowing skin year round- sign me up! This serum also contains hyaluronic acid, intended to draw moisture into the skin preventing it from becoming over-stripped. Has Farmacy found a perfect balance between moisturizing and resurfacing ingredients and are those ingredients all still as effective when combined?
Price $58
Find it HERE
Tested July 2020
I originally purchased this products because I wanted a less expensive alternative to the Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos™ Glycolic Resurfacing Night Serum and it’s $90 price tag (check out my Framboos™ review HERE). Also, I’m a big fan of Farmacy’s Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm (read my review of the balm HERE) and clean beauty products in general. The older I get the more dull my skin seems. Not only that, it’s dry and gets congested easily. In an effort to combat all this, I’ve found acids to be a valuable and effective tool. At first glance this Farmacy serum and the Drunk Elephant counterpart are the same except for Farmacy’s proprietary honey blend (whatever that is) and a few flower extracts pretty far down the ingredient list. Unfortunately, they don’t function the same and the explanation seems to lie in the fine print.
Honeymoon Glow’s first ingredient after water is lactic acid, Framboos™ on the other hand features glycolic acid, lactic’s stonger sister. So while Farmacy touts a seemingly large 14% AHA/BHA blend, they’ve skimped on the heavy hitters. Lactic acid is a larger molecule than glycolic so it doesn’t penetrate as deep. This would be a benefit to someone with more sensitive skin seeking something more gentle. Unfortunately, I’m not.
Also, I can’t stand the way it smells. The honey leaves this serum smelling earthy and looking opaque, so for whatever reason this makes me feel like my face is dirty even though I’m applying it on clean skin. It absorbs just fine and I will say leaves my face feeling less stripped than my beloved Framboos™ …but that’s probably because it isn’t working. Typically when I am consistent with nighttime acid application, even if I follow with a heavy moisturizer I don’t breakout. Unfortunately while I was testing the Honeymoon Glow I had several breakouts.
I do think Honeymoon Glow is better than nothing, my moisturizer seemed to absorb better when I applied it after Honeymoon Glow than when skipped serum (I tested both on different days). But if you really need resurfacing this isn’t the most effective product for your money. Sorry Farmacy, file this product under “too natural” for me.
Leave a Reply