After yesterdays post about whitening products for pigmentation, I thought I’d write about a very gentle product designed to reduce redness (but not necessarily pigmentation) as persistent redness can be an after effect of eczema and sensitive skin generally. Medik8 is a “green” cosmeceutical line that make a range of targeted serums for particular skin conditions, among them dry skin (Hydra8) and aging (prevent/pretox). Their redness serum is called ‘Red Alert’ and comes in a medicinal like bottle with a dropper for application. To use it I place two or so drops on each cheek and gently massage it in. It will dry quickly and sink into the skin. You will then need to apply your moisturizer and/or sunscreen as this serum doesn’t provide much hydration.
Medik8 produce a range of medically formulated skin treatments, with sophisticated packaging and design to match. You can tell a lot of care goes into the formation of their products. They are all completely SLS and Sulfate free which is a bonus if you’re concerned about Sodium Laurel Sulfate in your skin care. Although I didn’t notice any immediate effect on skin redness when first applying, a product like this usually takes a little while for results to show. It did however immediately condition the skin, and did reduce the more temporary everyday redness, like current inflammation. I have very small spider veins on my nose (burst blood vessels) that I usually hide with a bit of face powder. I’m using this to specifically target those, as that is one of the things ‘Red Alert’ is supposed to repair. As far as using it on sensitive skin, fantastic. I have had absolutely no irritation from using this, quite the opposite, I feel like it is conditioning my skin when I use it. Of course for a product touted to help skin redness it would have to be very tolerable for sensitive skin (the skin most likely to become red) and it certainly is. The active ingredients appear to target the underlying sensitivity that causes red skin in the first place, so I am liking this very much for that reason.
I also like that it is a quick drying, quickly absorbed serum. Often I start a new serum and find that it’s so rich it either replaces my moisturizer for a while or I stop using it because adding to many things to my skin make it feel too heavy and ‘tacky’ to the touch. So, I definitely prefer serums that absorb quickly and thoroughly for this reason. I am going to continue to incorporate red alert in to my daily skin care routine as so far it is only doing good things for my skin like extra conditioning and smoothing. I do feel that my skin is calmed and less red while using it, however I will report back in a few more months time to report on the long term effects. I’ve taken a ‘before’ photo of the slight redness and pigmentation on my cheeks and I’m looking forward to taking the “after” photo soon.
This is one of the few serums I’ve found specifically for skin redness so far, and I’m loving. I am tempted to look more into this area and also do some research on the active ingredients. I’ll post on what I find!
As always, feel free to tell me about your experiences, or even suggest a product to me here in the comments or in my ‘contact’ page where you can email me directly.

Click here for the website of an Australian supplier of Medik8, Advanced Cosmecuticals who also stock SkinCeuticals and Algoane 

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3. Minerelle: Centella Gel
4. La Roche Posay: Mela-D Daily Depigmenting Cream
5. Kiehl’s: centella skin recovery salve