Ellen Lange Retexturizing Peel Review: A Little Pro Spa In Your Home

Product Sent for Review


So, recently I mentioned this peel in a post over on Babble (Beauty Bloggers Share 19 Skincare Secrets You May Not Know). Actually, my friend Cindy mentioned it in her skincare tip, and I was really, really, really wanting to try it after reading her post! This is an at home glycolic acid peel kit, and after talking to Cindy, it was gentle but gave results. If it sucked, Cindy would have said so. Instead she raved! I had to try it!


Inside of the kit you'll find Peel Prep, Peel Accelerator Pads, and Glycolic Peel Solution. There is enough product for 8 peels, which means even though the kit costs $68, a single use will only cost you $8.50. That's a pretty good deal compared to having a pro do it for you!


The first product is the prep, which is this light orange face wash. It has little microbeads to help exfoliate, though I admit that I didn't think there were enough there to make a big difference. (I admit, I'm a picky girl when it comes to my microbeads, I need a lot of them so they can spread very evenly. I mostly just ignore them.) Really, the Prep is a face wash to prepare your face for the peel by getting rid of any residual makeup, face oils, and dirt. You rub it on, let it sit for 30-60 seconds and then rinse it off. It removes everything, but I was surprised by how gentle it was. It just left my face feeling nicely refreshed.

The next step is the Peel Accelerator Pad, which is the size of an Oxy pad and is soaked in 5% Glycolic Acid. They do smell like chemicals, but it isn't horrible and really, I'm not sure what else a Glycolic pad would smell like. To use the pads, you wipe them on your face and let it dry completely, this only takes a few minutes. Once you've dried, you can't feel the solution on your face at all.

The great thing is that you get 60 pads in the kit and you only need 1 for a peel. That leaves you with 52 extra pads, and they are gentle enough to use a few times a week if you want. I've been doing this, using the pads as part of my nightly skin care routine. I have rosacea, and while it is mild I'm still sensitive. I've been able to tolerate using the pads 2-3 times a week without any irritation or redness. Instead, they have helped make my skin softer and reducing pore size.

The last step is the actual peel! You take the Peel solution, which comes in a pump, and put 5 mL into the little cup (which is 1 teaspoon). The solution has the consistency of a lotion, and I did have a bit of a hard time getting it out of the pump. Eventually I just opened up the top and dumped it into the cup, which worked fine.

You spread a light layer of the peel solution over your face and it starts foaming up. Really, it's like you put scrubbing bubbles on your face, there's a couple of millimeters at least of foam, and you can feel it foaming a little bit. Nothing hurts at all, but it does feel a little strange! After a few minutes you rub it again to get more foam going. Then a few minutes later you rinse it off.

What you're left with at the end is super soft skin! Even with my rosacea sensitivity, I had absolutely no problems with this peel. I've used it once a week for 3 or 4 weeks now (with using the pads 2-3x/week as well) and I think my skin is smoother with smaller pores because of it. I was really impressed that it seems to do a great job but is gentle enough for my rosacea to handle.

Have you tried any at home peels?

Ellen Lange
Product Sent for Review