AHHHH, Blissfully Clean!
This is not a brand new product on the market but it definitely needs to be revisited! Let me give you a little background info…It was a beautiful warm spring day when my sis and I went to Bliss Spa on Lexington and were poked, prodded and pampered for a 3+ hours (courtesy of a $500 gift card that was given to me by my business partner). This was our first Bliss experience and we weren’t disappointed- Ed was phenomenal (I even asked for his number– so shameful I know but I got caught up in the moment)! When I to have my facial, Olga started mixing this pasty stuff up and was raving about it at the same time, “it makes your skin so smooth and really deep cleans” (or something to that effect:-) Well the miracle product turned out to be Bliss Steep Clean Pore Purifying Mask and she wasn’t lying!!! My skin did feel terrific and while I didn’t buy it at the Bliss store on my way out- I definitely picked it up at Sephora a month later. Admittedly, the dual chamber tube was very inconvenient because I couldn’ t get equal amounts of the yellow and blue product to make the magic green mix- however- the product still worked like a charm and made my skin glow. My daughter was hooked on the product too (she’s a young beauty junkie who enjoys a great product- what can I say????). The price tag was a little step so you know that I went to the lab to try to recreate it, but since it was a personal project I didn’t really have the time to knock it off so back to Sephora to drop another $56 I went…Fast forward to present time, they changed the package so it is far more efficient because now I am not wasting any yellow or blue stuff and the product is still great…ahhhh sweet Bliss!
Science Behind It:
Although time didn’t allow me to knock off this pricey but worthy mask, I was able to identify the key ingredients that helps make this product effective. Steep Clean Mask uses a product that is made of enzymes, shea butter and other moisturizing ingredients (they protect the enzymes from breaking down while sitting on the shelf). The enzymes- subtilisine and protease- mildly exfoliate, smooth and regenerate your skin to reveal fresh cells for a healthy and more radiant complexion. AHA’s can do the same thing but tend to be more irritating due to the low pH of most AHA systems; low pH’s are necessary in order to keep the acids effective. The enzyme blend in Steep Clean works at a higher pH- closer to your skin’s pH which leads to less drying and irritation. Another plus is that the other ingredients offset any potential drying that could happen when exfoliating with enzymes–just to be on the safe side!
You may wonder why this product comes in a dual pump- is it just clever marketing or an attempt to make everyone feel like a Cosmetic Chemist (which wouldn’t be such a bad thing:-0) My guess is that the formulators wanted to do everything possible to keep the enzymes from breaking down so they made an anhydrous (no water) base loaded with antioxidants to keep it intact. The other side contains skin brighteners that don’t mind mixing with water. Oh and the pore purging properties are courtesy of salicylic acid; it seeps into pores breaking up dirt and oil which swells the pores and makes them appear larger.