Product Review – Ark Age Aware Skincare

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The first thing that attracted me to this brand was that it contains “no nasties”. All their products are made in the UK and never tested on animals. The range contains natural ingredients and doesn’t use artificial colours or fragrances or irritants such as Parabens. When I was offered the chance to review their products I was curious to see how such a product would measure up with the kind of brands I’m used to. It was at this point that I found out about ARK’s approach to skincare. They don’t believe in skin types they prescribe their skincare by skin age. So there are three age ranges:

• Age Protect – for teens to early 30s;
• Age Maintain for mid 30s to 50; and
• Age Repair for 50 and beyond.

Being a “lady of a certain age” it was the last range that I was interested in testing and I was sent the ARK Age Repair Discovery Collection to review*.

So what’s it really like?

The first thing I tried was the cleanser. It has apricot oil, Vitamin A, blackcurrant and starflower and so I was expecting it to possibly smell fruity. Instead, there was a very subtle scent that I couldn’t quite place. Perhaps a hint of herbs?

The directions are to apply it to a dampened face and then rinse off but I used a damp muslin cloth to apply it and it worked like a dream. It took off all the day’s make-up and left my skin feeling amazingly clean and velvet-soft to the touch. Love this!

Next, I tried the moisturiser. This one contained red clover and olive oil amongst other amazing ingredients. It went on smoothly and set my skin up for the day. I’d rank it alongside any of the big brands.

I’ve been using the cleanser and moisturiser every day since I got them and I’ll be sad when they run out. The other two products I’ve only used once. I used them separately although ARK says that you can layer them up and leave them on overnight.

Firstly the exfoliator contains velvet flower seed extract, blackcurrant and starflower, and gojiberry. It goes on just as smoothly as the cleanser and the moisturiser. There aren’t any scratchy bits. I can’t say that I saw any immediate effects but my skin was already feeling great from the other products so it was hard to measure.

Lastly,  I tried the masque. It has grapeseed extract, vitamins A, C, E, and F; Blackcurrant and Starflower. It went on smoothly with a  similar texture to the cleanser. It’s quick too – it only takes 10 minutes. It’s easily removed and again I used my muslin cloth.

Overall, I loved this set. The presentation is sleek and I liked the idea of a discovery collection as an introduction to the brand. There are many more products in the range to try including serums and a primer. I’d definitely consider repurchasing.