I used to be a huge fan of First Aid Beauty’s products.  The Ultra Repair Cream was a good moisturizer and seemed to calm down my sensitive skin, but I recently realized it was also contributing to my acne (due to its inclusion of Stearic Acid, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate SE, and Cetearyl Alcohol).  I got First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Liquid Recovery because the ingredients list was safe, with no acne-triggers, and because my skin was feeling incredibly dry from the change in temperatures.  But despite its promise to hydrate, repair stressed skin, and reduce redness, I found that it didn’t really do any of it.  At least not enough that made me want to dish out $38 again for an incredibly tiny bottle.  I guess I’ve become spoiled from Korean skincare, but I just expect my products to work.

So, like the product says, this is a liquid.  It looks and has the exact same consistency of water.  Speaking of water, that’s the number one ingredient of this product, and I wonder exactly how much there is of the other star ingredients.

Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Ahnfeltia Concinna Extract, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Propolis Extract, Chrysanthemum Parthenium (Feverfew) Extract, Glycyrrhiza Uralensis (Licorice) Root Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Citrate, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Bisulfite.

While oat kernel extract, propolis extract, feverfew, licorice and green tea extract are all great for the skin, I’m curious how much is actually in here when the main ingredient is clearly water.  There is nothing in this product that made me think that it wasn’t mostly water.  I put a few drops of this product on my face after my BHA liquid, and my skin did not feel particularly moisturized or plumped after putting it on.  After the product dried, my skin felt dry again.  And it didn’t do anything at relieving redness.  And the product definitely did nothing for my skin after using it consistently for a month.  I’ve since run out of the product (it barely lasted a month, even though I was only using a few drops at a time), and I notice no difference in my skin NOT using it either.

Overall:

Save your money.  Or get yourself an essence from Korea that actually makes a difference for your skin where the first ingredient isn’t just “water.”  While in theory the star ingredients in this product sound like a great idea, they don’t really do much and I noticed no change in my skin.

Pros: Didn’t cause me to break out.

Cons: Did not do anything to hydrate, repair stressed skin, or reduce redness.

Total score: 5/10

Ingredients: 7/10 (no irritants or acne-triggering ingredients, but not particularly impressed that water is the first ingredient and I see nothing to prove that the star ingredients are enough to make a difference.)

Quality: 3/10 (Disappointed that it didn’t deliver any of its promises.)

Wear: 7/10 (Absorbs right into the skin, and then it feels like you’re wearing nothing.)

Price: 3/10 (Way too expensive for 1.25 oz of nothing.)