Garden of Wisdom Mandelic Acid 5% Serum (No Alcohol/No Seaweed)

I purchased a sample size of the Garden of Wisdom Mandelic Acid 5% Serum (No Alcohol/No Seaweed) in hopes to find a mild AHA (alphahydroxy acid - a chemical exfoliant) that wouldn't cause my skin to freak out.  My skin will not tolerate Glycolic Acid so I needed something more gentle.  This serum is advertised to reduce pore size, improve complexion, even out skin tone and help to lighten skin irregularities and hyperpigmentation.  Honestly, I could not wait to give it a try.

Garden of Wisdom Mandelic Acid 5% Serum has a PH of approximately 2.5

PH:  2.5 

INGREDIENTS 

Spring Water, Rooibos (red) Extract, Mandelic Acid, Lactic Acid, L-lysine, Sodium PCA, Panthenol B-5, Sodium Lactate, Hyaluronic Acid

Notable Ingredients:

• Rooibos (red) Extract - A powerful antioxidant with anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.
• Mandelic Acid - A mild alphahydroxy acid (AHA) derived from the hydrolysis of an extract of bitter almonds and is said to have germicidal qualities.  It acts as an anti-inflammatory and pigmentation suppressant.  
• Lactic Acid - An alphahydroxy acid (AHA) derived from sugarcane or milk; used to gently exfoliate dead skin cells.
• Sodium PCA - Skin repairing agent.
• Hyaluronic Acid - A humectant and skin conditioner that it helps prevent skin dehydration.

Hnnggg, a limited ingredient product packed with goodies?  It's what my body craves.

Get on my face!

COSDNA Alerts:  

Ratings for potential Acne Triggers, Irritants and Safety Hazards.

• Lactic Acid - Rank 4 Index Safety
• Sodium Lactate - Rank 4 Index Safety

(According to COSDNA, the Safety Index is ranked from 1 - 9 with "the lower number means this ingredient is low hazard... Safety is a comprehensive index focus on safety on long term usage, according to harmful report from CIR, RTECS, FDA and other related information. The purpose of the index is more inclined to assess whether long-term injury of skin, cells or the human body.)

Scent:  

The scent is kind of like... that plastic smell when you put a laminating pouch through a laminator.  It doesn't bother me, it's just strange and it doesn't linger either.  But hey, there are no added fragrances.  Not everything smells like roses.

Texture:

Watery... like water.  Well that's the first ingredient isn't it?

Results:

As previously mentioned the product was advertised to reduce pore size, improve complexion, even out skin tone and help to lighten skin irregularities and hyperpigmentation.  I have to say that it did most of the things on that list.

I didn't notice a difference in the reduction of the size of my pores but I did notice that it definitely evened out my skin tone and hyperpigmentation.  I also noted that whenever I did get a pimple it would heal significantly faster with reduced PIH.  Before using it, I would run my fingers across my skin it would feel bumpy from the closed comedones under the skin.  Those have also been reduced after several weeks of use.  As I said I did not notice a difference in pore size but maybe because it is only at 5%.  There are higher percentages available through Garden of Wisdom.

Purchase Again?:

Yes I would definitely repurchase this item.  It was gentle enough to not cause any purging when I *slowly* introduced it into my routine, but it also got the job done.  Garden of Wisdom also offers other variations of this serum with up to 15% Mandelic Acid.  You can view their list of Mandelic Acid products here.

GRADE A-	A Ingredients	B+ Effectiveness	A Wearability	B- Packaging
Garden of Wisdom Mandelic Acid 5% Serum (No Alcohol/No Seaweed) essentially performs as advertised but did not reduce pore size.  The packaging is practical, but ordinary.