The Skincare Range My Senstive Skin Has Been Loving

I’m a lucky girl, with an awful, deep, dark secret.

As a Skincare Category Manager, I spend my days touching, playing with and learning about all the newest product launches and innovation. I hear every pitch about how a new product will change my life.

The only thing? I know I’ll never actually use 95% of these products.

See, I’m a sensitive skin girl. It’s my curse.

My wife, my sister, my mum, my friends and my colleagues all act as my personal guinea pigs for all the exciting newness while my face watches from the sidelines.

You might even find cult-favourite actives on my bedside table ...but I’m instead slathering my feet or my arms or my knees…in $200 serums. I KNOW, I KNOW - it’s criminal.

The second part of my conundrum? I’m desperate to join the club. I YEARN.

I have massively sensitive skin (thanks, Irish skin and family history of rosacea), but I also have skin concerns outside of that! Loads of them!

Yes, my perpetually-pink skin is a serious consideration, but I have texture I want to nix, open pores I’d rather show the door and yes, I’m 33, and though my fat cheeks have gotten me this far, I too am starting to see those signs of ageing.

It’s just that active ingredients like acids, retinols, and even peptides and I don’t usually get along, so I’m left diligently lubing my skin up with calming hydrators but never getting to play with the heavy hitters.

My luck changed though when the wonderful team at Murad started talking about their Heartleaf range - a range that promised it ACTUALLY contained active ingredients, while still tackling my skin's lack of resilience?

Boom shaka lacka, we were in business. 

Backing up a quick step, Murad is already one of my favourite cosmeceutical brands.

They’re doctor-founded and really walk the walk when it comes to great skin, focusing not just on nourishing your skin with high-performance technologies and formulas, but also combining this with three other pillars of wellness centered around “eat your water”, “awaken your body” and “be kind to your mind”.

Holistic skin health. So inherently, I trusted them to be the ones to take on this challenge.

The Murad Heartleaf Range is a 100% fragrance-free, hypo-allergenic and non-stripping face and body range perfect for those who want potent, clinical formulas but who are worried about adverse reactions.

Each step is designed to reduce the signs of sensitivity while also increasing skin’s resilience with each use.

So where’d the cute name come from? Every product is fortified by fermented Heartleaf Extract.

If it sounds familiar, you may have seen this ingredient in your favourite K-Beauty products, but if not, let me introduce you to this soothing and hydrating antioxidant perfect for comforting sensitive skin.

The full range also includes ceramides to help strengthen the skin’s resilience and microalgae to hydrate in the longterm, and calm skin in the short term. 

The Murad Heartleaf Gentle Resurfacing Serum Murad Heartleaf Gentle Resurfacing Serum is really what piqued my interest on the fateful day this was introduced to me. The Heartleaf, ceramides and microalgae?

Perfect, love the concept, no notes from me - happy to chuck those hydrating soothers all over my face, pronto. But then the Murad team started talking about “glycolic acid”, and my sensi-skin radar started pinging wildly, a red flag going nuts in the wind. 

Don’t get me wrong: I understand the theoretical benefits of glycolic acid - this AHA hasn’t exactly hidden its superpowers in achieving smoother, brighter skin, revealed by sloughing away dead skin cells on the surface. 

But it’s just not for little old me! I’ve made my peace with that.

I’ve been burnt before - quite literally - by serums that tingle and burn the second they touch my traitorous skin. Even if I do manage to grit my teeth and keep it on overnight, I wake up with blotchy, angry skin the next day.

The only glow I achieve is that of a rather red traffic light.

Occasionally, I’ll find something that seems fine on day one, but slowly eats away at my skin barrier to leave me red raw (especially around my nose, chin and upper cheeks!) by the second or third week of use.

My skin’s recovery time blows out and suddenly I’m six months behind in my sensitive skin journey. 

Sooooo you could say I was a little skeptical. 

I was kindly told to hold my horses. The difference with Murad Heartleaf Gentle Resurfacing Serum?

Encapsulated, “micro-dosed” glycolic acid - an AHA that is super slow release (and not TOO strong) to deliver the benefits throughout the night, without the redness or irritation. I was game to try it, anything in the name of science.

Immediately on applying the milky-gel texture, I was pleasantly surprised to feel no trauma-inducing tingling, and only the faintest hint of the slightly-sour smell I know glycolic acid to have.

In fact, it felt quite hydrating, cooling and silky! The next day, and then for each application thereafter I woke up with skin that looked less dull, smoother (for both under-skin texture, and for fine lines) and more even-toned.

Murad say you can use this daily and while I’m not brave enough for that, I’ve been using it 2-3x per week for the last month or so and have had no extra redness or sensitivity.

I’m obvi mad humble and don’t want to brag, but this is 100% the most consistent my exfoliating routine has been in over a decade, and I’m reaping the benefits.

Not to slam dunk the serum and bounce, I also truly enjoyed the rest of the Murad Heartleaf range (though nothing came close to my new serum bestie).

The Murad Heartleaf Calming Cream is the perfect staple in a sensitive skin routine

I’d say this was suitable for normal to dry skin - I have combination skin that leans slightly more dry - and I’m particularly looking forward to slathering it’s nourishing, creamy goodness over my mug as we head into the cooler months, but it worked great as a night cream or a nourishing boost through summer too.

Honestly, even those without sensitive skin would love this cream - it’s darn good as a hydrator and everyone could use some barrier support.

The Murad Heartleaf Soothing Face Cleanser was perfect as a morning, or second cleanse (I still went in with a cleansing oil or balm first to remove my makeup and SPF), as the non-foaming milky-gel texture of this works best when it’s smoothed and massaged directly onto your bare skin for max hydration and soothing benefits while still removing those light surface impurities.

Absolutely any skin type could use this hidden gem - I’m also thinking it’d be a great one for young/teenage skin.

I’m lucky to not suffer from sensitive skin on my body, but my wife is prone to flaky, itchy skin and has loved using the Murad Heartleaf Soothing Body Cleanser on any areas of irritation.

Not one to let her have all the fun, I loved using it on thinner, easily-sensitised skin like under my boobs where bra underwire wreaks havoc. The texture was also non-foaming with a similar milky-gel texture to the facial cleanser.

I do get razor burn and am chronically lazy about buying shaving foam, and found this to be a weirdly excellent second use!

I don’t want to tell you what to do. You do you. But if my “I want fab skin but my sensitive skin has left me too traumatised to use actives” story resonated with you even a little bit, I implore you - give this a shot. I’ll recognise you in the street by your glowing skin, your smooth texture and the smug glint in your eye that people who’ve never experienced sensitive skin seem to have.