REN Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial: It's no flash in a pan...

REN. Launched 15 years ago, this Swedish based brand has found its way onto my list of favourite things to use on my face. And this is their mostly new-ish product. REN Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial is pretty special, because it works. Not in 8 weeks, not in 2 weeks, immediately. It works Immediately, and I am liking what it is doing for me.

Flash Facial 1 Minute Rinse does everything it says on the box. Something very few other products can do. The active ingredients go to work immediately for instant visible skin improvement. And for me the result doesn't fade away over the course of the day, my skin looks just as good the following day: my moisturiser and serum go on beautifully and sink in quickly.

REN uses only 100% plant and mineral derived actives so you can be sure that the ingredients are pure and highly active. Their products are also free from mineral oil, parabens, PEGS and synthetic fragrances. And while Flash Facial isn't suited to sensitive skins, most of their other products are.

One of the main ingredients is Vitamin C. This works to instantly brighten the skin and stimulate circulation, which is what you want. The other ingredients all work together to gently, but thoroughly exfoliate the surface of the skin. And the way that REN want you to use it ensures that you get a great result from the first use. These ingredients work so, so well together, REN put together a real winner with Flash Facial.

Its a really odd product straight out of the tube. I advise giving the tube a good shake to mix the ingredients before you use it as they do tend to separate. Its a pale green tinted gel that looks almost gritty and smells divinely of oranges, compliments of the vitamin C. 

To use this I cleanse my face and then squeeze the excess water out of my face cloth and wipe 95% of the water off my skin, too much water when you start "activates" the vitamin C and you don't want that to happen until you have exfoliated. Then I massage about an almond sized blob of the gel into my skin. It goes on super smooth and cool, almost watery. But as you massage the gel seems to grip dead skin cells and the gel gets weirdly gritty and you can feel a decent bit of exfoliation happening. I concentrate on my wrinkles, and on my congested areas and I feel like I am getting a serious scrub out of this gel.

After about a minute I run my fingers under water and work it into the gel and the grittiness immediately disappears to leave a super smooth gel and you get a wiff of copper. You are instructed to leave this to work for a minute and then "rinse thoroughly". I use my damp face cloth to take most of it off and then I like to use running water and splash-wipe this off. I know lots of folks don't like to splash water, but I like to do it this way. I then follow with my serum of choice and moisturiser. My skin looks pink and fresh and clean and radiant. Radiance levels are at Fresh-From-The-Salon-And-An-Expensive-Facial level. It is amazing.

The only thing that I don't like about Flash Facial is the fact that it doesn't have a flip-top. I love me a flippy-top so I do. I do find the lid a bit awkward to screw back on properly once you have dispensed product onto your fingers, and with Vitamin C being one of those ingredients that degrade in open air you don't want to be faffing with a lid that doesn't close properly.

So REN if you are reading: FLIPPY TOPS PLEASE! I'm tired of chasing the lid around the bathroom floor when I drop it.

Other than this I will not ever be without this again. My pigmentation is looking freaking amazing, especially on my forehead. My fine lines are much finer, and my skin texture looks great. Apart from the epic hormonal break-outs on my jaw. Yes I'm still struggling to get those under control. 

REN Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial is pricey coming in at €37.95 for a 75ml tube. But there are at least 15 uses in the tube (if you use 5ml per treatment) and considering that a mini facial costs €25, this works out pretty well and you can do it every 3 days!

My tube was a gift from the wonderful folks at Cloud10 Beauty, but I can promise you now, I will never, ever, be without this. It is love. It was love within a minute.