Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion Review

This is the first review i have ever done where i have been send the product for review. I was kindly sent this by the lovely people from Skin MD who have been exceptionally kind and helpful (they also offered to sponser a giveaway but it would only be available to people in the US and, seeing as i am in the UK and a lot of my readers are outside the US i didn not take them up on this). I know some people may be put off by the fact that i did not actually shell out my own money for this product but please be assured that i will be treating this product like i would if i had bought it myself.

When I was also offered to test this i jumped at the chance, having read up about it this stuff sounded amazing. Not only is it a moisturiser but it also acts as a shield from outside pollutants, it's been recommended by doctors and is not only vegan and never tested on animals but is an eco friendly product, using solar power in its manufacturing and is full of natural ingredients.  'Hello, wonder product alert!' thought I.

Along with the bottle i was sent a few leaflets explaining more about Skin MD and a few sample sachets of the lotion (i gave these to my Mum to try, which i will discuss later).

So here is some information about Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion (nicked from the very informative website which offers reviews and free samples)

'Skin MD Natural lotion combines Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, Arnica, Comfrey, Chamomile, and Yarrow to provide the gentle, soothing moisture needed for natural skin that is healthy, soft, and touchable...
 
Antioxidant-rich Aloe Vera and Vitamin E help soften skin while Arnica soothes and revitalizes. Chamomile enriches the skin while vitamin-rich, Comfrey and Yarrow, help the skin to look its best. The ingredients in this natural lotion work together for skin that has rarely looked or felt so good...


For healthy, natural skin, what's not in a skin care product is as important as what is in it. Our Skin MD Natural lotion is free of parabens, fragrances, colorants, mineral oil, propylene glycol and many other potentially harmful and drying chemicals found in other skin care products. It is a non-toxic and hypo-allergenic skin care solution.

Skin MD Natural also uses only the highest quality food-grade ingredients with no animal products or animal testing. It's naturally vegan, and cruelty free...

Skin MD Natural lotion for dry skin will leave your skin feeling and looking soft, radiant, and hydrated. Skin MD Natural lotion is the natural skin care alternative to the many dry skin care products that can actually dry the skin. Lotions for dry skin that contain petroleum, artificial fragrances, para­bens, colorants and other chemicals may cause dry skin to worsen. Avoid dry skin care products with harsh chemicals and use Skin MD Natural lotion for dry skin on the face, hands, or body.

Let the gentle blend of Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, Arnica, Comfrey, Chamomile, Yarrow, and other food grade ingredients in Skin MD Natural turn your dry skin into silky smooth natural skin that glows. Find the moisture you've been looking for; without the greasy surface created by chemicals with Skin MD Natural. You can finally say good-bye to dry skin and hello to natural skin with Skin MD Natural lotion.  '

Now i want to talk a little about my skin. On my face, overall, i have pretty good skin, I very rarely have breakouts, clogged pores or any oilyness but i do suffer from dryness, especially on and around my nose which is often a bit flaky. My complexion isn't the best, i have a lot of redness in my cheeks, however my skin is very smooth and is usually quite soft to the touch. I'm not the best at skincare. My general routine is pretty shameful. I only cleanse my face once a day at night, and that's only if i've been wearing foundation or powder. Otherwise i cleanse, exfoliate and occaisionally use a mask 2-3 times a week.
I try and moisturise at least once a day, but quite often it just doesn't happen :P
Before using Skin MD i had been using a rich night cream before bed and a lighter day cream in the morning.

Now on to my actual review! (took me long enough didn't it :P)

While this can be used everywhere i decided to use it on my face and hands as i assumed the little bottle would be used up really quickly if i used it on my body. I used it as the bottle suggests, at first every 2-8 hours (for the first week) and then every 12-24 hours. The lotion is a milky, slightly watery cream that has no smell on the skin but if you smell a blob of it really close up (i like smelling things :P) has a slightly odd herbal/vodka scent. I was amazed by how little of this you need. A drop about the size of a 5p piece (or a dime in the US :)) would cover my whole face very easily and then with very little effort the lotion sank into my skin and was absorbed almost instantly leaving no greasy feeling. However what it did leave really shocked me at first, i was totally unused to anything like it. Basically after this absorbed into my skin it left behind a layer that i guess is the reason this is called a 'shielding' lotion. I felt like i had a very thin layer of wax over my face, like the skin of an apple. At first i hated this because it just felt bizarre, but after a few uses i grew used to it and it didn't bother me at all. In fact i began to see the benefits, because if i can feel this layer on my skin i figured that it would be acting as a barrier against dirt and other nasties :)
After a few hours the waxy feeling layer subsided and my skin was left feeling smooth and sort of 'plumped' up. However these effects were quite short lived, disappearing after a while and leaving my skin much the same as it was before use.
After using the lotion skin didn't feel any softer at all, not instantly and not in the long run. At first this didn't bother me but after a few weeks i could really feel the difference and began to long for a richer cream to add some hydration to my skin. Usually the dry skin on my nose will disappear after using a good cream but with this it didn't get even slightly better.
Towards the end of the trial i decided to go back to my old creams but used this as a top-up during the day. My skin felt a lot better for using my richer creams but i began to realise that the Skin MD didn't seem to be making any difference at all :/


I also used this on my hands and I actually did really like it for that purpose. While again it didn't moisturise them as well as my usual lotions the shielding effect really came into it's own. The shield layer really seemed to help protect my hands so even though they didn't seem to be moisturised by the lotion itself, it seemed to help my hands keep in their natural moisture. I could wash my hands and there would still be a protective layer keeping my hands safe.

My Mum tried a few samples of this product and really liked it but annoyingly wouldn't tell me anything more detailed. After i had used this for 2 months (more than long enough to really review how it worked for me) i gave it to my sister Lydia who suffers from bad exzema. She is still using it so i will be writing a follow up when she gets back to me about how it worked for her :)

So all in all i thought it was an interesting product and it worked well in some ways i wouldn't use it myself as it was just not moisturising enough for a moisturiser.I think maybe this would work a lot better on people who have oily or normal skin, with my dry skin i really need a stronger, richer lotion and i think other dry skinned people might feel the same. For me it certainly is not 'The Ultimate Dry Skin Solution' as the websites suggests.

I would recommend getting the version with SPF 15 if you were thinking of buying it because... well why not? You might as well have the added benefit!
I'm not sure about the price, it does seem expensive compared to my usual drugstore brands but is cheap compared to a lot of high end lotions, also you need to use such a little of the lotion each time one bottle will last you a long, long time (i used mine at least once every day for 2 months before giving it to my sister and it's still going strong now).
So overall... i don't know what to say about this! It didn't work brilliantly for me, but it was still pretty good and i think it's a really good, innovative product. But i personally wouldn't repurchase it.