Now, Renewed Hope In a Jar

Moisturising is one of the cornerstones of a good skincare regimen. Every one should moisturise. And yet, when you live in a tropical climate, most women choose not to just because it is so hot and humid.

They find their skin “gets oily” or the moistursier feels “too heavy” (their words not mine). While I have never skipped applying my face cream, finding the right one wasn’t easy: some were too thick for Singapore’s heat and would block my pores; and the gel ones weren’t moisturising enough for my dry skin. That’s when I tried the Philosophy Renewed Hope in A Jar.

Honestly though, I fully expected it to fail. I had tried Hope In a Jar and even Hope In A Jar Night and both were too heavy for me and even broke me out. So naturally I was a bit wary about this one – a reformulation of the original. Cut to four weeks later – I’m still using it and am absolutely love it, and my skin has never looked or felt better.

This moisturiser has retained its place in my beauty routine because it keeps my skin hydrated through the day. Now this is really important for me because I have dry skin. There is nothing I hate more than finding my skin feeling stretched after sitting for five hours in an air-conditioned room. Three types of hyaluronates help lock in moisture, encourage the skin to produce natural hyaluronic acid and fight dehydration.

The beauty of it is that even though it is intensely moisturising, I can step out of said air-conditioned room and not have that sticky, oily feeling you get with some moisturisers. It is truly ideal of Singapore’s indoor/outdoor weather.

This would work even for oily or combination skin types since it would help balance out sebum production by keeping the skin sufficiently moisturised, and again the light texture is ideal for oily skin types as well.

The other reason it remains in everyday use is because it sloughs of skin through the day when you wear it. It contains three types of AHAs – glycolic, citric and mandelic that act as exfoliators, sloughing off dead skin to encourage skin cell turnover. When you have mature skin like me it is important to exfoliate – it helps your skin look radiant and fresh. One thing to keep in mind though, is that because it has AHAs in the formula, you may want to cut down on external AHA or BHA exfoliators, especially if they’re in the form of toners. Using too many could dry out your skin. The other thing to note is to always, always use a sunscreen over this moisturiser since exfoliating leaves the skin more susceptible to damage from the sun.

Since using this cream, I’ve found my skin looks brighter, with a smoother texture and definitely more radiant. It’s specially formulated to suit Asian skins, but I think anybody’s skin would benefit from it. So if you’re looking for a lightweight moisturiser that won’t leave you feeling greasy and will maintain the youthfulness of your skin, this is it.