A Tale of Infatuation: Tatcha Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Serum

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Good evening!

This post is not so much a review as it is a love story. A few weeks ago I talked about the Tatcha Ritual Discovery Kit (review here) and how after a mere few weeks I was head-over-heels, irrevocably, deeply in love with those products. They changed my skin so completely that I can't imagine using anything else now. I was also sent the Tatcha Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Serum and I feel like I've used it long enough that I have no excuse not to write a thorough review.

I started out with a travel sized bottle (shown above) and very quickly decided that I needed to order a full sized bottle (first picture at the top of this post). It took me exactly one use to realize that this serum should be in my life and on my counter every single day. Unlike the Radiant Deep Brightening Serum which had a more gradual effect, it took mere minutes before I felt my skin plump up and firm up.

Now this tightening feeling was in no way like the tautness that comes after you've used a really drying cleanser or anything like that. It was the plush, almost velvety tightness of skin that is lusciously moisturized. The key components of this serum are Okinawa red algae and hyaluronic acid. I've used hyaluronic acid products before, but nothing replenished my skin like this serum did.

The Tatcha Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Serum is more gel like than the Radiant Deep Brightening Serum (which had a watery cream look/feel) and contains shimmer from 23k gold. Since I mostly wear this serum under makeup and apply it before sleep, I don't really see the shimmer on my skin. The serum sinks in very quickly and leaves the skin a tiny bit sticky. I usually smooth the Ageless Enriching Renewal Cream on top because the serum seems to pull in the extra moisture from the cream and plump up the skin even more. These two products work well in tangent and I think that for the best effect, you'll want to layer some sort of cream over the serum.

The difference this has made in my skin is spectacular and it makes my makeup look so much more natural. You know, I've gone to dermatologists because I've never liked how visible my pores were and that they tend to fill with sebaceous filaments very quickly. I was told that there wasn't too much to be done about it and held that to be the absolute truth for many years. Well guess what? With the Tatcha Deep Hydration Firming Serum, my skin's surface is so pleasantly plump that most of the pores that I fretted over are barely visible and look much, much better with only a small amount of foundation. If I inspect closely, I can see where my pores are but they are no longer little pits just waiting to be filled with dead skin cells and oil.

Here's my bare face earlier this year:

The texture was just so unappealing to me then. Acne scars made my cheeks look rougher than they actually were.

This was yesterday, with concealer and a bit of foundation mixed with moisturizer to create a b.b. cream of sorts, set with translucent powder:

I didn't touch up this photo at all (I mean no photoshopping blemishes or pores, anything like that, just brightened the image overall because I have no proper lighting at the moment). Though these pictures were taken in different lighting conditions and with different lenses, I think it still illustrates my point quite well. My skin looks a lot less rough, dull and textured. I still have hormonal breakouts but they can be hidden quite easily because overall my skin is so much smoother and radiant, concealing is so much more seamless. I don't even use primer anymore (!!this is worthy of multiple exclamation points!! I never thought I'd forsake primer). This is completely thanks to Tatcha skincare and in particular, the Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Serum.

I've pretty much ditched my Clarisonic (in fact, it is still in a box somewhere, haven't unpacked it from our move yet) and banished all my other skincare. Does that show you how much adoration and confidence I have in my Tatcha products? It should.

Priced at $95 for 1 fl. oz., the Tatcha Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Serum is high end for skincare yet I've never used a product that I felt was as worth forking over money for. I highly advise you to sign up for the newsletter on the website and taking the product recommendation quiz so that you can take advantage of promotions and product offers. Also, unlike many other companies, you can buy the travel sized version and price per ounce, there isn't a radical price difference between a full sized bottle of serum and the smaller one. That way you can get enough to try before committing to the splurge (if you're like me though, you'll end up ordering the full size right away).

I have a few more reviews of Tatcha products coming (though at present rate, I think I'll end up ordering EVERYTHING because thus far, every product is so much more than satisfactory). Xiao's reviews also make me want to try more products for eyes, lips and body (the Gold Camellia Nourishing Lip Balm will be back in stock soon).

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!

The product featured in this post started as a press sample and quickly became one purchased by me. Post contains affiliate links. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.