I've had rosacea for at least 20 years, mostly seen with mild blushing and, recently, angry and inflamed-- thanks to a heinously stressful couple of years and living in a sunny, dust-ladden climate. Over the years, I have been quite fanatical about what I put on my face-- stocking up on bottles and jars of creams and cleansers and dragging them halfway around the world-- having had bad reactions or non-effective products. To complicate matters even more, I also have melasma that won't quit, dark circles and puffiness under eyes and break out with acne if I use something too heavy (I seem to have finally found a few sunscreens that work for me in all departments, but still wear a hat everywhere now.)

Having tried just about every product I could get my hands on at TIA (either by sample or buying the product outright,) I have found a few things that really seem to work for me. Eshee and YBF products are top of my list and my skin has improved for it. I wanted to like Reluma, but bad reactions except for cleanser; La Vie Celeste, Dr.Alkatis and Snowberry are all nice products, but never saw them really work any significant improvements. Mukti and AQ Skin Solutions I still have to give a fair chance to, but maybe after my flareup subsides. Each person has different responses, but saying all this just to lay some groundwork. In my own head, I have four ratings: Yow (damage), Bleh (did absolutely nothing), Meh (was fine, but no dramatic results) and Wow (resulting great skin.) I use plenty of 'Meh' products, like Neal's Yard Organics from the UK, which are lovely but aren't necessarily life-changing.

I really wanted to find a product that has an immediate effect on inflamed rosacea-- like coming in from 45 minutes sitting in heavy traffic when the temperature is 110 degrees. I had high hopes for this gel by M.A.D., after reading about the company and favourable reviews and ingredients list. The fluid is a blue, sticky gel that smells herbal/minty/medicinal. On application, it absorbs quickly and the stickness sort of fades, but never quite disappears.

And the results? Bleh to Yow. After several weeks of trying Redness Rescue, I would say that it made my skin feel soft, but not true to the claim that my skin would "respond to a feeling of calmness, quenched, nourished..." It didn't have an immediate calming and cooling action I was looking for, neither did it hydrated (actually, almost the opposite.) It stung ever-so-slightly, then either evened out or inflamed the skin a bit.

I've gotten a better much reaction to applying the Rejuvenating Mask by Dr. Hauschka. I can definitely say I won't be buying this gel again.