Neutrogena Skin ID Review

I recently purchased my customized Neutrogena Skin ID regimen.  For those of you that haven't heard of it, Neutrogena Skin ID is a set of personalized acne products picked just for you after you fill out a skin care survey.  I had been contemplating getting it for awhile, and after I found a 50% off coupon (on the starter kit) I decided to try it.  After all, it was cheaper than going out and buying more of the AcneFree stuff I used now.

Let's start with the pros.  For the $18.95 I paid (including shipping), I did get a lot of stuff - my 3 piece starter kit, a travel sized bag, an acne spot treatment, body wash, and shine-control blotting sheets.  It was definitely a steal!  The body was alone was priced at $13!  And it was a full-sized bottle!  I thought I'd be getting a trial size.  And the face pads (part of my customized regimen) had 60 pads in the container which is comparable to the size of other face pads like Stridex or Oxy.

Okay, so that's all the good I have to say.

Upon opening it, I was disappointed to see how small all of the other products were.  The face wash was 4oz, the all-over acne treatment was 2oz, and the spot treatment was 0.5oz.  Also, I looked at all of the active ingredients and everything had either 2% salicylic acid or 2% benzoyl peroxide.  How's that any different than other acne treatments?  I could go to the drug store and by Oxy Pads or Clearasil for $5...and they'd be double the size!!

I opened up the body wash, and I was even more disappointed.  It had the same color, smell, and consistency of the Neutrogena Oil-Free Stress Control Body Wash I bought two weeks ago!  Basically, Neutrogena just slapped a "Skin ID" label on it and doubled the price of their Stress Control product.  Disappointing.

After putting it on my face, I was even more disappointed.  After putting on the cleanser and all-over acne treatment my face got really tight and dry.  My face was so tight that it was hard to move it!!  I've never felt anything like it before.

So far, I'm EXTREMELY disappointed with Skin ID.  I'll be calling next week to cancel my membership (as I planned to do anyway), and I may even return it.  I have never been so disappointed with an acne product before.  I use this kind of stuff when I have really bad break outs, but I wouldn't trust Skin ID even if my life depended on it.  I think I'll just stick to AcneFree.  That stuff works wonders and doesn't dry out my skin...or make it feel tight!!

No, I would not recommend this product to a friend.