Minimalist Glycolic Acid + Alpha Lipoic Cleanser Review

This is what bad decisions look like. I bought three Minimalist products – Minimalist Glycolic Acid 07% + Alpha Lipoic Cleanser, Vitamin C Serum, and SPF 50 Sunscreen because I had a coupon and Minimalist, which had my trust. I had a great experience with Minimalist Products, such as serums and face wash. But unfortunately, Minimalist disappointed me this time, big time.

I am going to share my experience with all three products, starting with the Minimalist Glycolic Acid Cleanser.

Update – April 1, 2024 – I no longer use the Brand Minimalist. They have changed their formulations over the past few years and their products give me breakouts and reactions. Even the products that used to work for me now result in acne. I do not recommend Minimalist anymore.

About Minimalist Alpha Lipoic + Glycolic 07% Cleanser

Price: Rs.399/- for 100ml

Available at Nykaa.

Ingredients

Aqua, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Propanediol, Glycolic Acid, Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate, Xylitylglucoside, Anhydroxylitol, Xylitol, PEG-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate, PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, Thioctic Acid, Betaine, Pentylene Glycol, Panthenol, Allantoin, Sodium PCA, Coco-Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Hydroxide

How to Use

Apply on a wet face. Pour an appropriate quantity into wet hands, rub together into a light lather, and massage into the face. Rinse thoroughly.

Review – Minimalist Glycolic Acid Cleanser

My Skin Type: Combination to Oily in Summer, Dry in Winter, Sensitive, and Acne-Prone Skin

Packaging: It comes in opaque tube packaging with a flip-flop cap and a really bad nozzle. The consistency is super runny and the packaging makes it worse. It is just messy and is difficult to control the flow of the product. A big No!

Fragrance: If you have ever used the Pixi Beauty Glycolic Acid Cleanser, you would relate to the smell. Not the most pleasing one but I guess that’s how the acid smells.

My Experience

Major regrets. I had high hopes for Minimalist. At one point, it became my most trusted brand with blind faith. It was like, nothing with Minimalist can go wrong. But this time, Minimalist disappointed me big time.

All three purchases from Minimalist including glycolic acid cleanser, vitamin-c serum, and SPF 50 sunscreen totally failed. Not only these but their Tranexamic 03% serum which I purchased with so many expectations, didn’t do anything.

Why all of a sudden Minimalist products are starting to work in the opposite direction? Is it just me or..? Well, I actually went ahead and looked for reviews on all possible major e-commerce sites to my surprise, every single review especially on Amazon for this cleanser was a bad one.

To check further, there were negative reviews on Vitamin C and other Minimalist Products. It was one of my favorite and most recommended Brands. I don’t think it is going to be the same case anymore.

Coming to the Minimalist Glycolic Acid Cleanser, it doesn’t form much lather which was expected in a glycolic-based face wash. After washing my face, I didn’t notice any brightness as claimed, but it did remove the dirt, sweat, and excess oil which was good. It took some time to completely rinse off the product but it didn’t leave my skin super dry or heavy.

Resulted in acne

Everything was good till this point. Things started to get worse when I noticed major acne bumps after a few days. Those were big, painful, cystic, red acne. My cheek area, and my chin, all got covered with small and large red cystic bumps. It was not good.

My brother was also a fan of Minimalist Salicylic Acid Face wash and he too didn’t like this one at all. I couldn’t use the Minimalist Glycolic Acid Face Wash beyond this point and had to discontinue.

I switched back to my trusted Neutrogena Deep Cleanser and this time it was a grapefruit one.

Luckily, I had Mario Badescu Spot Treatment with me which helped in treating those painful ones. I further used Acne-Patches to calm the pain and included Nykaa Salicylic Acid in my routine.

Minimalist products are no longer what they used to be

I don’t think I can continue trusting Minimalists the way I used to. In fact, it is a lesson for me that not every Brand is perfect. This wasn’t the case when this particular one didn’t work for me. I was shocked by the number of people who shared their horrible experiences with Minimalist Glycolic Acid Face Wash.

If you are someone who was about to buy the Minimalist Glycolic Acid cleanser and if you are reading this, don’t go for it!

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My Final Thoughts

Minimalist Glycolic Acid + Alpha Lipoic Cleanser is a total disappointment. It didn’t work for me at all and resulted in painful cystic acne. The packaging is messy and is a big-time fail.

Pros

• Removes dirt, sweat, and excess oil
• Doesn’t leave skin too try or too heavy

Cons

• Messy Packaging
• Gave me Breakouts
• Got Painful cystic acne
• No brightening properties as claimed

If you tried it, do share your experience in the comments below.