Apothecaries of Olde: Kiehl's Apothecary Preparations Customized Skincare

I'm definitely a sucker for anything that's made just for me. Truth be told, I'm still mourning the closure of Prescriptives, which meant the loss of their Custom Blend Lip Gloss. Well, Kiehl's has gone and brought my happiness to new heights with Kiehl's Apothecary Preparations.

Apothecary Preparations nods to Kiehl's start as an apothecary. This in-store service allows you the opportunity to work one on one with a Kiehl's Customer Representative (AKA KCR) to assess your skin and create a serum exclusively for your skin. If this process sounds incredible, that's because it IS. The process is quite involved -- which I love, since it shows that the KCR really wants to take the time to get to know you and your skin and create the serum that's right for you. Here's what you can expect...

First, they blot your skin with a paper blotter to see how much oil is produced (my levels were combination, which I already knew, but it was cool to see it happen before my eyes). Then, they use a sensor on your skin that measures how hydrated you are on a scale of 1-100 (100 being the most hydrated). My skin was a 57. Yikes. I was a little surprised by that, since I do drink around 2 liters of water a day, but apparently living in a dry climate does actually wreak havoc upon your skin. Who knew. (Sense the sarcasm there.)

Here's where it starts to get really interesting. The KCR then pulls out a huge, old-timey book that lists all sorts of skin ailments and issues. The book really does look like it came right out of the apothecary from Romeo and Juliet -- such a cool touch. The issues you can find in the book include lines and wrinkles, texture, tone, redness and pores. Each one also is rated for a multitude of skin tones and levels of severity and feature tons of photos.

The goal of using this book to catalog your skincare woes is to pick the two that you feel are most plaguing your skin. You rate each section on a scale of 1 to 4 so that you can figure out what to focus on. My KCR and I decided upon wrinkles and redness as my two biggest skincare concerns, which meant now it was time for her to whip up my very own serum to combat the damage!

Each serum starts with the Kiehl's Skin-Strengthening Concentrate, which is formulated with squalane and a lipid complex to strengthen the skin and keep it moisturized. Then, two Targeted Complexes are added to combat your individual stressors. As previously stated, I landed on wrinkles and redness, so my two Targeted Complexes are:

Wrinkle Reducing Complex: This is formulated with retinol concentrate and pro-retinol, so my KCR cautioned me to only use it at night and to be extremely diligent about applying sunscreen. I am also only able to use this serum once a day because of the retinol -- using it more could actually damage the skin more than help it.

Visible Redness Neutralizing Complex: Formulated with sunflower seed extract and Vitamin E to soothe and calm the skin.

My Kiehl's Apothecary Preparations regimen. So chic.

And here's the super fun part. You actually get to mix up everything at home! You're given the bottle and tubes and encouraged to mix them up right before you start using them. Once you squeeze the tubes into the bottle, the serum has a 6-month potency, so it's best not to open anything until you're really ready to use it consistently. I really enjoyed mixing up my serum -- it made me feel like I was creating a potion!

The personalized box I took home that contained my customized Kiehl's Apothecary Preparations regimen.

Mixing up my very own Kiehl's Apothecary Preparations serum.

I've been using this serum pretty consistently since I mixed it up, and I'm here to tell you that it WORKS. It sinks into the skin incredibly quickly and immediately makes me feel hydrated but not greasy or oily. I've definitely noticed a difference in redness and wrinkles since I started using it. I'd be interested to create another serum using different complexes to see whether I could actually combat even more skincare concerns simultaneously, but I'm really loving how much better my skin looks and feels ever since I started using this.

And I don't know about you, but I seriously can't stop thinking about the Friends episode, "The One with the Apothecary Table" ...



Kiehl's Apothecary Preparations is $95 and is currently available in select Kiehl's stores nationwide. To learn more about this service and find a location near you, visit kiehls.com.