I hadn’t ever tried anything from VIE before this Skin Sparkle set. I do have products that are waiting to be tried, but there is something about the packaging that I find generally quite underwhelming. Maybe it’s the lids on the tubes, I’m just not sure – because the styling is very clean and minimalist and modern. It must, therefore, be the lids. (With these powers of deduction, I could be in the CID!) They look a little bit like doorstops, or tiny elephant feet. What I will say about these lids is that they are bloody brilliant at making the tubes stand upright; a normal shaped lid couldn’t do what these lids do, and so for that reason, they are forgiven their ugly appearance.

As I write this, I have just used the VIE Skin Sparkle set for the second time, and I can’t begin to describe how soft and smooth my face is. It really hasn’t felt this way since the last time I had a facial, which was quite a few months ago. (I think?) It was a little tight after using the products, but not uncomfortably so – and no tighter than when I use my Dermalogica Microfoliant. It looks bright and glowy and there’s no sign of redness or irritation. Top marks so far!

The Skin Sparkle set consists of a Vitamin C Crystal Polish and an Activating Serum. The polish goes on first, and you massage it in to the skin gently. The Quartz crystals in the formula buff away dead skin cells and polish the surface of the skin.In all honesty, I do think that it’s the physical action of ‘polishing’ the skin with the rough particles that has the most profound effect on the skin; the serum that you apply on top of the polish releases the Vitamin C in the formula, apparently, but I think that the scrub is pretty good on its own. It’s just about as grainy and rough as you can get away with without irritating the skin, and so it’s brilliant for a really good, thorough buff. The serum contains salicylic acid to help purify the skin and it’s also apparently necessary to activate the radiance-boosting Vitamin C – it’s supposed to have a warming effect when you massage it in to the scrub, but I had actually already experienced quite a nice warming effect with the polish alone, and I didn’t notice an increase in warmth. I left the gel on for a good few minutes after massaging it in with the polish, and then rinsed with warm water.

I’ve done this whole Vitamin C mixing/activating malarkey before with the Murad Home Facial Kit that I tested out, and that left my skin very smooth too – I have no idea about the science behind any of it, and it could simply be that this VIE set is a good, strong polisher and little else. Whatever; it worked on me, – my skin feels absolutely squeaky and new, which is a lovely feeling when you’re living in a bit of a building site.

VIE Skin Sparkle Set is £15.50 from VIE at home.