Kiehl’s Reviews 2019 | Everything You Need to Know

Kiehl’s is a cosmetics brand retailer based in the US. The brand specializes in premium hair, skin and body care products.

The Background of the Kiehl’s Brand

It was started as single pharmacy by John Kiehl’s in 1851 in Manhattan at Third Avenue and East 13th Street in New York City. The store was purchased in 1921 by Irving Morse, a former student of pharmacology at Columbia University, who was also a Russian Jewish immigrant and a former pharmacy apprentice. His son, Aaron Morse, later took over the store in the 1960s. He was credited for driving Kiehl’s out of obscurity in the 1950s into an internationally recognized brand dealing in upscale natural cosmetics in the 1980s.

Aaron took the store from being a traditional pharmaceutical as his father preferred and developed it into skin care lines. After his death in 1995, his daughter Jami Morse Heidegger took over the business — but had been operating it since 1988 and had learned invaluable marketing skills that further grew the brand beyond the traditional means of advertisements.

The Kiehl’s brand was then purchased in 2000 by the L’Oréal Group. The Kiehl’s management only accepted the purchase after experiencing difficulty in handling the swelling volumes of orders due to the brand’s growing popularity.

Kiel’s has since gradually grown into a competitive brand with more than 250 stores all over the globe and above 1,000 points of sale in their high-end department stores. They are also found in select airport destinations as well as in independent stores. Kiehl’s distinguishes itself from other brands with an eccentric approach to marketing, its straightforward products and simple packaging, as well as its exceptionally large male clientele base.

Kiehl’s Most Popular Products

In comparison to the brand’s competitors, Kiehl’s spends about three to five times the average of the rest on upscale natural cosmetic products. Kiehl’s merchandise is at the same time available at prices on the lower side of prestige skin care. Distinguished for their classic, simple packaging that speaks to the old apothecary concept, Kiehl’s signature products like night cream, Blue Astringent, Blue Astringent Herbal Lotion and Crème de Corps (both co-developed by Irving Morse decades ago), calendula toner, and Original Musk Oil are customer favorites to this day.

Some of Kiehl’s products, especially in skin care, have a cult following — such as the Crème de Corps, the Blue Astringent and the Calendula Herbal Extract Skin Toner. However, some of the most convenient products are largely underrated, such as Kiehl’s Skin Rescuer that is particularly helpful to people living in regions that experience drastic climatic changes. It keeps the skin hydrated even with extreme climatic conditions retaining the much needed glow in your skin.

Since the Kiehl’s brand is driven by tried and true products, its success is bolstered by a long history of dependable products in a wide array of product lines. The Calendula Herbal Toner, a product created by the brand in the 1960s, is a unique and almost legendary skin care product.

But the company has not rested on its laurels: In recent years, the Kiehl’s brand has introduced amazing products to the vibrant cosmetics market such as a facial cleanser that was introduced by the brand in 2014 and went on to win a 2014 Allure Best of Beauty Award. This year Kiehl’s is introducing a new calendula-packed face mask that will contain extracts from marigold flowers, inspired by the success of the calendula toner.

Kiehl’s Product Lines

Kiehl’s offers a wide variety of products customized to meet customers’ skin care needs. Their products fall in a number of categories including:

Cleansers

A good cleanser is, in most cases, the foundation of your skin care routine, and Kiehl’s offers plenty to choose from. One of the most popular is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser, which provides gentle care for skin that is overly dry. It is also fragrance-free and soluble in water.

Toners

Being an essential part of many people’s skin care routines, toners are typically used after cleansing. The most popular product in Kiehl’s large line of quality toners is the Calendula Herbal Extract Alcohol-Free Toner, a basic toner that works on a wide variety of skin types. As its name suggests, the toner contains no alcohol or corrosive and drying synthetic agents, making it one of the gentlest alternatives in skin care products.

Moisturizer

In a basic skin care routine, the last step is usually using a moisturizer. Kiehl’s shows that they understand the essential role played by the moisturizer in keeping the skin hydrated. The Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream is one of the most popular moisturizers that works best with dry skin types. Apart from being extremely hydrating, the product is also ultra-light having been tested and proven to be a good alternative in relieving skin dryness in just a week’s time.

By reducing moisture loss and increasing moisture absorption for the skin during wear, the cream helps to give the user healthy-looking, glowing skin for more than 24 hours. A more detailed review of the product is available below to give you a better scope of one of Kiehl’s most popular and highly rated product in both online stores and physical retailers.

Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream Review

Being one of the oldest skin care brands in the US, Kiehl’s deals in skin toners, hydration lotions and anti-aging products. One of the most popular is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream. The cream is designed to protect the skin against loss of natural moisture making it retain its natural glow. It also delivers the skin from taking on a dull and discolored appearance by preventing dryness, thereby also preventing the quick aging of skin.

Though it is not marketed as an anti-aging cream, Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream generally keeps the skin moisturized and looking younger — so adding it to your daily regimen may help regain or retain that youthful glow.

The cream is rather affordable, retailing at a price just over $25 for 1.7 ounces of the fluid. It is available on the Kiehl’s company website as well as many other various cosmetic and beauty online retailers (and, of course, Amazon.com).

Strengths and Weaknesses of Kiehl’s Products

First, the benefits. Here are some of the ways Kiehl’s is superior in the cosmetics industry:

How Kiehl’s Tests its Products

A good example of well tested product is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream. This product acts almost like a puffer coat to protect your skin! Literally: A six-person team was sponsored by the Kiehl’s brand in an expedition involving scaling ice-covered mountain peaks. The six were sent with jars of Kiehl’s Facial Cream to test its effectiveness in both the harshest conditions and the everyday conditions.

According to the team, Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream was particularly essential to their skins’ conditioning when the atmosphere was freezing. It was also essential in retaining their skins’ moisture content. This is just one example of their long line of tested and reliable products, and the extremes the brand goes to to make sure they are effective. With a line of products that is literally tested in the wild, there’s not a large margin of error in their effectiveness and reliability to the customers.

Interesting Marketing Procedures

The Kiehl’s brand is well known for their unorthodox means of marketing. They have, however, proved efficient at meeting the demands of their consumers and in provision of quality customer care services. For instance, the brand has a motorcycle for every single Kiehl’s store.

In the 70s, Aaron Morse had put together a fleet of 44 motorcycles from his own collection. This included the vintage Harley Davidson that was placed in the flagship. It acted as a source of entertainment for the guys while the ladies were shopping. It was also a unique way to introduce the Kiehl’s men’s products lines to them. They have since been dispersed to nearly all their stores with six of them in the flagship and one in each store. It’s no wonder that the motorcycles have appeared in most of Kiehl’s charitable efforts such as the Kiehl’s annual LifeRide for HIV and AIDS awareness, the Texas Run for Two by Two in 2013, and the Desert Run for amfAR back in 2012.

Kiehl’s expansion to the world of customizable skin care

You have probably already heard or read about Kiehl’s new venture into the world of customizable skin-care, announced back in 2016. Here’s the deal: You can head to any Kiehl’s store and talk to the consultant on your biggest problems in skin-care and walk away with a personalized formula manufactured from a hydrating squalane base and two boosters depending on the nature of your skin problem.

The only catch is that it had only been made available at Neiman Marcus in San Francisco and in New York City. Since earlier this year, Kiehl’s began the expansion of the apothecary service in every store in the US. This is great news for all those that know the quality services provided by the brand in skincare.

The brand’s potential weaknesses include the price tag — which is a little high compared to drugstore brands — and the fact that some products won’t work well for certain skin types. After all, some products are meant for very oily skin and some for dry skin. Before purchasing a Kiehl’s product, it is essential to understand how exactly it works and what effect it will have on your skin. After testing the Kiehl’s products on your skin with good results, you can then add it to your daily regimen.

The Kiehl’s Ultra Facial cream is particularly recommended for people suffering from overly-dry skin who are not getting good results from the use of daily lotions and moisturizers. It is a viable choice to provide you with a hydrated skin for 24 hours according to the product manufacturer.

However, if your skin is prone to being very oily, it is recommendable to investigate this product’s ingredients to avoid contributing to development of acne due to blockage of follicles.