Malezia Moisturiser Fungal Acne Safe | My full honest review

When I was on holiday towards the end of 2022, I had painful, sore acne. Acne I’ve never had before. It was very sore, all over my face, with painful small-to-large bumps that didn’t have a head.

I haven’t been diagnosed properly by a doctor, but I’m pretty sure I had fungal acne caused by the ingredients in the Elemis cleansing balm I was using on holiday to remove my makeup. The ingredients contain 13 ‘triggers’ causing inflammation to my skin, including several types of oil.

Once I stopped using it and included other products into my routine, the fungal acne went away. I started using Malezia’s moisturiser and FaceTheory products together and stopped using anything that contained triggers including the Elemis balm. The acne started to go, slowly.

Malezia moisturiser for fungal acne

When I got back from my holiday, I did a lot of research. That’s how I learned about fungal acne, what it looks/feels like, and why I think I had it. Malezia 5% Urea Moisturizer is 100% fungal acne safe so it doesn’t contain any triggers that so many products do (such as Elemis, mentioned above). Its main (key) ingredient is urea.

What is urea and why is it so important?

Urea is a molecule found in your skin and improves the barrier function.

Urea is one of those magical unicorn ingredients with the ability to both hydrate AND mildly exfoliate. It’s so effective as a hydrator, in fact, that it outperforms vaseline in some studies.

https://malezia.com/en-gb/products/urea-moisturizer

What else is in the ingredients?

The moisturiser also contains these amazing ingredients to support skincare:

• Glycerin – hydration/smoothing
• Dimethicone – creates a protective barrier and locks in moisture
• Hyaluronic acid – hydration
• Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride – softens skin
• Full list: Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Urea, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Sodium Polyacrylate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Trideceth-6, PEG/PPG-18/18 Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Allantoin, Hyaluronic Acid, Ethylhexylglycerin

It’s fungal-acne safe, proven by the website tool I always use when checking out ingredients:

What’s my review? Has it improved your acne?

My skin is SO much better now I’ve stopped using any products containing fungal acne triggers. I use this moisturiser at night before bed. It’s the nicest, thickest moisturiser I’ve ever used. It doesn’t smell strong and glides on my skin like a dream. I’m absolutely loving it, but I’d have to for the price it takes to be delivered from the US (more on that below).

This was my skin after stopping using the Elemis, and just starting the Malezia back in January’23:

My skin after using it for a few months (a few angles)

I bought my first Malezia at the start of January and these were taken last week – so around 2.5 months PLUS the week before my period which is usually when I breakout:

I use Malezia in combination with bronzer, which is helping me look a little glowy in the below photo! I’m using Indeed Labs Nanobronze Bronzing Drops which smoothes into skin amazingly well when it’s helped with moisturiser.

So as you can see, after a few months of using it, my skin has changed massively. I no longer have larger red sore spots or smaller bumps across my forehead.

I use a pea-sized amount 4-5 times a week, before bed.

Malezia tube key

It cost £3 and is well worth it – this little gadget helps you get every last drop of liquid out of the tube. It’s made of aluminium and feels high quality – never thought I’d say that about a tube key. It’s heavy and gets the job done. I’ve also used it on toothpaste.

How much is it and where can I buy it?

Malezia 5% Urea Moisturiser is £20 + delivery, which if you’re in the UK, is unfortunately more expensive than the product.

I ordered back in January and it cost me a total of $42.82 ($18.46 was delivery) then my last order (end of March) cost me £62.70, made up of £24 in delivery charges (now reduced massively since I wrote this blog – see my update at the end!) which was probably due to the weight as I ordered 2x bottles plus the tube key (total £43).

After using it for a few months and being happy with the results, I reached out to become an affiliate of Malezia. I have a discount code, ‘Rachael’ which gets you 20% off everything. Buy it from their website, https://malezia.com/

Delivery from ordering to receiving in the UK took 11 days. It was posted the day after I ordered.

Delivery charges are expensive, but it’s worth it in my opinion for the product, as the quality is amazing & it lasts months. I’ve used products much more expensive than this so when I look at it from that angle, it doesn’t bother me so much to spend £62.30 on 2x bottles (plus a tube key I won’t need to buy again).

After using it for a few months and being happy with the results, I reached out to become an affiliate of Malezia. I have a discount code, ‘Rachael’ which gets you 20% off everything. Buy it from their website, https://malezia.com/ I don’t get a benefit as they don’t work with UK affiliates. I will continue to use the product as I love it, and have most recently (Nov 2023) just bought 3 with a lovely Black Friday discount 🙂

The code really works:

Is Malezia vegan and cruelty-free?

Our products are vegan and we don’t test on animal (or have a desire to). Additionally, none of our suppliers have tested on animals in the past 5 years. We are in the process of getting leaping bunny certified. 

https://malezia.com/en-gb/pages/faq

See malezia.com for their FAQs.

Any negatives?

Yeah – they haven’t put me off buying, as I’ve just reordered 2x more but YES there were a few things I didn’t like:

1) The tube looked half full. The bottle came full and intact, but when I squeezed it, the size reduced massively! It made me think they hadn’t filled it enough. I emailed them about this, and #2. This is normal so don’t worry. See Malezia’s response below.

2) The top rim is yellow, which doesn’t look pleasant and it didn’t come with a silver/foil-type cover. It made me think of the gone-off moisturiser you’ve had in your draw for 2 years. This is how it’s supposed to look so don’t worry. See Malezia’s response below.

I emailed Malezia about these 2 issues:

My email:

Hi there, I’ve just received so thank you! I wanted to check, should the bottle be open or have a seal? It’s come without a seal, yellow around the rim & when I’ve taken out a pea-sized amount, the packaging has massively gone in so it looks like it’s already half-used 

Malezia replied within an impressive 5 hours. They explain all points below which I’ve copied in, however, a summary is that yes there is air in the bottle but the weight of the product is correct; it doesn’t need a seal as the bottle is airtight, and the yellow staining isn’t rust but epoxy which is harmless.

I love how they replied straight away, but these points are also in their FAQs on the website meaning they are popular (negative) questions. When I opened the product, I was initially disappointed – not 1 but 2 things I wanted to question. Both ‘problems’ have been sorted with context, but it ruined the experience for me. That being said, it didn’t stop me from re-ordering, although the next time I did, I ordered 2x bottles due to the cost of delivery, which takes me to problem #3.

3) Delivery charges to the UK are more than the product!

Delivery charges have now massively reduced since I wrote this blog – see my update at the end!

My last order cost £62.70 where the delivery cost was £24 of that. Hence I bought 2 at £20 each which should last me at least 4-5 months.

I don’t like to moan but these things negatively affected my experience. I was excited about getting the delivery but felt deflated as I had to email and ask about the problems I found. Having those questions as FAQs tells me they’re popular questions from customers, so if I felt a little disappointed, others did too – so it’s something Malezia could look into fixing properly. That being said, they’re a small business doing right in the world, so if they don’t fix these problems then that’s fine by me – I’ll keep buying anyway!

After using it for a few months and being happy with the results, I reached out to become an affiliate of Malezia. I have a discount code, ‘Rachael’ which gets you 20% off everything. Available to buy from their website, https://malezia.com/

Update: Nov 2023

Taking full advantage of Black Friday, I’ve purchased 3 bottles totalling £55.20 (£18.40 each, 20% off) that’ll take me well into 2024 (and maybe until the next Black Friday!). Delivery was £13 which is a huge difference than previous £24!