i like a lot of dermalogica's products. i agree that the skin smoothing cream is very nice, and it does get really good marks in paula begoun's book. she generally doesn't rate dermalogica's products as being very good. i really like the microfoliant, but she says it won't exfoliate your skin. i noticed a lot of improvement when i started using it and received compliments from total strangers asking me what i used. when i read her review of it, i stopped using it for a time. as soon as i started using it again, i had people asking me what i use on my skin again. so obviously i was doing something right! i also used some of their acne/oily skin products and my pores were almost invisible. i think they make good products for acne. i really liked the dermal clay cleanser and the active moist moisturizer - i would put it on at night and my skin would literally clear up from just that moisturizer! once i started using the samples and saw the improvement in my skin, i went out and bought their products. but use up your samples and see what you think!