Cleansers really are my favourite skincare item, as I just find using a really good cleanser so therapeutic; the whole experience is soothing and calming for both your skin and your mind, how could you not enjoy a good cleanse? Of course there are days when I just can’t face sitting in front of the sink for 15 minutes whilst I slowly and meticulously remove every last trace of make-up, dirt and grime, so I instead reach for a big bottle of micellar solution (or if I’m really shattered, maybe even a wipe…) but I’d say this would only happen once every month, if that, the rest of the time I am vigilant with my cleansing. I start with a decent oil cleanse, then if I’ve been wearing a lot of make-up I’ll do another oil cleanse, before finishing up with a cleanser that I’ll select depending on how my skin has been behaving. If you need to up your cleansing game, here are three new cleansers worth checking out:
First up is the newest cleanser from Clinique, which is the Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam. Apologies for the somewhat shaky picture! I’ll hold my hands up right now and say that I am not a foam fan, no matter how gentle it promises to be, I just find my skin always feels like it’s been stripped of all the goodness when I use a foam, but I also understand that there are die-hard foam fans who will not use anything else, and I get that there’s a clean feeling you get from foams that you’d struggle to find with other cleansers. With that in mind, I would recommend the Clinique Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam since it’s very gentle, fragrance-free and it feels very velvety on the skin. Not quite enough to persuade me to become a foam user, but if you are a foam fan then this is the foam you should be using. It’s £18.
The Dermedics CALM Ceramide Creamy Cleanser is quite possibly the best cleanser I’ve ever used for sensitive skin as it is so incredibly gentle and giving; it’s a gel-like cream that feels amazing on the skin – great for post-peels or sunburnt skin – and it very, very gently removes make-up without upsetting skin at all. The Dermedics site offers an impressive information page for each product that literally tells you everything you need to know, from what’s included in the product, why it works, who it’s for and how to use it – it’s very good! If you have reactive, upset skin or your skin has suddenly started playing up and you’ve been recommended to take your skincare right back to basics, start with the Dermedics CALM Ceramide Creamy Cleanser which is £19.50.
Finally on to my favourite of the bunch, which is the very exciting Kat Burki Vitamin C Nourishing Cleansing Balm. I will start by saying that this is horrendously expensive at £68 (Caroline Hirons had a spot-on rant about the pricing, since it’s an American product that’s been marked up quite a bit) which is very annoying as it’s going to make it quite inaccessible for a lot of people. That is a real shame as this is a truly lovely cleanser that’s quite unlike anything else I’ve tried. It’s a kind of gel-cream consistency with a slightly fruity scent, that offers a very gentle, acid-based exfoliation alongside a big hit of hydration and care from a great collection of oils. This feels truly wonderful to use and puts the joy into an evening cleanse. The Kat Burki Vitamin C Nourishing Cleansing Balm is here.
Update: The Kat Burki Vitamin C Nourishing Cleansing Balm has now been repriced at £52 – still pretty steep, but if you can afford it then this is definitely a cleanser worth investing in as it really is lovely.
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