Now I spend a fair bit on skincare but I steer away from expensive cleansers because at the end of the day, all they do is take your make-up off. Not even the ‘special’ ones formulated to do more than just cleanse because it’s all going down the sink. Let me qualify that: I TRY not to, but then a special offer comes along and that mentality is swiftly thrown out the window. So I bought myself a jar. And got a second free!
I bought the 15ml travel size which worked out to be cheaper than the big momma. Plus it means only £20s, not £100s worth of cleansers will be languishing in the skincare drawer if I can't use it.
Ingredients:
Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, Stearyl Heptanoate, Silt (Hungarian Mud), Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Squalane, Cera Alba (Beeswax), Polysorbate 20, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Prunus Domestica (Plum) Seed Extract, Cetearyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Limonene, Parfum (Fragrance), Saccharomyces (Hungarian Thermal Water) Ferment Extract, Tocopherol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Aqua (Hungarian Thermal Water), Linalool, Malpighia Punicifolia (Acerola) Fruit Extract, Phospholipids.
When have you ever seen “silt” on an ingredients list!? Sweet almond and jojoba oil are moisturising and cleanse without stripping. I assume the aforementioned “silt” is what holds the mineral goodies that Omorovicza is famous for. Plum seed extract is hydrating, apricot kernel oil is an anti-oxidant. All of these oils are non-fragrant, but unfortunately the formula contains fragrance (limonene, linalool and one unspecified). That said, I'm less bothered about fragrance in facial washes because you rinse it off. The Acerola berry is an anti-oxidant and is good for treating hyper-pigmentation thanks to its high Vitamin C content. Acerola is quite popular in Japanese skincare, and DHC in fact have a whole range built around it. There's some doubt over its effectiveness in skincare, but in any event, it's near the end of the ingredients list and you wash it off.
Texture:
The texture is light and non-greasy, almost like a thinned out oil. It smells like lemongrass (not Flash Kitchen). And it's black o.o It has the nicest texture of any cleansing balm I've used which feel like lard compared to this.
However, I felt like the cleanser was a bit of a let-down for two reasons. As a 'first cleanse', it didn't remove "absolutely everything" as claimed. But I'm OK with that now, since it's too expensive to waste on a first cleanse anyway!
And then there was - yep you guessed it: spots. Btw, now is a good time to mention that I bought four jars. FML. I generally don't believe in the idea that your skin "purges", I do think that this cleanser needs some getting used to ... I say that because after around one month of use, my skin seemed to calm down - but this coincided with my changing my cleansing technique. I used to cleanse, cook dinner, sweep the floors, sweep the chimney etc., then shower, and double cleanse. I switched to showering after the two rounds of cleansing and having a thorough rinse by running my face under tepid water for a couple of minutes. It sounds nuts but it seems to have worked and from that time the spots lessened! And this might defeat the purpose of using an expensive cleanser, but if I'm to believe the science, "Hydro Mineral Transference" delivers minerals deep into the skin - meaning that I should get the benefit of more supple and firmer skin even if I wash it off really well. On the plus side, I did notice that my skin was more hydrated. After showering I usually rush to apply lotion because my skin feels to dry and tight, but not after using this!
Overall:
- Expensive
- Doesn't remove all traces of make-up
- Does not appear to be suitable for spot-prone skin
~ A little goes a long way. The 15ml jar lasted around one month (and would have gone longer if not for over-zealous use)
+ Good ingredients
+ Hydrating
+ Lovely smooth texture
For the price tag and surrounding hype, I expected to be 'wowed' by this cleanser. I can't say it made a real difference to my skin, except call forth an army of angry red spots so it it's not for me! But since I have another three jars, I'll definitely be giving this a re-run soon! Stay tuned ;)
