Review: The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter

Really late to the party with this one aren’t I? I first saw The Body Shop's Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter featured in an article on The Grauniad about ‘the best cleansing balms’ and it seems to have made an appearance on every beauty blog out there. That was approximately one year ago … and now its rolled up on my blog too, whuppee! I actually bought it months and months ago but left it to languish at the back of my skincare drawer. I dusted it off (figuratively speaking, ew) to review for my mini-series on cleansers.

Packaging:

Seems sturdy. No worry of dropping glass jars on bathroom tiles and smashing them to smithereens - only of it landing face down. Unanimous agreement that the broad flat tin resembles a pot of shoe polish. Boor-ring.

Texture:

The texture is very far from the ‘sumptuous cleansing butter’ it’s described as. It’s like a wax that melts into an oil. Not a nice smooth blend, but something slippery and lumpy. That is NOT cleansing butter. Antipodes grape seed butter cleanser is exactly that. Omorovicza’s night cream is sumptuous and buttery. This is not.

Performance:

This cleanser was ok at removing suncream + make-up, but not 100% effective. A flannel and second cleanser are a must to remove the product and residue. I’d follow up with a cream cleanser.

Ingredients:

Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Synthetic Wax, PEG-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate, Olea Europaea Fruit Oil/Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil,  Butyrospermum Parkii Butter/Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Caprylyl Glycol, Tocopherol, Parfum/Fragrance, Aqua/Water, Linalool, Limonene, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil/Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil,  Anthemis Nobilis Flower Extract (Camomile), Citric Acid.

I’m always waffling on about checking the ingredients (I didn’t realise you had to peel the label back to read them >.< the irony eh), but how many of us actually do that? Why/why not? My label-checking mania stems from my battle with hormonal spots (which I mention a lot too). I probably wouldn't have bought it had I known it contained synthetic wax (nasty texture) and virtually no chamomile. What stands out to me on reading it a second time round - and with the benefit of hindsight - is OLIVE OIL. I had a severe reaction to DHC’s Deep Cleansing Oil (reviewed here) and I avoid it like the plague now. The reason this cleanser was left to languish wasn’t because I disliked the texture - it was because little spots started appearing after a few days of use! :( I think it's safe to say olive oil is the culprit ... Obviously this won’t be a problem for a lot of you, but I thought I’d put it out there, juuuuuust in case you ever wondered why you had a terrible experience with DHC products…

Price:

At £12 for a 90ml tin, I doubt you’ll find anything cheaper. Its the cheapest among thirty odd cleansing balms/butters that I compared the prices of. However I’d much rather spend my money on something that functions and feels better - your skincare routine should be enjoyable not a waxy mess!

Has anyone else tried this cleanser? How does it compare to the Camomile Cleansing Oil? And dare I ask: is there a cheaper alternative??

Review : The Body Shop Seaweed Clay Mask

I wanted to hate this product. I really did. After opening the tub and smoothing the clay over my face, I was struck by the overwhelming smell of … sewage. Foul.

I left it on for around 10 minutes during which the mask hardens - to the point where your face might crack with the slightest facial expression. The mask's colour slowly changes from dark green to a lighter and trendier minty green, which is quite cool but doesn't change the fact that you look and smell like you've been wading through a smelly canal.

I washed it off using a face cloth, which was stained brown in the process ... (Could the clay be some form of recycled poo) Needless to say, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I love using masks, but this - no. It stinks and I needed two flannels rinse it off.

And with that said, I'm almost disinclined to admit that I was quite impressed with the results. I had a sore, red bump (one of those spots that doesn’t quite know when/how it wants to maim your face) on my forehead and after applying the mask, it had completely gone down! O.O I've never had a such an obvious immediate result  after just one application!

It’s not all raptures and spangles though. The downside is that my skin felt a little dry and tight afterwards. Nothing that a nice hydrating mask and moisturiser can't sort out, but enough to limit use to once per week.

If you're quite chillax about what goes on your face, embracing mineral oil, parabens, home made lemon peels and the like then you go ahead and use it.  It costs £12/100ml and £6 for members of the Shop's loyalty scheme (here). But we should really care a bit more about what goes on our face. I have to be honest and admit (*inhale*) that I didn't read the label before purchasing. (*shriek*) (But only because the shop staff cast me an evil glare when I tried to peel the label off!)

Here is the full ingredients list (which is published online!! woopwoop!!)
Kaolin, Aqua, Heilmoor Clay, Glycerin, Alcohol Denat., Bentonite, Talc, Lithothamnium calcarum, Maris Limus Extract, Pentylene Glycol, Fucus Vesiculosus Extract, Polysorbate 20, Myristamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Xanthan Gum, Bisabolol, Parfum, Butylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Zinc PCA, Linalool, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Salicylate, Laminaria Saccharina Extract, Denatonium Benzoate, Tocopherol, CI 77289, CI 42090.

When I read labels, I'm on the lookout for two things: mineral oil and alcohol.

Mineral oil is cheap crap that sits on your skin doing nottin. Alcohol can dry and irritate the skin, but is sometimes necessary, e.g. in suncreams to stabilise the product, and as a preservative - but only as one of the last ingredients. Where is alcohol on this list? TOP FIVE INGREDIENT FML. Why are so many products marketed towards acne/blemish prone skin or "clarifying" and "oil-minimising" solutions packed FULL of alcohol?! Like I'm really helping my skin by striping the mantle away and opening the gateway for yet more bacteria to breed there. No thank you.
Basically, while you might feel an immediate short-term improvement, you're exacerbating the problem in the long-term and damaging your skin's protective layers. The 'improvement' was probably the effect of alcohol burning skin alive and sending all bacteria to oblivion.

Will I use it again? Unlikely. Would I recommend it? No. You'll have dryness and premature ageing to deal with on top of spots and acne. And it smells rank.