Review : Etude House Happy Essential Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Foam

For those not familiar, double cleansing involves using an oil cleanser to remove oil-based impurities (like make-up and suncream) and following up with a water-based cleansing foam or cream to remove water-based impurities. The idea is simple enough but I find foaming cleansers to be quite drying and I struggle with spots so I don't need to send out an invitation for more bacteria to breed there by stripping my face with harsh cleansers.

When I came across this cleanser formulated with "40% moisturisers" I was pretty pleased, thinking it was gentle on the skin and hydrating. I ran the ingredients through cosdna and the analysis didn't look bad. Stearic Acid and Myristic Acid are flagged for acne but I wasn't too concerned since it's a wash off product. Fortunately, this cleanser hasn't given me any problems in terms of acne/breakouts but for something that touts a high percentage of moisturising ingredients, I find it so drying!!

Ingredients
Glycerin
Water
Stearic Acid
Myristic Acid
PEG-32
Potassium Hydroxide
Lauric Acid
Sorbitol
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Sodium Hyaluronate
Glyceryl Stearate
Lauryl Glucoside
Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate
PEG-100 Stearate
PEG-14M
Alcohol
Disodium EDTA
BHT
Sodium Benzoate
Phenoxyethanol
Blue 1 (CI 42090)
Fragrance

Moisturising ingredients: Glycerin, Hyaluronic Acid, Sorbitol
Potential acne triggers: Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid
Potential irritants: PEGs, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance, Alcohol, Potassium Hydroxide
Free of: Sulfate Detergents (SLS, SLES)

Texture & Smell
Feels creamy and luxurious. Has a pleasant soapy smell.

Packaging
Easy to use, has a foil seal to warn you of tampering.

Performance
There's no denying that this cleanser works well. I'd say too well because my skin feels "too clean" (AKA stripped and crying out for love).

Overall
The Good:
- Cheap ($4)
- A little goes a long way

 The Bad
- Likely to have a high PH = breeding ground for bacteria
- Alcohol. Some people are ok with alcohol in skincare, I say leave it for G&Ts.

I'm kind of sad to see this cleanser go to waste but at least it cost less than my toothpaste. Feel free to give recommendations for cleansers!!

Review : Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm

Continuing the cleansing balm theme, the next one I have for review is Omorovicza'sThermal Cleansing Balm. Omorovicza is a luxury brand with a fancy-ass backstory involving Hungarian Spas and Nobel Prizes so as you might imagine, it doesn't come cheap. It costs £46 for a 50ml jar, and if you've read my last post, it was the most expensive cleansing balm in a sample of 30.

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 ;)

Review : Balm Balm Frankincense Deep Cleansing Balm

Hello everyone, happy new year! First post of the year is a review of Balm Balm’s Frankincense Deep Cleansing Balm.

Ingredients
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)
Cera Alba (Beeswax)
Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil
Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract (Marigold)
Boswellia Neglecta Oil (Frankincense Essential Oil)
Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil
Citral
Limonene
Linalool

Balm Balm’s products are 100% organic, made in Britain (George Osborne will be proud) and have nice n short ingredients lists. Some of the key ingredients are Sunflower and Jojoba oil, which are anti-inflammatory and thought to help heal the skin; and shea butter which is moisturising and rich in anti-oxidants. In TCM, frankincense is used to stimulate blood circulation and as a treatment for acne and wrinkles. Sounds all well and good but I wonder how much benefit you get since you wash it off :/ The most important thing is that it hasn’t caused any spots, which I always worry about when trying new products!

The balm has a very mild smell - its not bad, I'm just not sure what it is. The texture is smooth and it doesn’t feel really waxy so there’s no dragging the skin trying to work it in for a deep cleanse. (SO DEEP!) (Had to be said guys.) It doesn’t melt into an oil or emulsify so you have to rinse it off with a flannel and then voila! Super soft skin and no residues =^-^=

I prefer using the balm as my second cleanser in a double cleanse routine. I tried it to remove make-up and it doesn’t work well. To be fair, I was totally expecting that because cleansers with beeswax (like Neal’s Yard Wild Rose Beauty Balm) never seem to work well for me.

It costs £7.99 for a 30ml jar, which although not obvious by the photo, IS TINY. Some of the reviews on feelunique mention that the size is misleading and you’re actually paying too much compared to other brands. With too much time on my hands, I decided to round up as many cleansers I could find and calculated how much they would cost for an equivalent dinky little size. Among 30 cleansers, Balm Balm's Frankincense cleanser falls under the ‘low’ price category (nos. 1-9). (10-19 are mid-range and 20-29 are expensive)

Here they are:-

1. The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter, £12/90ml >> £4.00 <Reviewed Here>
2. Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm, £22/125ml >> £5.28
3. RMS Beauty Raw Coconut Cream, £12.50/70g  >> £5.36
4. REN Rosa Centifolia Purity Cleansing Balm, £30/150ml  >> £6.00
5. Ole Henriksen Pure Truth Melting Cleanser, £24/118ml  >> £6.10
6. Bobbi Brown Extra Balm Rinse, £44/200ml  >> £6.60
7. Monu Cleansing Balm, £39.95/150g  >> £7.99
8. Aurelia Miracle Cleanser, £34/120ml  >> £8.50
9. Rodial Stem Cell Super-Food Cleanser, £32/200ml  >> £9.60
10. Antipodes Organic Grapeseed Butter Cleanser, £24.99/75g  >> £10.00
11. Emma Hardie Amazing Face Moringa Cleansing Balm, £36/100ml  >> £10.80
12. Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, £39.50/105g  >> £11.29
13. Balmology Neroli & Sweet Almond Cleansing Balm, £21/50g  >> £12.60
14. Diptyque Nourishing Cleansing Balm, £44/100g  >> £13.20
15. Charlotte Tilbury Multi-Miracle Glow Cleanser, Mask & Balm; £45/100ml >> £13.50
16. Georgia Louise Cleanse and Heal Duo Balm, £46/100ml  >> £13.80
17. De Mamiel Restorative Cleansing Balm, £49/100ml  >> £14.70
18. The Organic Pharmacy Carrot Butter Cleanser, £39.95/75ml  >> £15.98
19. Spiezia Organics Facial Cleanser, £26.95/50ml  >> £16.17
20. Natura Bisse Diamond White Rich Luxury Cleanse, £108/200ml >> £16.20
21. Eve Lom Cleanser, £55/100ml  >> £16.50
22. Suti Facial Cleansing Balm, £28/50ml  >> £16.80
23. RMK Cleansing Balm, £29/50g  >> £17.40
24. May Lindstrom The Honey Mud Cleansing Silk, £64/100ml  >> £19.20
25. Neal’s Yard Wild Rose Beauty Balm, £37/50g >> £22.20  <Reviewed Here>
26. Amanda Lacey Cleansing Pomade, £68/90ml  >> £22.67
27. ESPA Nourishing Cleansing Balm, £46/60g  >> £23.00
28. Darphin Aromatic Cleansing Balm, £32/40ml  >> £24.00
29. Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm, £46/50ml  >> £27.60 <Reviewed Here>

While not the cheapest among the brands, this cleanser isn't expensive - especially for an organic product. I’d happily recommend it, just as long as you don’t intend it to remove make-up! It feels quite luxurious (especially when you accidentally leave it near a radiator and it melts a little) but doesn’t cost so much that you kinda resent using it. (See: Omorovicza. Every use breaks my poor frugal heart.)

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: Balm Balm Super Light Coconut Cleanser

Since I stopped using DHC’s Deep Cleansing Oil (reviewed here) I’ve been trying out loads of new cleansers hoping to find one that removes the day’s make-up and grime and doesn’t cause another horrible outbreak of spots.

Review : DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

Thinking back, DHC’s Deep Cleansing Oil and I were doomed from the start. I ordered a bottle online which cracked during transit and leaked everywhere. Excellent. (I was sent a replacement pronto though) Little hiccup aside, I was quite looking forward to trying a Japanese oil cleanser. (Japanese!!) Shu Uemura’s cleansing oils have held the number one spot in Asia for fifty years, with one sold every seven seconds, and the Deep Cleansing Oil isn’t far behind with one bottle sold every 10 seconds worldwide. Pretty impressive eh? And whereas Shu Uemura cleansers are mineral oil based, DHC uses olive oil. And DHC is so much more affordable.

The ingredients are short and simple:

Olea europaea (olive) fruit oil - hydrating, rich in anti-oxidants (and non-fragrant)

Caprylic/capric triglyceride - moisturises and repairs the skin

Sorbeth-30 tetraoleate - a surfactant

Pentylene glycol - a solvent (removes excess sebum)

Phenoxyethanol - a preservative

Tocopherol - Vitamin E

Stearyl glycyrrhetinate - an anti-irritant

Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil - fragrant plant extract

I’ve only used one oil cleanser before and that’s Origins Clean Energy (reviewed here) and I thought it’d be handy to compare the two:

• Ingredients:  The top ingredient in both is olive oil. Clean Energy is a blend of oils, whereas Deep Cleaning Oil (DCO) is mainly olive oil and a surfactant for cleansing power.
• Fragrance: DCO is almost fragrant free (rosemary is at the bottom of the list so it'd be a small amount), whereas Clean Energy has loads of it in the form of fragrant essential oils - sweet orange, lemon, bergamot …
• Smell: I don’t recall Origins having any particular smell, but DCO has a distinctive plasticy smell… It’s a bit strange but not vomit inducing. 
• Packaging: DCO comes in a pump bottle. Thumps up for being hygienic and easy to use. Clean Energy also comes in a bottle but with the pump sold separately. On the plus side, that means you could change the cap and pack it in a suitcase (assuming you were willing to risk an oil spillage). DHC’s bottle isn’t sealable, and it didn’t survive transit in a courier service so I don’t even wanna imagine how it’d fare in a luggage hold.
• Price: DCO is £21.50/200ml, Clean Energy is £21/200ml plus £2 for the pump.
• How long does it last? A 200ml bottle of Clean Energy lasts about four months so I'd assume DCO goes for the same.

You use the Deep Cleansing Oil as you would any other oil cleanser: a couple of pumps into dry hands, massage, add water to emulsify and rinse off with a flannel. As part of the ‘cleansing process’, follow up with a second cleanser. It removes make-up etc. thoroughly and leaves the skin feeling nice and soft - no problems here. The reason I stopped using it is because it might have caused/exacerbated a Vesuvius of a breakout. (Read that lovely post here) The spots calmed down after I stopped using it so I thought ‘hey, must be the olive oil’. I recently tried a new cleansing butter and just a few days later I felt little nasties brewing under the surface of my skin. After the waxes and synthetics, there is was again: olive fruit oil. I thought it MUST be the olive oil … ‘Cept that little theory is defeated by Clean Energy - which contains olive oil :/ Very strange indeed.

So now I’m on the lookout for a reasonably priced cleanser free of olive oil and synthetics ... any suggestions?

Review : Superfacialist Neroli Daily Brightening Cleanser

I’m quite happy with this purchase from the Superfacialist range. I picked it up in Boots -15 minutes before closing time- without enough time to properly research the ingredients (which I’m usually very particular about, but my cleanser ran out that day :( The horror!) Rush-purchases usually turn out to be poor-purchases for me but this one worked out quite well!

Ingredients

Aqua (Water), Vitis vinifera (Grape) seed oil, Polysorbate 60, Glycerin, Sorbitan stearate, Cetearyl alcohol, Mangifera indica (Mango) seed oil, Isononyl isononanoate, Phenoxyethanol, Carbomer, Citrus aurantium dulcis (Sweet orange) peel oil, Citrus aurantium amara (Bitter orange) oil, Citrus limon (Lemon) peel oil, Lavandula hybrida (Lavandin) oil, Litsea cubeba oil, Canarium luzonicum (Elemi) gum nonvolatiles, Cananga odorata (Ylang ylang) flower oil, Pullulan, Benzoic acid, Sodium hydroxide, Dehydroacetic acid, Sodium hyaluronate, Hibiscus sabdariffa (Hibiscus) flower extract, Potassium sorbate, Sodium benzoate, Citric acid, Citral, Farnesol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool

Translation?

{ It’s a long-ass list so I’ve put some important ones in bold: }

Aqua - …

Grape seed oil - non-fragrant, moisturising, and a well-known anti-oxidant

Polysorbate 60 - a surfactant

Glycerin - an emollient

Sorbitan stearate - a thickening agent

Cetearyl alcohol - a fatty alcohol (moisturising)

Mango seed oil - an emollient. Anti-inflammatory and high in fatty acids.

Isononyl isononanoate - an emollient

Phenoxyethanol - a preservative

Carbomer - a thickening agent. Gives products a gel-like texture.

Sweet orange peel oil, bitter orange oil, lemon peel oil - I’m lumping these together as fragrant plant extracts. Orange peel oil detoxifies the skin and helps improve skin tone.  Bitter orange oil is refreshing and calms the skin by helping control oil production. Lemon peel oil acts as an astringent and antiseptic.

Lavandula hybrida (Lavandin) oil - another fragrant plant extract. Supposedly has anti-bacterial properties.

Litsea cubeba oil - a mild astringent. Has a lemony smell.

Canarium luzonicum (Elemi) gum nonvolatiles - fragrance ingredient

Ylang ylang flower oil - purifying. Another fragrant plant extract

Pullulan - an emulsifier

Benzoic acid - a preservative

Sodium hydroxide - a surfactant. Used to adjust PH levels

Dehydroacetic acid - a preservative

Sodium hyaluronate - AKA the star ingredient of Hydraluron. Boosts hydration and helps prevent moisture loss

Hibiscus flower extract - anti-oxidant, contains AHAs

Potassium sorbate & Sodium benzoate - preservatives

Citric acid - used to adjust PH levels

Citral, Farnesol, Geraniol, Limonene & Linalool - fragrance ingredients

I felt sufficiently familiar with most of the ingredients so I thought it would be a safe purchase. Now that I’ve had time to look them all up … I think there are far too many fragrance extracts for a product that doesn’t even smell nice! (More on that later) It has a high content of grape seed and mango seed oil which is nice but I’m not fond of lemon peel oil, which is very acidic and messes up the skin’s PH level. The cleanser does have other ingredients that adjust PH levels, but I have no idea whether it's PH balanced!

On the back of the tube, it’s written that the product is formulated with hibiscus extract “to deliver optimum cleansing benefits”. That didn’t make sense then but I think it refers to the exfoliation properties of AHAs which are found in the hibiscus plant. It’s also probably why this is labelled as a “brightening” cleanser. As for the hyaluronic acid, “renowned for its hydrating benefits” … that all goes down the sink.

As an aside, Superfacialist also do a Rose Cleanser, which was my initial choice but in the few minutes I had to read the label two things made me change my mind. The first was shea butter, which acne and spot sufferers are advised to avoid. I’ve used products with shea butter without any problems but I didn’t want to chance it with something I wasn’t able to try beforehand. The next was fragrance - not the same as fragrant plant extracts/essential oils. Fragrance is an irritant and I thought it might give the cleanser a floral scent. Which I equate to the smell of air freshener so no thank you.

As it turns out, I might have better off with the smell of pot pourri because the smell of this cleanser isn’t at all pleasant. It has a funny citrusy smell … kinda like cheaply scented lemon cleaning products :/ I do not megusta.

Texture

I was expecting a cream cleanser but it’s actually a gel. Not my fave formulation, but that’s just my preference. (If I was clever and knew what carbomer was, I would have known it's a gel.) When massaged over the skin, it foams up slightly and feels quite cool and refreshing.
I use it in the morning and evening as my second cleanser to remove the last traces of ick and grime and it does the job. For the sake of experimentation, I tried using it on its own to remove make-up and suncream and it’s a complete fail. I’m ok with that since I didn’t intend for it to replace my oil cleanser.

The Verdict

Overall, I’d put this in the “average” product category. I don’t really dislike it (it works) but neither am I particularly fond of it (smell, texture). I don’t like it as much as my previous cleanser from Decleor (Aroma White C Brightening Cleansing Foam) but that costs £23.50 and Superfacialist costs £7.99. I got it for even less with 1/3 off the price for £5.33 so it’s a bargain by comparison.

I’ve been using this for over two weeks, and as far as the effects of daily use go, I can vouch for it not causing my skin to break out. The “brightening” effect? No. Assuming brighter skin = exfoliated skin, AHAs work best when left on the skin not washed off in a minute, so I’m doubtful of the brightening claim. As much as I think proper cleansing is the most important step in your skincare routine, if I’m going to spend (more) money on anything, it’s going to be on products that stay on my face for longer than five minutes. All I want a cleanser to do is cleanse and cleanse effectively. Minimal/no harmful ingredients. Maximum benefit with ingredients like salicylic acid, anti-oxidants, etc. that complement my routine but I’m not paying a premium for them. I’m happy to spend £50 on an anti-oxidant treatment (as much as one can be when parting with money) but a £50 anti-oxidant cleanser? Forget it. So for a cleanser that cost little over five pounds, I have pretty low expectations!

Would I recommend it?

If you’re looking for a cheap cleanser, this might be for you. It beats a lot of cleansers in the same price range, many of which are formulated with mineral oil, sodium lauryl sulfate and alcohol. It has too much fragrance for my liking though. I don’t mind products with fragrant plant extracts (like this Carrot Butter Cleanser), but I don’t like products with fragrance added with no apparent benefit. Also if you’re thinking of using it as your first cleanser to remove make-up/suncream, don’t bother. As a second cleanse, it’s ok. The smell and gel-formulation have put me off repurchasing but it’ll do in the meantime!