Wednesday 22 April 2009

Review: Soap And Glory "Clean Mary" Cleansing Milk

Yep, it's review time again! I don't have access to any of my photos still so other photographical things will be coming once I can get stuff off my phone. That includes an up-to-date Makeup And Skincare Collection, and I may do a Shoe Collection post after I move (all but 6 pairs are packed up in a box at the new house right now), since shoes are a total obsession for me, too.

In the meantime, I thought I'd review a new product I picked up last week =]

I have to be honest and say that Sarah is how I discovered the Soap And Glory brand. She did a couple of videos about Soap and Glory products, and I was intrigued. I needed an eye moisturizer anyway, so I hit boots and checked them out. Of course, Boots also had a 3 for 2 sale so I stocked up =]



Product Name: Soap And Glory "Clean Mary" Cleansing Milk
What is it? The answer is in the name: it's a creamy facial cleansing "milk" with a body-lotion-like texture.
What the manufacturers say: "Clean Mary includes a natural, seaweed derived non-acidexfoliating complex – PORESHRINK-RS that helps reduce dead skin cell build-up (and therefore helps prevent blackheads!) "
Skin Type: The bottle says suitable for all skin types

In A Nutshell: Essentially this is just a facial cleanser, but in reality it's more than that. First of all, because it's a milk, it goes on the skin like a lotion - pump it into your hands and apply to your face, rubbing in circles. Because it's also got "pore shrinking" complexes in it, you can concentrate your efforts on problem areas where you may have enlarged pores. The active ingredients in it also get rid of excess sebum - which is the yicky white stuff that clogs up the pores. Sebum oxidizes and turns black when it comes into contact with oxygen: this is what we call "blackheads".

What I like about this is that you don't necessarily have to use it on wet skin. When I'm feeling lazy I just pump it into my hands, rub all over my face, and then rinse off and pat dry. Don't ask me why splashing my face first is such a hard deal, I have no answer other than that I am lazy sometimes.

It's a cleanser but NOT a makeup remover, so please remember to remove your makeup before you clean your face with this. Its job is to clean your skin and pores, not to take a truckload of gunk off your face.

What it actually did: Personally, I think this cleanser does do what it says on the bottle. I know that the general consensus is that "anything that claims to refine or reduce pore size is lying" and I'm very careful not to buy into the hype surrounding skincare products. I'm pretty cynical and jaded when it comes to that kind of thing. But the truth is, I have noticed that my pores don't look as big and obvious, which may be in part to the fact that the sebum-reducing ingredients in this seem to work. I usually have dark speckled pores all over my nose, that aren't quite proper blackheads but still darkened sebum deposits. And this cleanser does seem to have made them less noticeable on the whole. It also didn't dry my skin out, which is always a plus with anything, since I have very dry skin to begin with.

Pros:
>> Smells wonderful
>> Gives me a slightly cooling, tingling sensation while it's on my skin. I like this because it seems to signify to me that it's doing something other than just rolling around on my face.
>> Didn't dry my skin out, which is something a lot of cleansers tend to do
>> Super handy pump bottle - I love that you can lock the bottle. Some cleansers don't let you re-lock the pump after you've released it, and that is a huge pain in the ass to me. I might re-use the bottle for a travel bottle for my shampoo or something when I've used it up.
>> No hefty price tag!

Cons:
>> Because it doesn't "lather up" like most cleansers do, at first it can seem like it's not doing much more than any lotion would do to clean your face. But the tingly feeling tells you that it is!
>> Due to the nice smell, some people who are sensitive to fragrance may have allergies

Recommended? Yes
Product: 5/5
Packaging: 5/5
Quality: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

3 comments:

  1. Coolness, where can you get this, boots/superdrug? Im looking for another cleanser other than my Clean&Clear stuff. And fyi i totally get what you mean about the putting water on ur face. Especially in this country sometimes I dont want to cuz the taps are separate for hot and cold, and my hot is broke and my cold gets really cold, haha, so normally when i wash my face I have to lean into the shower, lol!

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  2. I got mine from Boots, and it was 3-for-2 (it might still be!) =]

    Haha, what I do when I wash my face now is run both taps, cup my hands and fill them up with cold water but then move them under the hot and add the hot water until it's a decent temperature. It's such a pain in the ass and I usually freeze/burn my fingers in the process, but it's the only way I can bear to wash my face lol.

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  3. Oh, they apparently sell it at Harvey Nicholls too, but we don't have one here. There might be one down near you though, although Boots is probably more convenient.

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