Garnier CleanSensitive 2 in 1 Waterproof Make-Up Remover

I'm pleased to announce that Garnier CleanSensitive 2 in 1 Waterproof Make-Up Remover has officially got rid of the bad taste left by the recent power-cuts. Not powerful enough to wipe Labour out of this world though. *wink*

Back to wiper remover. It has been ages since I find a makeup remover that makes me excited because it works well. This is one of those rare occassions. I bought this some months ago when I ran out of sweet almond oil (fantastic for removing waterproof eye makeup, by the way). Over the years I've emerged to be a bit more of a brand snob, but every now and then I find good stuffs in reliable/old-fashioned brands. Like Garnier. I used to love one of their day moisturiser until they discontinued it. Pity that, it was a good stuff.

I digress. Okay, waterproof remover. I really love this, I wonder why I didn't try it earlier. Unlike some dodgy products marketed with the word "sensitive", this product is kind to my skin, for real. It doesn't sting (no alcohol) - a big fat tick from me. It doesn't cause my face to puff up in allergic reaction.

Secondly, it removes my waterproof makeup easily. No tugging nor pulling involved. Which is very important, as I'm using more waterproofs makeup nowadays. Living in humid (and slightly backward - I'm still hating the 23 hour power cut!) Cairns means non-waterproof mascaras and liners smudged as soon as I finished putting them on.

Back to topic. This Garnier product also removes my "foundation of the moment" easily and quickly. This ability, I really, really like. Reason: the said foundation is from Revlon, who some said are renown for the super staying power - I'll write about the foundation next time, if there's no more power cut, God (or Labour or ?) willing...

What's with the "2 in 1" tag? It's both a blue liquid makeup remover oil and clear cleansing water (toner in layman's term?) in one. More big fat tick from me.

The only thing that's bugging me, and it's a pretty big bug, too, is the size of the hole on the flip-top. Everytime I used it I always spilled the liquid everwhere. Somehow I can't soak the cotton wools without having liquid spill on my arm, leg, or the floor. Can't blame this klutz, it's not as if I'm pouring the content to cotton wools. The spill happens even when the cotton wool is position tightly covering the hole. This, I don't love.

Verdict: Affordable waterproof make-up remover that works. I like it very, very much, it has been an important first step in my double-cleansing regime. The status will be upgraded to LOVE if the huge hole problem is fixed. :)

Ingredients: aqua/water, cyclopentasiloxane, isohexadecane, isopropyl palmitate, panthenol, rosa centifolia/rosa centifolia flower water, dipotassium phosphate, poloxamer 184, polyaminopropyl biguanide, potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, CL 61565/Green6. (F.I.L. B26656/1).

Nivea Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes

I didn't want to carry any cleansing oil with me on my last trip, in case I spilled them in my suitcase. Instead I took Nivea Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes "for normal and combination skin". I used them as makeup removers, before doing another round of cleansing with GROWN cleanser.

I love the "blobby" texture of the wipes, it's like doing a gentle exfoliation while wiping the makeup off my face. It removes waterproof mascara easily and didn't sting my eyes. Scent wise, it has generic Nivea smell, if you get what I mean.

I've finished the pack and I intend to re-purchase it. Partly because it's handy for travelling, but most importantly because my skin didn't react to it, which is always a good sign whenever I'm using a new product.

Verdict: a good wipes, especially handy for travelling.

Ingredients: Aqua, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Isohexadecane, Isopropyl Palmitate, Methylpropanediol, Nelumbium Speciosum, Tocopheryl Acetate, Panthenol, Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose Distearate, Sodium Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Propylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Limonene, Linalool, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Citronellol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Parfum.

Nude Skincare

My review of Nude Skincare is based on my short-term experience in using 3ml size sent by the kind people at Nude. As usual, clicking on the product name will bring you straight to the relevant webpage, which also has the ingredients list. :)

Cleansing Facial Oil - This nicely scented facial oil works well to dissolve all my make-up, including waterproof mascara, so it gets a thumbs up from me. It's very easy to use: "Warm between hands and massage onto dry face. Apply warm water to form a light milk and rinse clean." See what I mean, it's easier to use than Bloom's Nuts About You. My combination/oily skin seems to like it though it's supposed to be "For normal to dry skins." My skin is acne-prone, so after cleansing with the oil I would do another cleansing with my normal facial cleanser, in case the oil residue stays on and cause acne.

Cleansing Facial Wash - This foaming facial wash is supposed to "effectively removes make-up and pollution leaving skin immaculately clean." I have to say it didn't remove all my make-up completely even when I double-cleansed. So I ended up using it as the 2nd part double-cleansing (after cleansing my face with the facial oil) and as a morning cleanser on it's own. The texture and scent reminded me so much of She Cleanser (my old HG cleanser). The difference: my skin felt a little tight after using Nude facial wash, that's why I'm not really in love with it.

Clarifying Water - The instruction says that it's "not suitable for very sensitive skins." I really wanted the to work for me as it contains rosa damascena flower water, so I tried it anyway. Unfortunately my skin reacted to it, perhaps my skin doesn't like the "BHA from willow bark". So this product is probably more suitable for people with less sensitive skin.

Deep Cleansing Mask - This mask comes in the form of mousse with tiny grains (organic burity?) in it. "Smooth onto cleansed, dry skin twice a week, after 10 minutes, remove by massaging gently with warm water." My skin felt smoother after application, possibly due to the glycerin and shea butter. I wasn't so keen on the scent though.

Hibiscus Monoi - The gorgeous scent of this Hibiscus scented coconut oil reminds me so much of my old-time favourite Elemis Monoi Melt. In my opinion Nude Hibiscus Monoi wins hands down as the oil is lighter and more easily absorbed by my skin. It worked well as a body moisturiser, keeping my skin nice and smooth. I enjoyed the lingering scent of the oil, as if I was wearing a perfumed body lotion. The oil has the tendency to solidify in cooler weather, just like normal coconut oil. Which isn't a problem as it turns into liquid again on direct contact with the skin.

Verdict: Hibiscus Monoi and Cleansing Facial Oil are on my must-have list now.

Unfortunately the moisturiser dried up in it's packaging, so I can't tell you much about it apart from the lovely scent I could smell when I cut the packaging open. :)

Sanctum Organic Australia

My friend Beauty Bee has kindly agreed to be my guest reviewer. Today she's reviewing 6 products from Sanctum Australia.

As you know I always include a product's ingredients list whenever I could. Sanctum webpage has already listed the ingredients on their webpage, so please check it out yourself.

Without further ado, please welcome Beauty Bee with a big round of applause! :)

"My skin is a reasonable normal skin type with a few sun spots and the start of some small wrinkles around the eye area. I am prone to have small blackheads on my nose and what I would consider medium size pores on my nose.

Foaming Facial Cleanser – Comes in a pump bottle with a simplistic design. I use one pump application to clean my face. It has a very light texture and has a delicate smell of lemons that isn’t too over powering. I rub my palms together to get an even distribution over my face when I gentle massage it into the skin. It was rinsed freely from the skin leaving a clean feel without the oily residue or tightness that some cleansers leave on my skin. When I have worn makeup I tend to double cleanse(out of habit more than anything) .

After using this product for two weeks my skin's texture hasn’t changed a lot but the blackheads on my nose are visibly less and the pores on my nose appear smaller.

Toner and Refresh Mist – Is packaged in a spray bottle. After cleansing I gave my skin a light spray to help freshen it up and prepare it for my serum.

Hy C Recovery Serum - Is in a small pump bottle. I use two small pumps of product and put it on the back of my hand. It is a light amber coloured gel that tends to melt with my body temperature reasonably quickly. I gentle patted it onto my skin making sure I took extra care around my eye and lip area.

It seemed to refine the texture of my skin and did give it a more luminescent appearance. This product had a natural fragrance that I could relate to something in my childhood. After reading the ingredient list I discovered it was probably the honeysuckle, which smelt like mum’s golden syrup dumplings. (Music is drooling here... hehehe...)

Moisture Replenish – This lightweight cream is packaged in a tube with a flip lid. I only need to use a small amount of this product. lt doesn’t have that really organic/earthy fragrance that some organic ranges tend to have. Sanctum Moisture replenish has a light breezy aroma that almost smells a bit like weak lemon tea infusing on the kitchen bench. It is great under foundation and I have even used it under mineral foundation powder as it sinks into the skin quickly leaving it smooth and hydrated.

I applied a small amount onto my finger tips and pressed it onto my skin. For a better result I applied as per the instructions Sanctum Hy C Recovery Serum before applying Moisture Replenish.

Firming Eye Balm - This balm comes in a small 15 ml tube, but that is the only thing that is small. After solely using this firming eye balm I have noticed a reduction in the crows feet around my eyes. It isn’t heavy or gluggy as some eye creams and balms can be at times. I have the start of a ‘crepey’ area by my nose and this has really helped improved the appearance of my skin. I have applied it under my makeup and it doesn’t leave a greasy or creased looking finish to my face. You apply a small droplet of balm around your orbital bone and gentle pat it into the skin with your ring finger. It has a light natural fragrance that isn’t overpowering.

Night Conditioning Cream – This night cream is presented in a tub with a screw top lid. I am not a fan of product in tubs especially skincare for the face as they can become contaminated. I have never been fully convinced that night creams are really necessary, however this product is changing my preception of this. It is thicker in consistancey and when gentle massaged over the face and neck (don’t forget the neck), it leaves my skin feeling nourished and revived.

This product, like all the Sanctum products that I have used, has a light fragrance that is very pleasing. I also followed the recommendation on the packaging and applied Sanctum Hy C Recovery Serum before applying the Night Conditioning Cream.

Overview
I really love the overall performance of this product line. It has left my skin looking more youthful. Considering I have only been using it for a couple of weeks I believe there is still more room for improvement. I love the textures of Sanctum's products. If anybody is looking for a reasonably priced, good quality skincare line I would highly recommend this one.

Sanctum also has the added bonus that it is a Certified Organic product line which ensures that you get genuine Organic ingredients produced in superior environment.

My only criticism of Sanctum is that I would like to see them discontinue the use of boxes to package there products in. While they are very pretty they aren’t necessary and would help with reducing recycling."

Comments from Music: I haven't used any Sanctum products so I can't agree or disagree with Beauty Bee's opinions. I tried contacting Sanctum twice to ask whether I could get some samples to try myself. To my disappointment I didn't get any reply on both occasions, not even a "no" answer nor did I get any acknowledgement to my emails. Not a great customer service in my opinion. I wonder whether they "ignored" me because they don't have UK stockist? Who knows, I guess I have to wait until my next travel to OZ before I could try them out! :)

GROWN Geranium Leaf, Bergamot & Rose-bud Facial Cleanser

Recently I've been missing Australia in a big way.

Amongst many things, I miss:

- my friends.

- breathing fresh air tinged with Eucalyptus scents in Perth.

- Vegemite: it's better than Marmite, without a doubt! :)

- walking around Swan River and King's Park.

- firework displays on Swan River.

- the carefree lifestyle.

- the fabulous range of natural products available for sale there.

The other day hubby found a bottle of GROWN Geranium Leaf, Bergamot and Rose-bud Facial Cleanser in one of our many boxes in the storage place. I was so excited, it was like finding a long lost treasure! (Well, almost...)

Not only it's gentle to my AC skin (After Chickenpox, in case you forget. Hehe...), the beautiful scent helps me to relax and forget about my trouble for a moment. The instruction on the bottle says to "gently rubs between hands, massage onto face". Most of the time I apply the cleanser neat onto my face, with a tiny bit of water to make massaging easier. Adding more water creates more foams. I always do double cleansing to make sure that all traces of my mineral powder all gone from my face.

Verdict: it's gentle, it smells gorgeous, it works. What more do I want? (Magically being flown back to OZ... LOL... )

Ingredients: Aqua (Purified Water), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Extract, Salix Alba (White Willow) Bark Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Cocamidopropyl Betain (Vegetable), Decyl Glucoside (Vegetable), PEG-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate (Vegetable), Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate (Vegetable), Phenoxyethanol Panthenol (Pro Vitamin B5), Rosa Damascena (Rose Absolute) Flower Oil, Pelargonium Graveolens (Rose Geranium) Oil, Citrus Nobilis (Mandarin Orange) Oil, Citrus Sinensis (Sweet Orange) Peel Oil, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Oil, Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomile) Oil, Polysorbate 20 (Vegetable), Citral (Vegetable), Geraniol (Vegetable), Citronellol (Vegetable), Linalool (Vegetable), Limonene (Vegetable), Caramel (Vegetable).

Boots Expert Sensitive Gentle Cleansing Wash

Talking about being sensitive earlier, I'm still on my quest in finding the perfect cleanser for my delicate AC (After Chickenpox) skin, hoping that it might help the process of restoring my skin to it's BC glory (or even better, if it's possible...)

The words "mineral water", "aloe vera", and "fragrance-free, lanolin-free" (and the price) attracted me to acquire Boots Expert Sensitive Gentle Cleansing Wash. According to the website this cleanser is replacing what was known as Boots Skin Kindly Foam Wash.

I like the new pump packaging. It reminds me of the Simple cleanser's pump packaging I had some years ago. It works in similar way: one pump delivers some cleansing froth into the palm of my hand. Apply cleanser on wet face, rub as usual, voila: cleaner face without much fuss.

With any kind of body and face cleansers I tend to think that squeaky-clean feel on my skin = the cleanser is too drying for my skin. It's not the case here. This one helps to control the oiliness on my face without drying the skin. Amazingly it also removes my face powder easily.

Verdict: no-frills affordable basic cleanser that doesn't irritate my AC skin. Happy using it for the moment.

I'll let you know if I still stick to my opinion after using it longer.

Ingredients: Aqua, Cocamidopropyl betaine, Sodium chloride, Sodium cocoamphoacetate, Glycerin, Aqua mineralis, PEG-120 methyl glucose dioleate, Sodium citrate, Phenoxyethanol, Aloe barbadensis, Propylene glycol, Methylparaben, Sodium benzoate, Citric acid, Tetrasodium EDTA

Elemis Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Facial Wash

My love affair with Elemis started some years ago when I received a gift pack full of wonderful products.

When we first moved to OZ I had a withdrawal symptom. When the brand finally made it to Perth Myer, I "stalked" the counter to the extent that all the sales assistants knew me quite well by the time I left Perth. Enough said. :)

In the past I've found "resurfacing products" too harsh for my skin. Thus I was quite reluctant to try Elemis Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Facial Wash. When I finally did, I was surprised by how mild it was. The SA said that it won't remove makeup, so I tried using it in the mornings.

This facial wash lathers well, a little bit goes a long way. The skin around my mouth gets irritated whenever I used too much of it. The resurfacing effect is barely noticeable, I like the texture of the cleanser on my skin.

So far I've gone through 2 travel size (50ml). As you know I've just recovered from chicken pox, my skin is still a bit tender. Unfortunately this product is too strong for my skin at the moment. So I'm putting it aside until my skin gets better.

Verdict: a good morning cleanser, to be used sparingly.

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Blycerin, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Acrylates Copolymer, Polysorbate 20, Glycol Distearate, Sodium Lactate, Coco-Glucoside, Xanthan Gum, Orbignya Oleifera Seed Oil, Galactoarabinan, Papain, Moringa Pterygosperma Seed Extract, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Protease, Subtilisin, Poria Cocos Root Extract, Tromethamine, Glyceryl Oleate, Dicaprylyl Ether, Phenoxyethanol, Lauryl Alcohol, Benzyl Alcohol, Fragrance (Parfum), Glyceryl Stearate, Methylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Propylene Glycol, Behenyl Alcohol, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Propylparaben, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Stearyl Alcohol

Bloom Nuts About You

I try to eat and use more "natural" products whenever possible, within reason. Now that I'm recovering from chicken pox I'm trying to use more gentle products so as not to irritate my tender skin.

I've heard good things about Bloom, one of Australian brands I encountered while living in OZ. Some people thought their products are all "natural". I have to say that I didn't find this to be the case when I spent some time looking at the ingredients lists. For example, Bloom's sunscreen contains "chemicals" that aren't "natural".

From the ingredients list I could say that Bloom Nuts About You is one of their more "natural" products. I'm not sure why on the bottle it's called "Sweet Almond Cleansing Oil" when the first ingredient is actually Safflower Seed Oil. There are more expensive cleansers from other brands that contain Safflower Oil (supposed to be a very good cleansing oil), so I was quite happy to use this more affordable option.

The subtext said: "Farewell make-up and cleanse skin with one smooth swipe of this natural nutty oil." I find that it removes eye makeup and sunscreen easily enough. But it doesn't work well enough to remove mineral powder and waterproof mascaras, I need to work extra hard to remove them.

I love the gorgeous scent: orange, tangerine, and lavender oil lend a luxury feel to this oil cleanser.

The bottle I have looks slightly different than the picture here. Mine has white pump on top of the silver bit, twisting the pump to the left and right opens and closes the bottle: very convenient. Though I still put mine inside ziplock bag when I'm travelling, in case it leaks - which happened once. And if anyone is curious, yes, I'm still living out of a suitcase at the moment...

Anyway, here's the directions on the bottle: "Pour a small amount of oil into the palm of your hand and apply all over your face including the eye area. Using a damp cloth or cotton pad, wipe away make-up. Rinse with warm water and pat dry for an amazing finish."

I find that using too much of this oil cleanser could cause break outs on my face, so use sparingly if you have combination-acne prone skin like me.

Verdict: a good oil cleanser with yummy scent, to be used sparingly if your skin type is similar to mine.

For the benefit of my OZ readers, this cleanser is "Made in Australia from local and imported products".

Ingredients: Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil (Prunus Dulcis), Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil (Citrus Dulcis), Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Citrus Tangerina (Tangerine) Peel Oil, Calendula Officinalis Flower.