I’ve been looking for a new daily facial cleanser, ideally cruelty free and natural, and as luck would have it I managed to get samples of 3 different cleansers to try. Great news, as this means I can see which one (if any) I like best before buying a full-sized version.
Balance Me: Daily Essentials Pure Skin Face Wash
This sample came from Glamour magazine, and although technically it is only 99% natural I’ve been reading great things about Balance Me products, so it was definitely one I wanted to try.
The tube says it is a gentle, non-drying cleanser and it contains anti-oxidants and rice bran oils to brighten and polish the skin.
This wash was exactly as I expect a cleanser to be – a thick runny gel consistency that you use by lathering up with water and massaging onto the face. It had a light and pretty scent and was easy and nice to use. It felt that cleansed really well using just pea sized amounts and was not drying.
Also the 50ml sample tube has lasted me several weeks, so I think a full sized one (125ml for £16) would be worth the money.
This was a small sample pot provided by the Lush store when I was buying a face mask, which was great of them as it means I’m not spending my own money on an untested product.
Aqua Marina is a mineral-rich cleanser with softening properties and with clay powders to deep clean. And for added weirdness it is packed with sea weed.
It comes as a thick fudgy pink paste and for each application you mix a pea sized amount with a little water until it you get a milky consistency, before massaging onto the skin. It felt very gentle and smooth to use on my sensitive skin, although to be honest the seaweed was just confusing and annoying (it kind of disintegrates when you use it, but I’m not overly keen on the idea of having big pieces of seaweed in my way). I think this cleanser would be good for oilier skin as I did find it to be slightly drying, probably due to the deep cleansing properties. This wasn’t really an issue for my skin, but maybe not the best for dry skin.
Again I think it would last ages as you only need to use a pea sized amount, so not bad value at £6.35 for 100g.
This was my second sample pot provided by the Lush store.
Angels on Bare Skin comes as a thick, dry, crumbly paste, which again you mix with water to become cleansing milk. The difference between this one and the others I tested is that this one is exfoliating. It contains ground almonds which turn to almond milk for toning and brightening, kaolin to cleanse and also essential oils. The full-sized pot would be £6.35 for 100g.
I found this cleanser left my skin feeling quite moisturised, and I think its exfoliating properties gave the most noticeable results – and even with these exfoliating properties I found it was nice and gentle on my sensitive skin. I also quite liked the fairly strong lavender scent which comes from the lavender oil and dried lavender flowers. I did find it quite messy to use because you’re turning something dry and crumbly into something milky with exfoliating bits in, but the fact that it comes dried means it can be 100% natural (no preservatives needed), so I can make my peace with that.
So which am I going to buy?
I think all 3 cleansers would last me a decent amount of time and they were also all gentle on my skin. The easiest to use was the Balance Me face wash, plus it had nice results. However it’s quite a bit more expensive at £16. So I think the Angels on Bare Skin is actually my preferred choice because I love the fact that it is 100% natural, plus it is exfoliating, moisturising and cleansing all in one product. I liked the results, and it will only be £6.35 for a pot that will last me ages!
So the winner is Angels on Bare Skin from Lush.
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