Pai Camellia & Rose Gentle Hydrating Cleanser

I have been using Pai Camellia & Rose Gentle Hydrating Cleanser for some little while, and they had a recent offer to purchase the product in its new tube and with and new cloth for £10 off what the usual price. Needless to say I bought it.

Pai have thought carefully about this packaging, I don't personally mind pumps but there is always that little bit of awkwardness at the end when one hacks into the outer plastic, usually with an incompetent implement and injures oneself, all in the spirit of getting the last dregs out. No such difficulties here, I have showed how squeezy this tube is below.

I find that creamy cleansers are becoming a more reached for cleanser and makeup remover than my more usual balms which can feel a bit full on, especially at this time of year when the UK spring is accompanied by stiff breezes which leave my skin needing something cooling and calming and this cream cleanser from Pai is one of my favourites. 

What I like particularly about this cleanser is that it is so gentle and very hydrating, although I have an oily skin, I find that whenever I remove my makeup or generally cleanse my skin, my skin feels parched and in need of something - with this cleanser, my skin can wait until I have at least got the top off my serum/moisturiser.

The new cloth is interesting - I have always found the original Pai muslin somewhat rough in texture and have tended to use an Eve Lom muslin or a bog standard flannel (so saying the flannel which comes with the Votary Cleansing Oil is far from bog standard and is delightfully pile dense).

This cloth has a muslin on one side and a flannel on the other, both have a soft, loose weave which is gentler on my face. And this does remove all my makeup, with 2 passes but then that is normal for me.

Just a word on Pai's beautiful packaging below.

£38 for 200mls with the cloth. 

MV Organic Skincare Gentle Cream Cleanser

Another day, another am cleanser. This is the Gentle Cream Cleanser from MV Organic Skincare, an Australian brand which I stumbled upon after reading this post by Sali Hughes, and I love a good organic skincare range, and the idea of rich and unctuous appealed, my skin maybe oiler but it is thin and ageing and reactive and sometimes all it wants is uncomplicated comfort.

This 70ml cleanser came as part of a travel set which had an offer on at the time on Cult Beauty, and in the set were the 70mls cleanser, 70mls of the Rose Hydrating Mist and 70mls of the Rose Soothing Protective Moisturiser.

The texture is delightfully thick, obviously not so thick that it cannot be pumped out but it comes out in a satifying dollop.

And it is beautifully soothing and comforting. The scent has some rose but it is more gently citrus to me, I have used it to remove makeup and it does that with a second pass, but it is more an am cleanser for me. I like to apply dry hands dry face, massage in to allow to sink in which is does, and then to re-activate with the addition of some water, massage again and then remove with a cloth of some sort. 

I have gone on to purchase the 120mls size.

Now in the kit was a little tool to enable one to get the last dregs of product out when the pump no longer works, and this is a godsend to all products with pumps. I hate products with pumps because invariably they cease to work with a good couple of days worth of product left - this little tool is perfect, and effective.

Ingredients - Water, Camellia (Camellia Oleifera) Oil, Ceteary Glucoside, Cetearyl Alcohol, Vegetable Glycerin, Olive (Olea Europaea) Fruit Oil, Coconut (Cocos Nucifera) Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, Vitamin E non GM (Tocopherol), Honeysuckle (Lonicera Caprifolium) Flower Extract, Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica) Flower Extract, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate, with essential oils of mandarin, chamomile and rose geranium.

£34.50 for 70mls or £54 for 120mls

Aurelia Miracle Cleanser

This may well be my most favourite cream cleanser ever, a bold statement which could change, but seeing as I have just finished my fourth pot and am contemplating ridding my self of all my stacked up cream cleansers in favour of purchasing this again, I think I am safe.

This is a thickish gel cream texture, it holds it tear drop shape when blobbed out, and has a beautiful gleam to it, to my mind it is more like a moisturiser in texture. 

I apply a fingerful dry skin, dry hands and I find that it can be massaged in for a good couple of minutes before it sinks in a little but it can be reactivated with the addition of water to emulsify. I use it as an am cleanser, a makeup remover, an additional cleanser after removing makeup, as a sort of mask in that I will apply before getting in the shower and leave whilst I carry on with my ablutions and then add a bit more water for an additional massage before removing.

It does have a noticeable scent of eucalyptus, rosemary and bergamot but I find it a refreshing light scent and I can use it up and around the eyes with no ill effects.

Ingredients; AQUA/WATER, DICAPRYLY CARBONATE, CETEARYL ALCOHOL, GLYCERIN, COCOGLYCERIDES, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA) BUTTER, GLYCERYL STEARATE, CETEARYL GLUCOSIDE, RHUS VERNICIFLUA PEEL WAX, THEOBROMA CACOA (COCOA) SEED BUTTER, KIGELIA AFRICANA FRUIT EXTRACT, HIBISCUS SABDARIFFA FLOWER EXTRACT, ADANSONIA DIGITATA (BAOBAB) FRUIT EXTRACT, LACTOSE, LACTIS PROTEINUM/MILK PROTEIN, BIFIDA FERMENT LYSATE, SCHINZIOPHYTON RAUTANENII KERNEL OIL, PANTHENOL, SODIUM ASCORBYL PHOSPHATE, ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS (ROSEMARY) LEAF OIL, CITRUS AURANTIUM BERGAMIA, ANTHEMIS NOBILIS FLOWER OIL, EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS LEAF OIL, XANTHAN GUM, SODIUM STEAROYL GLUTAMATE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, BENZYL ALCOHOL, DEHYDROACETIC ACID, CITRIC ACID, LIMONENE*, LINALOOL* (*NATURALLY OCCURRING IN ESSENTIAL OIL) FREE FROM: SYNTHETIC FRAGRANCES, PARABENS, MINERAL OIL, SILICONES, SULPHATES, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, PHTHALATES, GMOS, PEGS, TEA AND DEA

£34 for 120mls, more information from Aurelia Skincare website