Something that I will no doubt continue to bang on about is
my new-found-love for beauty blogs. I literally cannot get enough of them! Unfortunately
this addiction has led to a few rather expensive purchases as the beauty
blogging world is full of reviews about the next-best-thing in the beauty
industry. I have extremely sensitive and dry skin (a blog post on this will
probably pop up soon!) and so I am always on the look-out for products that
will make my life that little bit easier. Like many bloggers, I imagine, my
first major purchase, and the topic of this blog post, was what is probably the
most well-known beauty product in the blogging world – Liz Earle’s Cleanse
& Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. I had read so many reviews about the product
(all singing its praises!), but I was disappointed that very few of them were
any help to me, in that none of the reviews I read were carried out by people
who had very dry/sensitive sensitive skin. As with all high-end beauty
products, I prefer to know roughly how a product will react on my skin before I
shell out a large portion of my student loan for it, which is why I am writing
this review, even though many people may not be interested in it, and despite
the fact that I am by no-means a beauty expert. Then again, being a ‘normal’
person, who has never received anything from PR companies to review, may just work in my
favour and add credibility to my review.
When I went in search
of this product, I had originally only intended to buy just this, but I fell into the all-too-familiar trap of buying a
bundle of goods on offer. This bundle included the cleanser, as well as the
Instant Boost Skin Tonic and the Skin Repair moisturiser (for dry/sensitive
skin). All I can say is that I am SO pleased that I did fall into the trap. I
have the most horrifically sensitive skin (E45 cream made my skin sting!) and
it also has the tendency to dry up, especially during the winter months. This
product has made my skin look and feel a whole
lot better and I literally couldn’t live without it. It doesn’t come without a
hefty price tag unfortunately (the whole set cost me £41, not including
p&p), but I did get a little freebie with it, in the form of the Superskin
Concentrate (which would’ve set me back approximately £12/13) and they kindle
popped in an extra Muslin cloth for me. Don’t even get me started on the
packaging; I know it sounds silly but when something is nicely packaged,
instead of coming in a black plastic kinda bag (looking at you, online clothing
stores!) then it makes me feel a bit special, so as soon as I opened the box, I
knew I was on to a winner.
Let’s start with the Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth
Cleanser. For a beauty novice like me, cleansing has always been done using
some form of lotion and a bit of cotton wool, but I’m happy to say that this
will never again be the case for me! I found this new idea of cleansing a bit
daunting at first but it’s really very simple; you start by filling a basin
with hand-warm water and then begin applying the creamy cleansing lotion onto
your dry face. Next, soak the muslin cloth in the water, rinse the water out
thoroughly and begin removing the cleanser from your face with the cloth. I don’t
know if you’re meant to apply a little pressure when doing this, as it is
effectively exfoliating your face, but I tend to do it very lightly due to the
sensitive nature of my skin. Although my skin does go a little red as I first
start using the cloth, the redness disappears within a matter of seconds –
something which was unheard of when I used to use normal face washes. Pat your
face dry with a towel and you’re ready for the next step...
...The Instant Boost Skin Tonic (which I assume is just a posh
name for ‘toner’), just needs to be applied to a cotton wool bud or pad and
then gently swept over the face. I was a little worried that this would cause
some discomfort with my skin at first, due to the slight exfoliation that the
cleanser had provided, but I needn’t have worried as it only made my skin feel
extremely clean and fresh. It also helps that I love the smell of it as well!
Now, the Skin Repair Moisturiser (Dry/Sensitive skin) is the product which I was most
concerned about. My skin does not react well to 99% of moisturisers on the
market, and once I even tried E45 as a bit of last resort, and it made my skin
sting and I looked like a blotchy red thing for a good hour – not a good look, despite the fact that E45
is meant to be one of the most gentle moisturisers on the market! I am by no
means saying that E45 is not a good moisturiser – everyone’s skin will react
differently – but it just left me in a lot of discomfort. The moisturiser smells
delicious too but I was worried that something even the slightest bit fragranced
would bring out the worst in my skin. Thankfully, it didn’t! I cannot describe
how much of a relief it was to finally find a moisturiser that made my skin
feel gorgeous but didn’t cause discomfort or redness; it really was a miracle
moisturiser!
I now use these products every day without fail, and
sometimes twice a day if I can be bothered (although Liz & her team
recommend following this routine in the morning AND evening). I do use the
Superskin Concentrate at night time every now and then, but I don’t care for it
too much. It’s quite heavily fragranced and, although that doesn’t bother my
skin (another miracle!), I don’t particularly like my face to smell too much,
especially not at night. I’ve never quite been able to describe the smell, but the
first time I used it I did ask my boyfriend what my face smelt like, and he
said “You smell like one of those healthy tea bags!” which I’m not sure is a
good thing or not.
But basically, what I wanted to say is that these three
products have practically saved my skin’s life. I’ve always struggled with
finding the right skin care for my face, usually carrying on with a product
even if it made my face turn bright red, but now I’ve found such a great
product and I’ll definitely be repurchasing once this collection has run dry. Not
that that will be any time soon – the bottles are rather large, and despite
getting the products just after Christmas, I’ve barely made a mark in the
moisturiser! Hurrah! To put it simply, these are three of the best products I’ve
ever used, and believe me, I’ve used
a lot. Thanks Liz Earle!
If you're interested in giving these products a go yourself, you can find them all on the Liz Earle website here.
[Images taken from the Liz Earle website]
