Review: NSpa Melting Cleansing Gel

As you may have noticed, I am very into my skincare of late, and have been trying out various products in the hope they will be my skin's saviour and do miraculous things for me. 

Whilst I do not claim to be a Caroline Hirons (aka skincare boffin) by any means, I feel it is my blogger duty to report back my findings (...goodness i'm coming across all 007 on you) as I go along!

This time it is the turn of the Melting Cleansing Gel by NSpa, a brand for which I have already reviewed their Hot Cloth Polish, and as such I won't ramble on too much about them, other than to say this particular range is an affordable line of skincare produced by Nirvana Spa for Asda.

Like the other products in the range, this is very reasonably priced at £6.00 for a 125ml super-squeezy tube of product - far more practical than some of the packaging types on the market!

When it comes to skincare, it's can be quite surprising how 'influential' textures are (for example super-thick creams sometimes make me think that they are instantly going to be too heavy for me, and likewise watery consistences can be as equally off putting), and as a gel consistency, whilst feeling undoubtedly luxurious(main ingredients include essential oil of Neroli, grapeseed oil, vitamin E and Ginsing), the oiler/combination skinned of you out there might find this a bit much (and so might want to opt for something more astringent), despite being marketed as suitable for all skin types (including sensitive).

I like the fact that being gel-based in consistency makes the oils contained in this cleanser more 'practical' for use (i.e. you can easily massage them into your face without them running everywhere!), and as a little goes a long way, you can afford to use this quite sparingly (I used a ten-pence piece sized amount).

I also quite like the scent, which I would struggle to say exactly what it is (I'm rubbish at describing smells!), but if I had to pick one i'd probably say orange-scented baby shampoo (yes I do know there's no such thing - smell it  yourself and you'll see!) very mild and subtle, yet with a hint of citrus.

  

The unique properties of this cleanser mean that when the gel is combined with warm water (after massaging onto a dry face) it emulsifies and turns into a cleansing milk to remove make-up and other impurities.

I have tried to use this on it's own (using a ten-pence sized blob of cleanser as shown above) to remove my standard everyday facial makeup (foundation, concealer, blusher), but despite massaging my face for several minutes, the gel does struggle to break down heavier makeup such as foundation, and therefore using it alongside a face/muslin cloth (or even a facial cleansing brush, for those of you with Clarisonics out there) is recommended, especially if you struggle to get away with wearing more than just a spot  of concealer here and there!

Another alternative is also to use it as a pre-cleanse product, or a post-makeup removal cleansing product (i.e. after Bioderma, for example). 

A big plus however is that it does not dry out my skin despite containing alcohol (something which is a big factor for me in choosing skincare) or leave a residue (when used with a facial cloth), nor has it irritated it thus far (unlike the Hot Cloth Polish from this range which I found could sting my skin occasionally). 

A quick breakdown of the ingredients (none of which are parabens, hooray):

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride: oily liquid made from coconut oil.

Glycerin: present in all natural fats (whether animal or vegetable).

Vitis Vinifera Seed Oil: Grapeseed oil.

Aqua: Water

Sucrose Laurate: fatty acid esterified form of sucrose and lauric acid widely used as an emulsifier in the cosmetics industry.

Sucrose Palmitate: skin conditioning agent used as an emollient and emulsifying agent.

Parfum: fragrance.

Citrus Aurantium Flower Oil: Neroli oil

Panax Ginseng Root Extract: Ginseng extract used to rejuvenate and invigorate.

Prunus Armeniaca Kernal Oil: apricot oil.

Persea Gratissima Oil: avocado oil.

Tocopheryl Acetate: vitamin E acetate.

Alcohol

Sucrose Myristate: natural origin food grade emulsifier used to create gel that washes off easily.

Isopropyl Myristate: otherwise known as liquid paraffin. Synthetic oil.

Phenoxyethanol: preservative - new alternative to parabens.

Ethylhexylglycerin: weak preservative - another alternative to parabens.

Linalool: naturally occuring alcohol chemical found in many essential oils including lavendar, rose and orange.

Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone: fragrance ingredient.

Limonene: naturally occuring hydrocarbon which smells strongly like oranges. 

CL 16035: colouring                    

CL 19140: colouring.

Did you know that on a product label, the ingredients are listed in order of predominance, with the ingredients used in the greatest amounts listed first, followed in descending order by other ingredients?

That means that although this cleaning gel does contain some synthetic ingredients, the great majority of ingredients are natural goodies, and in the greatest amounts.

Overall this cleanser gets a thumbs up from me. 

Just like the Hot Cloth Polish is a good (obvious) dupe for the Liz Earl product, this would be a good alternative for the much more expensive Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel, and suggest you pop one in your basket next time you're in Asda!

Have you tried anything from NSpa?