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?

No7 Age Defense Cleansing Balm Review

There are a couple of things in life I am obsessed with when it comes to skincare/make-up:

anti-aging and the relentless quest for glowing, flawless skin.

Anything with the words "glowing", "bright", "illuminating", etc, etc, on the packaging and i'm likely to snaffle it up before you can say complexion perfection!

So therefore whilst in Boots a little while back, I was searching for a new cleanser, and, armed with a £5-off voucher, I decided to plump for the No7 Age Defense Cleansing Balm:

If you're like me, you might tend to associate the No7 range (as opposed to the other "younger" Boots ranges, such as 17, Botanics etc), as a bit "mumsy" and targeted towards the, ahem, older lady, but they do have some genuinely fab products/ranges, most recently the No7 collaboration with lipstick queen (if you pardon the pun) Poppy King.

Their products, as with all the Boots-own ranges, are not tested on animals (they claim no animal testing of any kind is undertaken or commissioned by the Boots company or subsidiuary businesses), although Animal Aid have found that the company doe not have a FCOD (Fixed Cut Off Date - i.e. a date that they promise/guarantee to be totally cruelty-free) and could possibly be using ingredients which have been tested on animals by others.

Thumbs down in that aspect!

I had previously tried the No7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser (there have been quite a few comparisons to the Liz Earle cleanse and polish) and quite liked it, but decided to give this one a go instead - all in the name of research of course!

 Priced at an RRP of £8.75 for a rather generous 200ml, I got mine for a mere £3.75 using my £5-off voucher.

Blurb on the box:

Specially formulated to revive dull, lifeless skin, this rich, indulgent cleanser removes all trace of make-up. With a unique antioxident complex to support your anti-aging skincare regime, regular use will improve skin texture, and reveal radiant, more healthy looking skin.

Contains natural AHAs to purify and brighten skin and gently exfoliate, perfectly preparing your skin for your ant-ageing skincare regime.

Ingredients:

I was quite confused when I got some of the product out on my first use, as to me a "balm" is something quite thick and rich in consistency, not dissimilar to vaseline, for example, in texture.

This cleanser however, as you can see, is more of a thinner, cream consistency:

The box instructs you to massage a small amount over your skin and wipe off or wash away with warm water. I am a complete muslin/face cloth cleanser convert, so there was never going to be any tissue/cotton wool wiping for me! Unlike the infamous Cleanse and Polish, you cannot use this on the eyes, which does mean the additional step of having to use eye make-up remover first, and I feel that, even using four or five pumps of the product, it's a bit too light and wouldn't remove all traces of make-up and leave my skin entirely clean. It also has a tendancy to sink into the skin really quite quickly.

What I have found, however, is that if I remove my make-up with a seperate cleanser first (my budget solution at the moment is good old olive oil!), then massage this cleanser into my still-damp skin and remove using a muslin cloth, it's quite a nice "experience" (can you have pleasant cleansing experiences?!) and does leave my skin feeling really clean and not at all dry.

I can't really say i've noticed any difference in terms of reducing pore size or overall skin texture, and I am still getting patches of redness (around my nose, for example), but it's a nice, non-offensive cleanser which hasn't aggrevated my skin, and is worth a shot if you've got a spare No7 £5-off voucher to spare!

Have you tried any No7 products that you would (or wouldn't!) recommend?

Melanie x

My Night-time Cleansing Routine - step by step!

Hello lovelies,

I don't know what's possessed me, but i've decided to make a blog post AND video of my night-time cleansing route, AS I DO IT, so you can see me in all my no-makeup glory (turn away if you're of a weak disposition har har).

This is me before make-up removal....

First things first, the vital tools...

• Cotton wool (preferably pads, mine are of the sealed-edge variety from Poundland!)
• Muslin cloths or face cloth
• Eye make-up remover - in my case i'm using olive oil from the supermarket!
• Cleanser - i'm using No7 Age Defense Cleansing Balm - review to come!
• Toner - Mine is Boots Botanics toner
• Eye moisturiser - i'm using Boots Vitamin E
• Facial moisturiser - i've got some Ponds moisturiser (nothing special!)
• And a hair bobble and hair band if you've got long hair like me

So, Step one - I usually take my eye make up off first to save smearing it all over my face later. I've started using a method picked up from Lisa Eldridge whereby you take a cotton pad, cut/tear it into 2 halves, soak in your make-up remover, then place under your eye area...!

This helps protect your delicate eye area, where i've started noticing fine lines (I think harsh scrubbing with wipes are to blame).

Step Two - Soak two more cotton pads in your make-up remover, then place over each eye, preferably for 10-20 seconds. This helps effectively loosen up your mascara, eyeliner, even falsh-eyelash glue, and allows you to simply "slide" it off rather than scrubbing at your eyes.  

("Aye aye captain!")

After the 10-20 seconds start gently patting your eye under the pad, then slide the pads off. You should now have a lovely clean eye area, like so ("naked" eye on right, made-up eye on left):

If you have any make-up residue left over, simply dab/pat at the area with your pad and remover, and very gently wipe round and this should sort the problem!

Step three - Cleanser. I do the "double cleanse", whereby the first one is simply to remove make-up, and the second is a proper deep cleanse of your skin.

Now,  for my first cleanse I massage it in, then soak a muslin/face cloth in hand-hot water, place it over my face (and let the steam get to work in my pores) then gently work round my face, which not only helps remove make-up but acts as a gentle exfoliant. Of course you could always just wipe the cleanser off with cotton wool, its your choice (and depends on the cleanser).

For the second cleanse I apply more cleanser and spend a bit more time working it into my face and neck. Then I simply wipe off with cotton pads.

Step Four - I use a toner to ensure I have removed all traces of cleanser and to tighten up my pores after being opened from the hot water (insert very cheesy pic here!).

Step five - apply eye and facial moisturiser.

And...voila! Lovely clean skin ready for bed!

It looks like a lot of steps, but it takes about 5 minutes, and I like knowing my face is squeaky clean!

Obviously my morning routine is far less extensive. I wash my face with water, use some Nivea daily facial scrub, sometimes tone, then apply my daily moisturiser (followed by Clinique City Defense).

Care to share your cleansing routine?

Melanie x

P.S. Here's the video I made, which is basically the exact same thing but you can see it in action!!