Product Empties - March 2013

A tad late in coming - but better late than never!

Face Products

Korres White Tea 3 in 1 Cleansing Water (click for blog post) - A cruelty free, ethically-minded alternative to the professional's favourite: Bioderma Crealine H20 micellar water.

bareMinerals Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover - this was given to me by the lovely Robyn as part of a big box of goodies, and i've quite enjoyed using it. I can't say it was a particularly stand out product, especially because I only had a little trial size bottle (I got maybe 2 weeks' worth of use out of it?), and it did leave traces of mascara behind, but it did the job - or at least helped with it!

NSpa Melting Cleansing Gel - one of my most recent product reviews (you can read all about it here) this is definitely more 'interesting' to use than your standard cleanser, and I would definitely think about buying it again.

Garnier tinted eye roll on - I take my hat off to this product, it certainly has gone the distance. I actually reviewed this on here in March 2011 believe it or not, and that's it only giving up the ghost now! Admittedly I haven't used it continously (i.e. every day), but even so, that isn't bad going.

Body Products

Superdrug Anti-perspirant Deodorant in Soft Pink - not the most exciting of items, but one of the most vital! As someone who is trying to become cruelty free, it's quite difficult to source bunny-friendly products; deodorant being one of them. Happily though, Superdrug own-brand products are BUAV approved.

Original Source Mint and Tea Tree Shower Gel - another BUAV approved product (hurrah), these shower gels are pretty darn amazing: smell delish (and come in a variety of 'flavours'), widely available (including in supermarkets) and are very often on special offer for around £1. The only downside is that they do contain foaming agents which can be a tad drying on the skin, but if you don't have particularly sensitive skin, buy these now and support a good cruelty-free brand!

Johnson's Baby Lotion - i'm not even going to mention it.

Johnson's Hand Cream - not much to say about this, other than it smelled nice and sunk in quite quickly - handy when at work and having to use keyboards frequently!

Primark Early Days Baby Wipes - I don't use these on my face, but you can't beat them for general, 'everyday' use (spillages, quick spot clean of makeup brushes and so on): paraben and alcohol free, and two generous packs for £1!

Review: Korres White Tea 3 in 1 Cleansing Water

After all the hype of the Bioderma Crealine H20 cleansing solution (of which I did a blog review here and also a Youtube review), I was (and am) determined to find a cruelty free, ideally chemically-minimalist and inexpensive alternative.

Cleansing waters (primarily used to remove makeup before 'proper' cleansing takes place) are surprisingly lacking, particularly on the highstreet/drugstore, and so I had to take to the internet to source my next product to roadtest in this particular category. 

I actually sourced today's product - the Korres White Tea 3 in 1 Cleansing Water - almost by accident on Ebay of all places, when I happened to search for cleansing water on a whim. 

Elsewhere, Korres is stocked in store (in the UK) at Fenwick (Newcastle and London), Liberty (London), Harvey Nicols (London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol) and House of Fraser (London and Glasgow), and also online from the likes of Asos and Feel Unique, with an RRP of £16.00 for 200ml.

I've also recently came across some Korres products in TKMaxx - such as their shower washes - so it's worth keeping an eye out.

A full list of Korres stockists (both UK and international) can be found here.

For the Korres virgins out there (I was one), the brand originates from the oldest homeopathic pharmacy in Athens, Greece, and was founded in 1996 by George Korres, who draws on his rich heritage to produce an organic skin and hair care range. 

The brand seeks inspiration from the natural environment, sourcing their herbal, fruit and floral infusions used in their products locally. 

You can find more in-dept information about the Korres brand on their website.

This cleansing water is a soap and alcohol free, three-in-one product with 84.6% natural ingredients that removes everyday impurities, face and eye makeup and tones the skin in one step and is suitable for all skin types and even contact lens wearers, due to the use of natural cleansing agents which ensure excellent compatibility with the eyes and skin.

As the name suggests, the key ingredient of this product is Organic White Tea extract (15%); a rich source of polyphenols which demonstrate rich antioxidant action and improve skin microcirculation.

Hamamelis extract, due to its astringent action, tightens skin pores, while soothing and calming the skin. 

Other ingredients:

Aqua/water/eau

Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate

Cocoyl Proline

Radish Root Ferment Filtrate

Pentylene Glycol 

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

Glycerin

Witch Hazel

Parfum (fragrance)

Sodium Coco-Glucoside Tartrate 

I also love and have been impressed by the 'formula facts' of this particular product:

To use, you apply the product with cotton wool pads to the face, neck and eyes, and can either be used as a leave-on product (i.e. just using the cotton wool pads) or can be rinsed off. 

I personally have been using this just as an eye makeup remover, as I found that I was going through it incredibly fast when I tried to use it as an all-over facial makeup remover and hence decided it wasn't very economical when you consider it costs £16 for 200ml - which is where the Bioderma product wins considering it can be found for around £12 for 500ml online.

I do occasionally use it as a skin pick me up on days I haven't been wearing makeup, or in the morning before applying moisturiser however. 

It is incredibly gentle, and has not irritated my eyes (or indeed the rest of my skin) at all, and has a very mild, pleasant scent that isn't really noticeable on the skin. 

Like the Bioderma, it is not a miracle one-swipe-removes-all product, but like I said in my Bioderma review, for a product to do that it often has to be very heavily oil-based, which this isn't, and so it has to work twice as hard to remove make-up gently yet effectively. 

In terms of the packaging, the plastic bottle comes in a box, and although they both receive green plus points as they can be recycled, I feel it is a bit of a waste of a tree to have the bottle in a box - why not just do without?

The flip-top lid is quite handy if you plan on keeping the product in one place, but for travelling I would imagine it would be a nightmare, as mine flips open very easily and would allow product to spill everywhere - maybe a screw top would have been better?

I have really liked this product and I am now very keen to try other products from Korres - I would love to hear from you if you have any you would recommend.