Happy Jubilee!

Hullo, hope everyone's having a nice jubilee day (if you're in the Commonwealth and care about it anyway). I ain't no royalist and have spent the majority if the day doing this:

In other news I have just about the worst spot ever. Possibly too much information coming up, stop reading if you are squeamish!

It's one of those evil ones that never comes to a head and feels like there's a lump under the skin. I tried squeezing it (I am a notorious spot squeezer) and it justcaused m get a huge scab. I thought that when the scab had healed the spot would be gone, or at least smaller. I was wrong! It fell off today and the evil spot is bigger than ever DX! It feels like a pea on my chin! Anyone got any idea of how to get rid of it?

This is from my phone again, this tine I'm attempting to navigate the Blogger app. Will it work? Let us see...

A thing I want and CAN afford!

So a couple of weeks ago I was whinging about wanting a Clarisonic but not being able/willing to pay or it. According to your comments it seems like it really can so wonders to the skin, and that meant me long for one even more! Thank you to S who suggested a cheaper alternative, the Skinsonic and reminded me of something I'd seen before - The Sigma Cleansing and Polishing Tool

 

Ahh the beauty of cheap knock-offs! 

The Sigma version is not exactly the same as the original Clarisonic, it doesn't have a charger (instead it just uses AA batteries), it doesn't do the clever beeping to tell you when to move onto another area of your face, and I'm sure there are other differences. However it is basically the same thing, a spinning brush for deep down cleansing and exfoliation. It has 2 speed settings and comes with 3 different brush heads, soft, medium and hard, and a little case to keep it all in.

And the best thing, it's just $49!

For me I think it's just about right. The price is great so even if it doesn't make a huge difference to my skin it won't be too big a waste of money, I don't care about the lack of charger or other features and, feebly, most importantly: I love the way it looks! Lookit the pretty pink brush head and the lovely retro style box it comes in! 

Sigma's international shipping prices seem a bit overpriced ($19 for just this :/ ) so I'll probably be annoying my American buddies for a CP :P

Illamasqua Skin base Foundation

A couple of weeks ago Illamasqua had a little event to celebrate the launch of their new foundation and I was invited. Sadly at the moment I'm just not up to going to any kind of event  or leaving the house in general :( But the lovely Alex was very understanding when I explained and popped a few samples in the post for me to try.

If you've not heard of it before, Skin Base is Illamasqua's take on a BB cream. BB creams are a product started in Asia that act as a moisturiser, foundation and skincare balm all in one. Usually they contain SPF and whitening ingredients but Illamasqua has removed those.

Illamasqua claims it's Skin Base is 'Easily blendable, it effortlessly creates a perfect complexion, and like the entire Illamasqua foundation range, is undetectable in a professional HD environment. Suitable for all skin types, it smoothes, softens and conditions your skin whilst providing natural, buildable coverage.'

It comes in 18 shades from pure ghost white to a deep chocolate so hopefully there's something to suit everyone :) 

My skintone is very pale and very pink (i don't really know if thats my undertone or overtone or whatever and i think i might have very mild rosacea on the lower part of my cheeks) and it's very hard to find a foundation that really matches me. Usually they're either too dark or too yellow for me. I was sent the shades 02 which is the palest pink toned foundation, 04 which has both pink and yellow undertones (somehow :P) and 05 which is the second lightest pink toned shade.

Here are swatches of them:

02, 04 and 05 swatches heavilly

 

And blended out.

You can see that 04 and 05 just aren't right for me at all. Claire is quite pale and has more yellow toned skin than me so I've given 04 to her, if it suits her i'll get her to tell me what she thinks. 02 seemed a pretty close match so I have been trying that one. When I first applied it I feared it still wouldn't work for me but once I blended it out it matched me perfectly. Wahey! I've only been using this a few days but I absolutely adore it. 

It blends really easily. In fact while Illamasqua claim this is a medium/heavy coverage foundation, I've found that if I only use a tiny dot of product I can blend it out to give a light, sheer look. However it's really buildable, I can layer a bit more over my facial redness or any blemishes and it disguises them beautifully. The finish is beautiful, it's neither super matte nor dewy or shimmery, it looks just like natural skin. I love this because I have quite nice skin in general and the buildability means I can use a very thin layer over my whole face, letting my freckles and naturally good parts of my skin shine through, and then build it up on places that need more coverage and because of the finish it looks just like I have naturally flawless skin!  It's really easy to apply, I just spread it on with my fingers and it feels really light, I can't really notice it at all once I've put it on.

The longest I've worn this so far is about 8 hours (this is about as long as I ever wear makeup) and it lasted really well. I got a tiny bit of shine on my nose (the only place my face has any oil) but other than that it looked basically the same as when I'd first applied it. Maybe if your skin is naturally a little oily you'll need to powder over the top. The only negative I can think of is that if I have any flaky patches of skin then the foundation does tend to gather there and emphasize it. However after the actual flaky bits of skin had gone away it never emphasized any dry patches of skin. Oh and while it works brilliantly over spots and my redness I can't quite make it cover the blueish circles under my eyes.

Here are some photos of my face au naturale

 

And now with the Skin Base foundation:

As I've been using it for less than a week I can't really review it for it's skincare benefits. However I swear I've already noticed my skin feeling smoother, softer and with less dry flaky patches. This might of course be coincidental but I haven't changed anything else in my skincare routine (and at the moment my skincare routine consists of removing my makeup with wipes, cleansing and exfoliating about twice a week and moisturising when I remember to. I really need to treat my face better!).

Personally I would love to have some SPF in this product because I am terrible and always forget to put on sunblock (I burn ridiculously easily so I really need a high SPF everyday but I just never remember :( I suck) but I understand why they've removed it. SPF often causes light to act oddly in photoshoots and as Illamasqua like to cater for theatrical use they wanted to get rid of that problem.

They also removed the whitening ingredients so that the formula would be suitable for all skin tones, which I think is great. Most BB creams only seem to come in a few shades, Illamasqua is the first company I've seen that has shades that would cater to dark skinned people (though of course there may well be other companies that do and I just haven't seen them). Also I don't really know if I'd like to use a whitening product myself, I have some discolouration and redness on my face that I'd like to be rid of, but I also have freckles and I love them and don't want them to go anywhere so I don't think I'd better chance them!

So basically I'm in love with this foundation, it's probably the best I've ever tried. I'll definately be buying a full size bottle once I've used up a few other products. When I do end up getting a full bottle I'll do another review!

*I was sent samples for review but all thoughts and opinions are my own. I'm well aware that this review is so incredibly gushing it might as well be another 'Lillian Loves' but honestly this is how I feel about this foundation. I don't want to desperately rack my brain for more negative things to say just for the sake of it. It's a holy-of-holies!*

Super speedy review - Estee Lauder Gentle Eye Makeup Remover

 

Claire's Mum buys lots of fancy makeup things which give her lots of gifts-with-purchases (whoa, grammar where have you gone?) which she passes on to Claire who in turn gives them to me, for Claire cares not for lotions and potions and basic skincare :P Anyway this is something that came into my possession in such a way.

If you wanted to buy it, it would cost you £17.50 for 100ml. It's a clear, watery liquid but emulsifies a bit on the pad to make some whitish bubbles. Smells a bit alcoholy but not terrible.

This is going to be a super speedy review because there really isn't much I can say about this. I used it once and won't ever again.

I used it in what I assume is the normal way, dumping a bit onto a cotton pad, holding it over the eye and then sweeping the makeup away. As i put it on my eye it stung a bit, but my eyes are sensitive and most makeup removers sting a little bit, so I didn't think to much of it.  But then the stinging got worse. After about 30 seconds my eye was burning, seriously burning, and getting worse and worse. I had to run into the kitchen and rinse my eyes for ages before the burning subsided, but even then my eyes still stung for a long time. I didn't get any of the product IN my eye, this was just from the soaked pad being laid on/swept across my closed eyelid.

Other than that it worked fine, my makeup was removed like it was meant to be. But who cares if it worked at all when it hurt so much Gentle my arse!

I don't know why it burned, maybe I'm allergic to something in it (I do have very sensitive skin and I think i'm allergic to some facial skin care ingredients, but I have no idea what :/) but if you have sensitive eyes I wouldn't risk it.  Won't use it again, but maybe I'll give it to someone in my family and see how it works for them... Yeah, blind your family Lillian, that's a good idea! :P

Clean Start Smart Mouth Lip Shine

(I was sent this to review but all thoughts are my own)

 

The lovely people at Dermalogica were kind enough to send me a sample kit of their Clean Start range. The rest is skincare and I haven't been using it for long enough to review yet.

I get very dry lips, I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the constant lipstick wearing or the fact that i suffer from dry skin on the rest of my face but anyway the reason isn't important (so why am i discussing it?... dunno!). However I am not one of those people who applies lipbalm religiously. I tend to just apply it before bed everyday, or, if my lips are very chapped and sore, every now and then. My most used balm is Vaseline. Now i know some people swear by it and some despise it. I quite like it personally but the main reason i use it is that i can get a big pot for cheap and just keep it on my bedside table, it will last me months if not years and i don't need to worry about buying more balm. Of course I have tried other balms though, various brands through the years and, while some have worked better than others I've never found one I liked enough tokeep coming back to, apart from the Vaseline.

And then I tried this one.

I can honestly say that this is the best lip balm I've ever tried! I like so so much about it, but the main thing is that i honestly believe this helped cure my chapped lips practically overnight.

A while back, when I recieved this, I had awfully saw lips. Red and painful and chapped to the point that they were very near bleeding. I got this, put it on and my mouth instantlly felt soothed. I was pleased but didn't much more. But i kept putting it on and the next day i woke up and, while my lips were still a bit sore, they felt so, so much better and all the flaking skin was gone and healed. I was amazed. And then by the next day my lips weren't even sore again! Of course this could have been a coincidence, maybe my lips were just healing up anyway, but I reckon it's more likely it was the balm. 

I haven't had such sore lips since, but using this makes my lips feel softer, smoother and hydrated. 

Another great thing about it is the scent. It smells amazing! It'sweet, sort of candy-ish. to me it smells like a mixture of orange and vanilla (what i believe some people call 'creamsicle') It's not overpowering but not weak either, it's just about right. It doesn't have flvour though, just  a sweetness about it. 

However one slight problem I have with it is that although the scent isn't really strong it's still strong enough that I can't wear it at night, but that's just a little niggle.

The packaging isn't very exciting or cute or unusual but i like it anyway. The actual design is nice, quite straight forward and clean, with instructions and information on the back. The colour scheme of two oranges, black and white is nice and vibrant and sort of Pop-art-ish. And the uhh 'delivery system' for the balm is a small, plastic applicator thing with 4 small holes. You have to squeeze quite hard to get the product out, but to me this seems like a good thing as it means it would be unlikely to leak anywhere.

The actual balm is a liquid, basically the same consistency as a lip gloss. And that leads me onto the fact that this balm is designed to be a lip gloss as well. Now I don't really wear clear lipgloss (apart from on top of lipstick, and i haven't tried using this like that yet, but i will try to remember!) but I have seen it on my lips obviously. While it doesn't give you a super-plastic-like shine like some glosses it does give your lips a nice glossy shine and a juicy, wet look. 

So this has basically been enirely positive so far! But here comes quite a big negative: The price. This currently retails at £8.20 for 10ml. Now I've been using this for a while and there seems to still be lots left (as the packaging is opaque i can't actually tell) but I don't know how long it will last. And, well £8 is a LOT for a lip balm in my opinion. And so i don't know if i would actually purchase this myself. I love it, like i said it's the best lip balm i've owned, but i don't know if i could bring myself to spend that much on one lip balm when i could get 225g of Vaseline for £2.25 or a tub of Carmex for £2.50 (i haven't actually tried Carmex myself but i've heard from a tonne of sources that it is the holy grail of lip balms).

The Smart Mouth Lip Shine has the added advantage of acting as a lip gloss as well. If you wear a lot of clear gloss then i would highly recommend it as it will act as your gloss but heal your lips too. However as i said before I don't wear gloss that much.

So in summary: this is a fantatic product and if you can afford it I would highly recommend it, but it does seem too pricey to me.

Soap and Glory Reviews

Soap and Glory is a brand i really like. They have lovely vintage style packaging, are reasonably priced, often smell gorgeous, never test on animals and the names are punderful! Also the brand is very often on sale or offer at boots (currently 1/3 off)
 One thing i do object to with the brand is that i wish they had more variety of products. They have about a million different body scrubs and moisturisers in their line but only one hair product, no facial moisturisers and with their cosmetics they only have lip glosses and one powder. I'm hopeful they'll start introducing a bigger selection.

Go beneath the cut for some product reviews :)

Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion Review

This is the first review i have ever done where i have been send the product for review. I was kindly sent this by the lovely people from Skin MD who have been exceptionally kind and helpful (they also offered to sponser a giveaway but it would only be available to people in the US and, seeing as i am in the UK and a lot of my readers are outside the US i didn not take them up on this). I know some people may be put off by the fact that i did not actually shell out my own money for this product but please be assured that i will be treating this product like i would if i had bought it myself.

When I was also offered to test this i jumped at the chance, having read up about it this stuff sounded amazing. Not only is it a moisturiser but it also acts as a shield from outside pollutants, it's been recommended by doctors and is not only vegan and never tested on animals but is an eco friendly product, using solar power in its manufacturing and is full of natural ingredients.  'Hello, wonder product alert!' thought I.

Along with the bottle i was sent a few leaflets explaining more about Skin MD and a few sample sachets of the lotion (i gave these to my Mum to try, which i will discuss later).

So here is some information about Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion (nicked from the very informative website which offers reviews and free samples)

'Skin MD Natural lotion combines Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, Arnica, Comfrey, Chamomile, and Yarrow to provide the gentle, soothing moisture needed for natural skin that is healthy, soft, and touchable...
 
Antioxidant-rich Aloe Vera and Vitamin E help soften skin while Arnica soothes and revitalizes. Chamomile enriches the skin while vitamin-rich, Comfrey and Yarrow, help the skin to look its best. The ingredients in this natural lotion work together for skin that has rarely looked or felt so good...


For healthy, natural skin, what's not in a skin care product is as important as what is in it. Our Skin MD Natural lotion is free of parabens, fragrances, colorants, mineral oil, propylene glycol and many other potentially harmful and drying chemicals found in other skin care products. It is a non-toxic and hypo-allergenic skin care solution.

Skin MD Natural also uses only the highest quality food-grade ingredients with no animal products or animal testing. It's naturally vegan, and cruelty free...

Skin MD Natural lotion for dry skin will leave your skin feeling and looking soft, radiant, and hydrated. Skin MD Natural lotion is the natural skin care alternative to the many dry skin care products that can actually dry the skin. Lotions for dry skin that contain petroleum, artificial fragrances, para­bens, colorants and other chemicals may cause dry skin to worsen. Avoid dry skin care products with harsh chemicals and use Skin MD Natural lotion for dry skin on the face, hands, or body.

Let the gentle blend of Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, Arnica, Comfrey, Chamomile, Yarrow, and other food grade ingredients in Skin MD Natural turn your dry skin into silky smooth natural skin that glows. Find the moisture you've been looking for; without the greasy surface created by chemicals with Skin MD Natural. You can finally say good-bye to dry skin and hello to natural skin with Skin MD Natural lotion.  '

Now i want to talk a little about my skin. On my face, overall, i have pretty good skin, I very rarely have breakouts, clogged pores or any oilyness but i do suffer from dryness, especially on and around my nose which is often a bit flaky. My complexion isn't the best, i have a lot of redness in my cheeks, however my skin is very smooth and is usually quite soft to the touch. I'm not the best at skincare. My general routine is pretty shameful. I only cleanse my face once a day at night, and that's only if i've been wearing foundation or powder. Otherwise i cleanse, exfoliate and occaisionally use a mask 2-3 times a week.
I try and moisturise at least once a day, but quite often it just doesn't happen :P
Before using Skin MD i had been using a rich night cream before bed and a lighter day cream in the morning.

Now on to my actual review! (took me long enough didn't it :P)

While this can be used everywhere i decided to use it on my face and hands as i assumed the little bottle would be used up really quickly if i used it on my body. I used it as the bottle suggests, at first every 2-8 hours (for the first week) and then every 12-24 hours. The lotion is a milky, slightly watery cream that has no smell on the skin but if you smell a blob of it really close up (i like smelling things :P) has a slightly odd herbal/vodka scent. I was amazed by how little of this you need. A drop about the size of a 5p piece (or a dime in the US :)) would cover my whole face very easily and then with very little effort the lotion sank into my skin and was absorbed almost instantly leaving no greasy feeling. However what it did leave really shocked me at first, i was totally unused to anything like it. Basically after this absorbed into my skin it left behind a layer that i guess is the reason this is called a 'shielding' lotion. I felt like i had a very thin layer of wax over my face, like the skin of an apple. At first i hated this because it just felt bizarre, but after a few uses i grew used to it and it didn't bother me at all. In fact i began to see the benefits, because if i can feel this layer on my skin i figured that it would be acting as a barrier against dirt and other nasties :)
After a few hours the waxy feeling layer subsided and my skin was left feeling smooth and sort of 'plumped' up. However these effects were quite short lived, disappearing after a while and leaving my skin much the same as it was before use.
After using the lotion skin didn't feel any softer at all, not instantly and not in the long run. At first this didn't bother me but after a few weeks i could really feel the difference and began to long for a richer cream to add some hydration to my skin. Usually the dry skin on my nose will disappear after using a good cream but with this it didn't get even slightly better.
Towards the end of the trial i decided to go back to my old creams but used this as a top-up during the day. My skin felt a lot better for using my richer creams but i began to realise that the Skin MD didn't seem to be making any difference at all :/


I also used this on my hands and I actually did really like it for that purpose. While again it didn't moisturise them as well as my usual lotions the shielding effect really came into it's own. The shield layer really seemed to help protect my hands so even though they didn't seem to be moisturised by the lotion itself, it seemed to help my hands keep in their natural moisture. I could wash my hands and there would still be a protective layer keeping my hands safe.

My Mum tried a few samples of this product and really liked it but annoyingly wouldn't tell me anything more detailed. After i had used this for 2 months (more than long enough to really review how it worked for me) i gave it to my sister Lydia who suffers from bad exzema. She is still using it so i will be writing a follow up when she gets back to me about how it worked for her :)

So all in all i thought it was an interesting product and it worked well in some ways i wouldn't use it myself as it was just not moisturising enough for a moisturiser.I think maybe this would work a lot better on people who have oily or normal skin, with my dry skin i really need a stronger, richer lotion and i think other dry skinned people might feel the same. For me it certainly is not 'The Ultimate Dry Skin Solution' as the websites suggests.

I would recommend getting the version with SPF 15 if you were thinking of buying it because... well why not? You might as well have the added benefit!
I'm not sure about the price, it does seem expensive compared to my usual drugstore brands but is cheap compared to a lot of high end lotions, also you need to use such a little of the lotion each time one bottle will last you a long, long time (i used mine at least once every day for 2 months before giving it to my sister and it's still going strong now).
So overall... i don't know what to say about this! It didn't work brilliantly for me, but it was still pretty good and i think it's a really good, innovative product. But i personally wouldn't repurchase it.

The Body Shop Reviews

I'm on a big skincare review kick at the moment :P After this i have some Soap and Glory reviews and then i think i'll have talked about everything i've used up (or enough to review) or far.  I hope you enjoy reading these toilettrie based posts as well as makeup ones :)

Also coming up soon i will be posting a series of blog sales including makeup, clothes, accessories, shoes and miscellaneous stuff. I am absolutely skint at the moment and have an entire room full of stuff i want to sell (i'm serious, a whole room! D:) so i figured i would actually finally get round to photographing it all. I'll be offering it at prices i think are fair but i want to get rid of as much as possible (everything that doesn't sell here will be going on ebay) so i will be up for haggling :) Sorry if you're not interested in blog sales but i do have some nice stuff and want to offer it to my readers first :)

Anyway here comes the body shop post, hope you like it!

Lush Reviews

Firstly I want to thank each and every one of you who commented on my last post so so much. I'm usually alright talking about my disorder but there is still a stigma attached to mental illness so i was a little worried posting such personal details in public but your responses were so wonderful i am just overwhelmed by your kindness. I'm going to reply to each and every comment but there are so many and they are so long and indepth i want to really take me timeabout it. Thank you all again, you really have no idea how much it means to me <3

Also in other news I found out yesterday that the book i illustrated (you can see pictures here) seems very likely to be published in the near future (the author recieved proofs so unless anyhing drastic goes wrong it will be coming out soon). Not all of my illustrations made it in but a good few did and while it's not going to be a huge book and i won't be recieving proceeds just having my pictures in a real book is amazing. I'm a very happy girl :)

Now please go behind the cut to see a big lot of Lush reviews :)

Teeny Tiny review

I got a tiny sample of The Body Shops seaweed facial wash. There's probably enough for 2 uses and i will use it all up and update if i change my mind, but at the moment i am not at all pleased with it. It's made my skin feel tighter and dryer! Ugh.

What i'm using now

This has been doing the rounds for a long time, but i've never done it and i felt like completing a survey.


Shampoo: I live with my Mother, who hoards things. She has a stash of shampoo that i doubt will ever run-out, so basically i just grab anything and use it up. At the moment it's a L'oreal frizz-serum thing, but i certainly wouldn't choose to use it. It's fine, but i don't like using anything tested on animals (my mum bought it not knowing they did, and i figure it would be more of a waste to just leave it) and it's nothing special anyway. When i buy my own (which happens very rarely) i like Original Source White pear and avacado.

Conditioner: Same as above.

Styling products: I only really use hairspray, at the moment it's a small can of silvikrin i got free in a goody bag. I need to get myself a good heat-protection spray but just never get round to it.

Shower Gel: Ah, i can actually answer this one! I use Miso Pretty Cassis shower gel. It's supposed to smell of blackcurrants and kelp, but to me it smells like rhubarb. whick i love.

Body moisturiser: I have a few i alternate between. Recently i've been using primarks 'i <3 fruit' body butter in lime and... something, but it smells like sherbet! I also have a big bottle of avon body firming moisturiser.

Deodorant: Sure crystal dry. It does it's job alright.

Fake Tan: I don't use it.

Cleanser: At the moment i'm using Neutrogena's wave the most. I really like it, but because you have to dunk it in water and then hold it to your face you do get horrible cold water dribbling down your chin :/

Exfoliator: For my body one from Ikea family. For my face Soap and Glory's the scrub of your life.

Primer: I don't use it very often, but when i do i use Avon Magix

Foundation brush: I have 2, a QVS one and a ELF one, but i never use either as the only foundation i have can't be used with a brush. I use my fingers.

Concealer: Collection 2000 illuminating touch or Dainty Doll concealer in Fair.

Powder: Illamasqua loose powder in LF005 or Avon Personal Match Mineral Powder in Ivory.

Blusher: Depends, but at the moment i'm favouring Illamasqua powder blush in Nymph.

Bronzer: I don't own any!

Highlighter: Illamasqua illuminator in Odyssey.

Eyeshadow base: I don't have one actually :( Sometimes i wear my girlfriends Too Faced Shadow Insurance, or else i just put concealer on my eyelids.

Eyeshadows: Recently i've been using a lot of Mac Vex and Gesso, ELF eye transformer and various TKB trading micas.

Eyeliner: If i want plain black i use Rimmel Glam eyes eyeliner, but recently i've been wearing Sleek glitter eyeliner in pink.

Curler: A Mister Mascara, when I remember to use it!

Mascara: Currently Sleek manitude double ended.

Lipstick: Oh goodness, there's far too many! But at the moment my favourite red is: Mac Kanga-Rouge, favourite pink is: Revlon Show Orchid, favourite orange is Barry M 117, favourite purple is Mac Violetta, favourite Berry is Mac Night Violet.

Lipgloss: Illamasqua intense lipgloss in Indulge or Mac Dazzleglass in Funtabulous.

Nail Colour: french manicures but with bright bright colours. And i usually use Barry M nail varnish.

And that's it :)

Boots Original Beauty Formula

On the way home from Ireland I had to avoid the duty free section as I tried Touche Eclat for the first time and got a bit obsessed, but i knew i could get it cheaper off ebay or something.
So to get away I went into Boots just to look and the cheaper makeup available, didn't get anything but a new range of Skincare caught my eye.



I got the Skin Tonic and Cold Cream. I've only used these twice, but here is my firs review.
Firstly the sole reason i bought these were because of how insanely beautiful it looks! There is a whole range available, all in matching packaging, but with different coloured boxes. And here is what is inside:



Absolutely stunning! (sorry about the bad photos, the camera i used was about to run out of batteries)

Anyway, i'm so glad i got these, the products are as great inside as out! The Cold cream managed to wipe off nearly every trace of makeup i had on yesterday, including thick liquid eyeliner (I did have to use a bit of cleansing oil to get rid off the last bits of my mascara) and left my skin feeling wonderfully soft. You apply it with your fingers and then use tissues or cotton wool to wipe it off, which is perfect for me (i have a phobia of going underwater and really dislike getting water in my nose or eyes). It is thick and heavy, if you don't like greasy products on your skin it is not for you, but personally i have no problem with it. As i bought the toner as well i simply use that to wipe away the last traces of the cleanser. The toner leaves my skin feeling nicely refreshed and clean. Both products smell lovely, they have a rose scent, it's very natural and not overpowering at all, but of course the fragrance won't be to everyone's taste.

I'm really pleased, I'm not picky with skin products, usually i'll just use whatever is hanging around and i bought these because of how nice they would look on my vanity table but they're so far doing a really lovely job.

I've never been brilliant at keeping to a skincare regime, in fact really i'm quite shameful. Up until recently i've only washed my face when i'm in the bath, and only used cleansers to get rid of heavy makeup. But recently i've decided I need to start taking better care of my skin and cleansing or at the very least moisturing twice a day.
I'll maybe do a follow up review of these after i've been using them for a couple of weeks. Also my girlfriend just bought 'the wave' which i'm excited to try.

Edit: forgot to say, i put the cold cream directly onto my (thankfully closed) eyes by accident, but it didn't hurt at all! Extremely gentle stuff.