little white truths

I've found myself swimming in cleansers lately, and while half of them are travel-sized items so I should get through them quickly enough in theory, when you have this many to choose from, you're bound to wind up with bundles of half-empty bottles that just won't finish themselves, which is what has happened to me.

That's why I've started including a cleanser on my Project Pan list, and it's also why I've settled on what cleansers I'm using over the last few weeks. I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to be reaching for different products every time you wash your face, and if you do this you're certainly not going to get a good idea of what each one is doing.

Anyhoo. That's a round-a-bout way of introducing this product. I've had it sitting on the bathroom shelves for a couple of months now, but I was only using it once a week until I decided that the place for it was in the 'first cleanse of the day' spot, and that's where it's been for the last few weeks. (Spoiler: it's ok but not my favourite. More on why below.)

• A rich, two-phase cleanser that purifies, decongests, gently exfoliates and removes all makeup
• Leaves skin refreshed, radiant, smoothed and replenished without dryness or tightness
• Full size includes a complimentary, stay-warm cloth
• To use: apply to dry skin and gently massage over the face, neck and closed eyes to remove dirt, makeup and loosen dead skin cells; rinse hot cloth in warm water and place over face to open pores; then lightly polish off the cleanser to reveal purified, refreshed skin; rinse face with cool water to close pores
• RRP $34 AUD for 150ml

My skin is in all-sorts at the moment - it's normally dry but I'm pregnant and sick and it's winter, so it's drier, more dehydrated and more sensitive than usual - which in many ways makes me a great test subject for skincare because it means that products need to work harder and also do their job without making matters worse.

Fortunately this is something I can use once a day on my struggling skin without issue, which is important to note because many dry-skinned lasses like myself reach for cream/balm/oil cleansers since these tend not to be too drying, and this isn't.

It's a white cream with a rosy scent, and while I don't find the smell too strong, I've seen some people say that it's too much for them so it's worth testing the product before buying it.

With cream cleansers like this, I tend to apply them and leave them for a while - something I'd never do with a gel, for example - because I like to get the hydrating benefits of the product before washing it off. Something to note with this cleanser, however, is that it doesn't feel that hydrating or nourishing on the skin, which surprised me a bit because most creams/balms/oils do feel that way - probably one of the reasons why this hasn't grabbed me.

I've tried this both with and without using a hot cloth to remove it - mainly because I'm lazy and time-poor and getting a hot cloth sorted is an extra step - and I honestly don't feel there's a huge difference between both methods. I know it's designed to be removed with a hot cloth and I've no doubt this helps with its cleansing prowess, but I like it well enough without one so it's worth noting that you don't have to use it this way if you don't want to.

On that, the cleanser itself isn't super effective when it comes to dissolving makeup and it doesn't melt gunk away as well as similar products. The cloth does help with this aspect, but I personally feel that a cleanser should do enough towards gunk removal without help. Also, it removes base makeup - with or without a cloth - but it does little for my eye makeup and it's definitely not an effective cleanser in that sense, which is why I don't use it at night.

My preferred use for this is as my first morning cleanse (with or without a cloth) and I'll then go back in with another product to make sure my skin's clean. I did try this as a second cleanse but it leaves a slight film behind, so I'd rather use something else to ensure the product is completely gone.

Also, I have double-cleansed with this and I find that using it twice in a row is a bit drying/stripping on my dry, sensitive skin. For this reason I prefer to use it only once a day, but keep in mind that my skin isn't very resilient at the moment so I suspect that most people would be able to use it more frequently than I do without issue.

A final thing to note is that I haven't had any issues with breakouts when using this, and my skin is prone to breakouts at the moment so that's a plus. Sometimes cream cleansers can clog pores, but this hasn't for me.

All in all, this cleanser is ok and I'll use mine until the bottle is done, but it's not one I would go out and buy (I received it as a GWP). I think Ren has better products to choose from and while there's nothing hugely wrong with this product, it's not a stand-out for me and I think you can do better.

Ok.