Naked Perfect Getaway Cleanser

Do you know what's hard? Trying to find something when your heart is not in it. Twice I had a look for a new house to live in because the landlady decided to sell her house and I struggled to find a new place to live. I think, the same can be said about a face cleanser, although at a much smaller scale obviously. I didn't want to look for a new cleanser but Boots in their wisdom discontinued my favourite cleanser and changed the formulation of another one I liked using and this left me at a loose end.


Being a high street girl with a budget of £5 or thereabouts, I was pointed out in the direction of 'Perfect Getaway' cream cleanser from Naked, retailing at the sweet price of £4.50.





I can't believe I had never tried a naked product before. This could partially be because my small boots/Superdrug doesn’t store any naked skincare products. I think years ago, they used to sell a big tub of body moisturiser my friend @drew692 and Lily (beautysbadhabit) are absolutely obsessed with but essentially, I think I had steered away from Naked products because I had this pre conception that it was going to be posh and expensive. I couldn't more wrong. If there is one thing that Naked isn't, it's posh and pretentious. Totally the opposite in fact.


They might be proud of using naturally derived ingredients without sulphates, parabens, petrochemicals or silicone but they are not posh and the brand couldn't be more accessible if you tried. The labelling and the language on the bottle reminded me straight away of Innocent Smoothies meet Aussie Shampoos, which are one my favourites brands because of their friendliness conveyed by their language and their little doodles on the bottles. It's part of their identity. While I was trying to photograph the bottle, I ended up with this extremely blurry shot and would you believe, you guys noticed straight away that it a product from the brand Naked. I am gobsmacked.







Back to the cleanser. I'm not going to hide it and I was scared I was not going to like it, simply because it was not written 'for dry skin' on it. I was scared it was not going to be suitable for my crocodile dry skin. Usually, if I use the wrong cleanser for my skin type, I am left with a very tight and dry skin if I don't moisturise straight after. Well I am happy to report that I had nothing to worry about. After cleansing at night, I left my skin bare after for a few hours and it coped admirably well. So if you have dry skin, you do not need to worry either.





Naked recommends to use the product with cotton wool, but I am a rebel and used the cleanser over damp skin and then rinsed out with water. The cream did a fab job at removing my cakey layers of foundation.


Fragrance wise, Naked didn't want to add a potentially irritant perfume in the product to suit people with sensitive skins. This doesn't mean it doesn't smell of anything. The fragrance comes from the combination of cocoa butter, aloe vera and ginseng. The scent reminded of the iconic (well, for French people anyway) savon de marseille mixed with a herbal aroma (the ginseng bit perhaps?) The result: a very fresh cleanser which I think would suit most and even men.


Considering this product is 97% natural, and that sourcing natural ingredients is generally more expensive to produce, I think naked did a great job at pricing this generous size 200ml bottle at just £4.50.


Join me to the naked side, I am glad I did :)



What: Naked Perfect Getaway Cleanser
How much: £4.50
Where: selected Boots and Superdrug nationwide and online.
Disclosure: Product was sent for review purposes

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Quick: Hot offer for the Hot Cloth Cleanser

Fans of the Superdrug Hot Cloth cleanser rejoice as there is a crazy offer going at the moment and I just can't get my head round at it. I think Superdrug might have lost their marbles and this offer is too good to be true. The cleanser would usually retail at £5.99 but at the moment, you can get two of them for £3.99. How can buying two of a products be actually cheaper than just buying one? I am dumbstruck.

I can't tell you personally how good this product. I have not tried it myself. I bought it, but ended up giving it away because I don't think I am 'hot cloth' type of person. I think I prefer using my hands to be honest. I don't think I can handle a multitude of cloths lying about, either dirty, or drying or wet ready to be washed. But here are what some of the lovely bloggers I am subscribed to (nor random people I googled for!) had to say about it:

'I am hooked to this product and it is hands down, the best hot-cloth cleanser in the market in my opinion’  from Get Gawjus. Read more.

I have completely abandoned face wipes and regular cleansers opting for my Superdrug Hot Cloth Cleanser. I love this stuff and thankfully I bought two when I was buying. It really leaves my skin feeling fabulous'’ from A Pretty Obsession, Read more.

‘For me this is just as good as Liz Earl, although it doesn't smell as nice or take off my eye makeup.’
From Charli. Read more.

 

This is certainly something that I will keep on repurchasing over and over again, and remain a permanent part of my skincare routine. Lisahh Jayne. Read more.

 

'My skin definitely felt clean and refreshed after using it, and what makes me love this product even more- it smells like Hawaiian Tropic!! RESULT.' Ray, from Oh Who is she Read more.

 

disclosure: Heard of this promotion while browsing in store and received no compensation whatsoever to write about it.

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Simply pure: simply amazing!

Thanks to boots and their decision to discontinue my favourite cleansers, I have been on the look out for a new face cleanser for my poor dehydrated and ageing dry skin. What I am after is  a cleanser which:

1. cleanses effectively
2. specially formulated for dehydrated or dry skin
3. doesn't cost the earth (maximum £6)
4. visually attractive (nice packaging)
5. something which has a nice smell or a smell which I won't be bored of half way through the bottle.

I stumbled on the Superdrug ‘Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Cleansing Gel’ facial cleanser last week end and guess what? I am baffled on how many boxes this ticks already.



The whole line was designed with sensitive skins in mind and are meant to very kind to your skin. No fragrance or parabens which some find irritate their skin, just kind for you, and as harmless as a feather coming close to your skin, hence the packaging. There are 4 ranges within the line, but more about that later.

When I read the description (see picture below) of the 'aqua hydrating cleansing gel' I felt it was just designed for me. I've already used it for a week now, day and night and I am happy to report that it works: No feeling of dryness, quite hydrating and it does exactly what it says on the tin. So that's 2 boxes ticked right away.





The price was the aspect which shocked me the most. Usually this would retail at £4.59 but it was at half price. KERCHING. This sounds too good to be true. If I carry on enjoying this product, I won't have any problem repurchasing and it's even cheaper than my beloved discontinued botanics one. Can't go wrong with that!


The packaging is inoffensive, simple, discreet and minimalistic (a bugger to photograph though ) Will I get bored of the smell? Absolutely no risk of that, the product is fragrance free. So just like that, Superdrug ticked all the criteria boxes. BAM!


Do I love this cleanser? No. I will repurchase this product, without the shadow of doubt. It does everything I ask, it's functional but it doesn't send me to cloud nine. Yes the packaging is inoffensive but omg, how boring. I am drawn to something which reminds me of nature, something green, a leaf, a plant and now all I get is blue. I don't connect with this cleanser. At this point, I hear you scream 'get a grip, who needs to connect with a cleanser, a cleanser is supposed to cleanse your skin, not having a romantic fling with' I know, I know but what can I say, I miss the fresh herby olive oil or honey smell of my boots cleansers, I miss the cream texture (this one is a gel) and I am still grieving their disappearance. This aqua cleanser is like the guy you find at 2.00am when the bar is about to shut, the guy which will do I guess but it's not James Bond.


Have you found the james bond of cleansers?



If I am not mistaken, I *think* that the dehydrated range from simply pure range is still on half price at the moment, but don't delay if you want to try. This would also cater for oily skin, and yes oily skin can also be dehydrated. Even though the whole range is for sensitive skin, they also do a calming range,  combination skin range and oily skin (now the packaging for the oily skin grabs me so much more. I wish I had oilier skin just to be able to buy that)




















If, like me you've been left high and dry by Boots discontinuing your cleanser, one of these might be for you.  Thank you Superdrug

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Lately, I have been loving...

If I had to think about the most repurchased facial cleanser in my entire life, it would probably be Clearasil which I have used religiously  in an bid to combat my spots. My skin has changed, I am not getting younger and whilst I am still suffering from breakouts every now and then,  but it's now moisture that I feel my skin desperately needs.


Because of my acneic past, I've been avoiding oil and cream cleansers like the  plague, anxious it would leave the door right open to spots to make their come back. Lately, I've found myself using baby oil, of all things,  to remove my heavy eye makeup and I am ashamed to say that I've been loving it. The makeup disappears in one swipe and I feel my skin has been  lapping up the oily particles in it. I knew then that I was ready to try a cream/oil cleanser for my entire face


My shy steps led me to Boots, and I came home with Boots Botanics Face Nourishing Cleanser, with water, olive oil and glycerin listed as their  first top 3 ingredients.






I can't describe how anxious I was to use this for the first time. No foam, No Sodium Laureth Sulfate to make it  foam? This is like telling me to start drinking tea without sugar. I need SLS, it's all I've ever known in my life. Also how could it possibly  make my skin clean without leaving any oil residues, and risking my pores to clog up?


I took the leap of faith and I am glad I did. The  cleanser feels absolutely lovely on the skin. The whole cleaning ritual feels so lovely and very multi sensory: from the delicate olive oil  scent when you dispense the product, the massaging into the skin and the rinsing it off. I can't my head round how using an oil can leave my  skin feeling so clean, smooth and moisturised but it does.





The best of it all? The cleanser only cost me £5.10 and Botanics, being a Boots brand is often part of 3 for 2 offers. This makes me happy. I  have still have my beloved Botanics Rice and Honey Facial Wash in standby but I've never touched it back since. If you suffer from dry skin and  never tried a cream cleanser, you might possibly fall in love with this product. I have.

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A circle of love…

Couldn’t I find a tackier title? Wait, wait…


When the winner for the Sleek Santorini blush was announced, you may have remembered me announcing that there will be another giveaway (or two) in the pipeline. I have been meaning to put this post up for about 2 weeks now. Alas Superdrug was running out of the very things I wanted to blog about.


Just a month ago, I shared with you a topic very close to my heart. In fact, it was 2 things, triangular shaped, placed inconveniently under my eyes, my under eye circles which I have always been super self conscious about. The comments you left on that post, packed with tips, product suggestions, personal experiences, and generally love and support  have been so overwhelming and touched me so much.


Sooo, I wanted to give back a little something to you. Had I scooped the 161 millions at the EuroMillions (yes, I am *still* going on about that), I would have happily showered the 26 of you with presents. Alas this was not possible. So to say thank you,  I went to get 2 modest presents to give away to 2 random persons who have been commenting on my under eye circles post. So I went ahead and got 2 of these new fancy ‘hot cleanser’ from Superdrug, which, from what I’ve read, have started to cause a bit of a stir in the beauty blogosphere.












There was no way I could choose a winner but my faithful random.org assistant helped me. So. please the following ladies, give me your address and it will be a pleasure for me to send you a hot cleanser:

missy_ellie_uk
emalyce89

Wo, wo, wo, this is not fair, I hear you say. Why didn’t tell you you were going to do a giveaway, alert everyone and give the chance to all your readers to participate. Fear not, I have been collecting a few items to hold a ‘proper’ giveaway where everyone can participate. It’s not very much again but I hope you will still like it and would like to enter. Click here for the giveaway.


Thank you for everyone who read my blog and to all of you who take some time out of their day to leave a comment. You have no idea how uplifting your feedback is. Thank you xx


liloo xx
p.s now to get the Lion King ‘Circle of Life’ out of my head… *grr*

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