Taking It Off

I’ve always been really thorough with my cleansing routine. Wipes have always been a no-no for me and I always made sure that I was removing my makeup properly. Double cleansing, however, is quite new to me. I ‘discovered’ the benefits of it around this time last year and since starting to incorporate two separate cleansers in my routine my skin has been looking and feeling a lot better.

With double cleansing, you use a first cleanser to remove your makeup and surface impurities, then follow up with a second cleanse to really get into your pores and deeply purify the skin. I used to use my beloved Bioderma as a second cleanse then use a milk/gel/etc. as a double cleanse, but that wasn’t really thorough enough so I decided to start using an oil as my first cleanse, and it has made all the difference.

My oil cleanser of choice is the Origins Clean Energy gentle cleansing oil (€21 for 200ml). I bought this somewhere last week (see this post) and I’ve been absolutely loving it. It contains a lot of beneficial ingredients like olive, sunflower, sesame and safflower oil which help to remove dirt, pollutants and makeup really well. It also contains a lot of protecting ingredients like macadamia and kukui nut as well as vitamin E.

I usually use one pump for my face and one pump for my eyes as you really only need the tiniest amount of this. I do tend to use a little bit too much though since I just simply adore the feeling of massaging an oil into your skin; it makes me feel so relaxed. The scent of this is absolutely unreal. After massaging it in for a while I add a little bit of water, which transorms the oil in a beautiful milk which helps remove the last traces of makeup.

Origins claims it smells like grapefruit, orange and lemon but I find that it smells a lot more like lavender and sandal wood, which are my two absolute favourite scents ever. I always look forward to using this at night and I will definitely repurchase this when it runs out. It breaks down the makeup and leaves me with a clean face ready for a second cleanse.

People with oily skin might be a little bit hesitant about using oil on their face whether it’s a cleanser or just a facial oil, but instead of just adding more oil to the face, facial oils dissolve the bulk of the natural sebum on your face thus being really beneficial. I have oily skin myself and I find that my skin has benefited a lot from using oils on my skin. I don’t really recommend Origins products if you’ve got really, really acne prone and sensitive skin because they do contain quite a lot of essential oils, which can be possible irritants.

I love Origins packaging, which might be slightly irrelevant but it always draws me in. It is slightly unconvenient that it doesn’t have a pump and you need to buy a separate one, but I really recommend buying one since otherwise you might be using too much product.

INGREDIENTS: Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, PEG-25 Glyceryl Trioleate, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Aleurites Moluccana (Kukui) Seed Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Sweet Orange) Peel Oil, Lavandula Hybrida (Lavandin) Oil, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Oil, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Cedrus Atlantica (Cedarwood) Bark Oil, Pogostemon Cablin (Patchouli) Oil, Salvia Sclarea (Clary Sage) Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Pelargonium Graveolens (Geranium) Flower Oil, Fusanus Spicatus (Australian Sandalwood) Wood Oil, Amyris Balsamifera (Sandalwood) Bark Oil, Linalool, Limonene, Sorbitan Trioleate, Tocopheryl Acetate

For my second cleanse I’ve been using the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser (€17 for 150ml). I bought the cleanser, toner and moisturiser about a month ago (a review is in the making!) and so far, I’m really impressed. This is a gel cleanser which does also contain vitamin E as well as avocado oil and other beneficial ingredients. You’re supposed to massage it on to wet skin in upward circular motions, avoiding the eye area.

I tried using this on dry skin because I don’t really believe in applying products on wet skin, but it just doesn’t work. This gel cleanser needs a little bit of water to lather up and really work. I usually dampen my skin a little, then add a few drops of water to the cleanser and apply it to my skin. My second cleanse is where I try to do a little bit of facial massage, since it’s really beneficial to the skin and one of the best things you can do to achieve healthy, glowy looking skin. It improves circulation and muscle strength and therefore delays wrinkles, and don’t we all want that?

I really, really like this cleanser- it makes my skin feel really clean without stripping it too much. Sometimes my skin does feel a little bit dry after using it, but then I just use a heavier moisturiser.

I don’t really know if I’m going to repurchase this, though; it does contain parabens and sulfates, which are quite nasty ingredients and possible irritants to the skin. I don’t really mind, because after all it’s a cleanser and and you wash it off your face, but I prefer more natural ingredients in my skincare.

INGREDIENTS: Aqua / Water / Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Decyl Glucoside, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Acrylates Copolymer, Peg-200 Hydrogenated Glyceryl Palmate, Lauryl Glucoside, Sodium Chloride, Pentylene Glycol, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Peg-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Distearyl Ether, Behenyl Alcohol, Methylparaben, Laureth-2, Propylparaben, Sodium Methylparaben, Squalane, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil / Sweet Almond Oil, Prunus Armeniaca Kernel Oil / Apricot Kernel Oil, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Persea Gratissima Oil / Avocado Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid

So after using these two products, my skin feels clean and ready for my evening skincare routine. I'm trying to make my reviews etc. a little bit more in depth and to add ingredients as much as I can since I'm quite big on ingredients myself, and I like to know what I'm using.

Have you tried any of these cleansers? What products do you use to double cleanse?