SKINCARE | Double Cleansing with Stoic Beauty Gemini Cleanser Alpha and Beta

 

Press samples

I am back with more from Toronto-based Stoic Beauty! I fell in love with the brand at the beginning of the year when I got a chance to try their serums and then again with their body oil and butter. This year, I have really been into trying out different cleansers and as an advocate of the double cleanse, Stoic Beauty's Gemini Cleansers immediately jumped out at me!

SKINCARE | The Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Cleansing Ritual

I seem to be exhibiting a bit of a pattern this last week when it comes to what I have been talking about in that a lot of my posts have been personal purchases over the last year or so. I go through these phases where I see something cool and new, envision a beautiful flatlay and post idea, tell myself I'm going to try the product "as soon as I finish what I'm working on now", then time starts to fly and now I'm quarantined and forced to come to terms with the fact that it has been 15 months since I purchased the Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Cleansing Ritual and am finally sharing my thoughts with you! 

 Purchased by me

SKINCARE | Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm

Apologies for the almost week long absence. I had a 22 hour work weekend which ended with me getting sick with a fever Sunday night to Tuesday. I was still pretty sick today and missed two events which I would have loved to share with you, but I DID survive my work day. There was a lot going on so I just hid in my office with a Mickey Mouse face mask and my Saje diffuser running. The last couple of days have been about keeping things really simple and clean and though I am sad that I lost a week of Lunar February posts, I will end the month with one from a brand that I really love and haven't talked about in awhile - Farmacy. 

SKINCARE | L’Occitane Immortelle Oil Make-Up Remover

I used to blog about L’Occitane A LOT when I first started blogging mainly for haulage purposes (#1, #2, #3, the list goes on!) and I don’t know why I haven’t actually reviewed any of the items I have purchased since I have so many L’Occitane goodies in my office (yes, that’s where I have to keep everything). That stops today because although I am a die hard Shea Butter user (face, body and hands), I have a HUGE soft spot for cleansing oils. Although the new Immortelle Oil Make-Up Remover*($32.00 CDN) says “make-up remover” on the label, this can also be thought of as a cleansing oil effective enough to remove even waterproof mascaras.

Made without water, but with a base of sunflower seed oil (first ingredient ya’ll!) along with immortelle flower and apricot oil, this oil cleanser looks watery at first glance and easily sloshes around the bottle. Different story once it’s on your face though! There is barely a scent to this with maybe a hint of “plant” when sniffed closely.

Oil cleansers work best when applied to dry skin and become milky in consistency when water is added. This can be an odd change for those of us used to some massive foaming action from the classic facial cleanser. Foaming cleansers generally give skin that squeaky clean feel while oil cleansers leave skin feeling like well, skin and possibly even softer which was the case with this Immortelle oil cleanser! For use around the eyes, keep your eyes closed as ANY kind of oil getting in your eyes is incredibly uncomfortable and for mascara, just get a little bit on the tips of your thumb and forefinger and just gently roll your lashes. This will minimize any oil from seeping into your eyes.

Final Verdict: Imagine a cleansing liquid moisturizer because that’s what this is. The moment you begin to massage this onto your skin you can feel how thick this cleanser really is. It’s not watery at all and you can really feel how smooth the oil is over your skin. My favourite part was washing this off because your skin feels so soft and hydrated even though you’re throwing water at it! My skin felt almost…creamy in texture but clean which sounds like an odd combination, but there’s something to be said about not feeling squeaky clean. We all know that squeaky clean eventually leads to tightness, but I know that some of us are so used to that feeling that we don’t feel clean unless our skin *squeaks*. As I age (gracefully), moisture will be a fleeting friend and oil cleansers my favourite way to cleanse.

Who is terrified of using oil to cleanse their face?