Aurelia Skincare Miracle Cleanser

I'm going to be blunt - people can be incredibly dim about cleansing their skin. I've lost count of the times I've spotted a cheap, harsh, foaming bottle from the drugstore on the same counter as a $100 face cream and designer makeup, and it flies in the face of logic - stripping skin before slapping on expensive treatments to counteract all that damage. Madness! Oil is what breaks down oil, deep cleaning into pores without breaking the fragile lipid barrier - so stop using detergents on your face. Please.

 

So, as you might imagine, a good, creamy cleanser is always the first item I recommend to people looking to revamp their routine or improve problem compexions. I feel very strongly about it. I'm even forced into using exclamation marks. When skin is primed properly, and gently, you can toss expensive treatments, use less moisturizer and keep skin so much happier and healthier. And the act of cleasing itself - massaging a creamy dollop into your tired, dirty visage, then gently wiping off with a steamy hot cloth - really is sublimely therapeutic, to skin and senses. Basically, once you go hot cloth cleansing, you don't go back. 

 

The newest, brightest star on the creamy cleanser front, one that had me hooked at first use, is the aptly named Miracle Cleanser from Aurelia Probiotic Skincare, a small UK-based brand with the purest of ingredients and ethics. The cool, creamy concoction breaks down makeup and oils expertly with coconut derived cleansing agents, fatty acids, cocoa and shea butters, while soothing and nourishing the skin with botanical extracts like kigelia and baobab and their flagship probiotic proteins. But it's the blend of eucalyptus, rosemary and chamomile essential oils that's elevated this into cult classic status in the beauty world already. The gorgeous, invigorating scent is like a creamy, couture Noxzema - waking up senses in the morning and wiping away the stress of the day at night. Fair warning - it's additive. 

Since adding this to my routine, I find I'm looking for any excuse to wash my face. I've started humming chipper tunes in the bathroom while I cleanse. Yesterday I woke up at an ungodly early hour and went jogging. I'd be horrified if my skin didn't look so gorgeous. And it really is gorgeous. Obviously I take care of it, and it's ever really that bad to begin with, but there's a more even-toned glow, a clean, soft, smooth feel that the Miracle Cleanser has most definitely imparted. I've stopped using any serums, treatments, exfoliants - just this and my usual moisturizer, and the results are, well, miraculous. Unfortunately I've used my jar up much too quickly - it's easy to ration, but I like to slather on several finger-fulls and really go to town with the whole facial massage routine, meaning that stores are getting ominously low. Will I'll return to my sloveny, lazy self without my Miracle Cleanser fix? I don't intend to find out, as I'll be re-ordering. Ad infinitum.

The Miracle Cleanser is $53 for a 4 oz jar, not at all pricey for a luxury cream or balm cleanser, as it lasts for ages, but an investment for those of you used to skimping on cleansers (fools). Aurelia is one of those brands I'm so happy to see do well, and that I can stomach paying a solid price for. They're passionate, as they well should be, about products they've formulated with incredible detail, love and care. I love the little touches you get with a small, beautifully-run line like this - the gorgeous, hand-wrapped packages, the luxurious, heavy glass jars and bottles, ingredients of a quality that organic doesn't begin to cover. So go and buy this immediately - it gets The Blossom Shed seal of approval and then some. Now I'm off to wash my face. Again.

Aurelia Probiotic Skincare is available at Net a Porter in the US, and from their website in the UK. Now be honest - are you guilty of crimes against cleansing, or do you keep things creamy? Let's discuss below...

 

*This product was a PR sample from the generous people at Aurelia Skincare. This in no way effects my opinions - if I don't like a product, I don't feature it!  

Scrub Amnesty - Balance Me Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm

Let me start this by saying that I am, in principle, anti-scrub.  I'm usually one of their most vehement opponents, believing, quite rightly, that no good can come of treating your skin like a block of wood that needs sanding. They make skin feel super clean for ten minutes until oil production goes into overdrive to recover from all that sandblasting - thus beginning a dreadful cycle. 

However... there are those of you whose skins do perfectly well with a gentle physical exfoliant two or three times a week to remove dead skin, brighten up the complexion and add an extra glow. And there are those of you who will just refuse to toss out your gritty scrubs and like the feeling they give. So if you must scrub, I beg you - toss out your foaming walnut shell concoctions, and try something like Balance Me's lovely Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm instead.

A smooth, rich balm in a handy tube, it uses sweet almond, kukui nut, camellia and coconut oils to deep clean and dissolve dirt and makeup, while finely ground oatmeal polishes and exfoliates skin. I love the beautiful orange blossom-type scent and the glow it gives skin in the mornings. You can still feel the invigorating scrubby-effect, but aren't stripping your skin with quite such gusto, and the lovely oils will soothe and nourish along the way. The oatmeal will eventually clog up your sink a bit, and if you use it while staying over at friend's houses you won't be invited back. But we must all pay a price for beauty, and a clogged sink is a somewhat small one.

Balance Me is a fabulous new and fast-growing brand that makes pure, high-quality products with reasonable prices. The line is simple and easy to navigate, with cute, user-friendly packaging - it's a great place to start if you're looking to buy some skincare staples to "green up" your beauty cabinet this spring. Readers outside the US can buy from Look Fantastic, which offers free, albeit slow, international shipping.

So there you have it - a somewhat confusing message. Don't use scrubs! But if you must, use this one - it's lovely. 

So now's the time to spill your secrets below - what's the worst thing you've ever done to your face? For a time as a teen, I used an exfoliating pad from the Body Shop that had the exact texture of a Brillo pad. It somehow seemed like a good idea at the time...

*This product was a press sample. Samples in no way affect my opinion - if I don't like a product, I don't write about it. 

Cult Classic - Bioderma Crealine

This has been a staple for models and makeup artists for years, and for good reason - it's a simple, no-frills micellaire cleanser that's hypoallergenic, unscented and gentle, but still wonderfully effective.

Micelle cleansers are basically soft water with teeny, tiny molecules of oil suspended within - when they touch anything that isn't water, they grab it and eat it up. Sort of. Hence why these cleansers are rinseless. They tend to have nice ingredients like glycerin and cucumber too. Does that kind of explain it, or can you tell I don't really have any idea what any of this means? I'm rubbish at science.


Regardless, Crealine is the old standby of Micelles - a quirt on a cotton ball or pad will swipe everything off your face without any dryness, stinging or tugging - I have incredibly sensitive, dry skin, and this doesn't bother me at all - it's fantastic as a simple makeup remover, a toner after cleansing to remove excess oil/residue, or as a daily cleanser for sensitive, hydrophobic skin. The fact that I can, if I'm feeling particularly slovenly, wipe my face with this, NOT apply any moisturizer, and wake up the next morning without my skin painfully parched, is more than enough reason for me to keep boxes of this in my cabinet.

It's everywhere in France, sold cheap in the drug stores, but unfortunately it's a little harder to get here, but worth it. I order mine through Amazon, or stock up when I'm in Canada, where they carry it at some Shopper's Drug stores. So if you live in Canada, think of that as one small consolation. Le Guide Sante, an online French store, has it super cheap, but you pay shipping from Europe, so I don't really know if it ends up evening out or not. I intend to find out one day.

The only rules to remember with Crealine are - super, heavy eye makeup will still need a heavy cream or oil cleanser to get off - this can only do so much for costume grade makeup - and that you HAVE to dry your face after you wipe on the cleanser - I have absolutely no idea why, no one seems to, but it says it on the package, and if you don't, your skin feels tighter and dryer. So I don't question, and do what I'm told. It seems to be some cosmic Micelle rule. It's also sometimes referred to as "Bioderma Sensibio". Ignore this - it's the same product.

Has anyone tried any of the other brands of Micelle cleansers? Nuxe and Caudalie both make lovely sounding ones as well, but I stick with what I like usually, and I certainly like Bioderma Crealine.