Bang-ba-bang-bang-bang for your Buck!
Written: Jun 10 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice 'n cheap, eliminates oil, tones skin, adds moisture, deep down clean
Cons: No dramatic results, sometimes adds slight redness
The Bottom Line: The best cleanser you will ever find for that price! Another great St. Ives product.
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| perfectprep's Full Review: St. Ives Purifying Clear Pore Cleanser |
My Interesting + Unusual Skin Survived it...
I have truly "interesting" skin. Some people call it combination, but it's also sensitive. Basically, it's pretty darn normal on a day to day basis, but it acts up under certain common conditions. For example, winter. That renders my poor skin dry as the Arctic! During practically every other season, it's fine, but for a little cluster of pimples on the sides of my nose. (you didn't need to know that, right!) This "cluster" gets really bad at certain, shall we say, times of the month. Plus my skin is hyper sensitive to a few ingredients (especially mineral oil) that will absolutely set it on fire. So NOW you know about my skin... how bout you learn a little about the product, which is what you're here for?
St Ives Purifying Facial Clear PoreCleanser
First off, the St. Ives part. ST. Ives is a little Swiss company that makes the products on the bottom shelf. They have a small cult following which becomes apparent here on Epinions. And rightly so, for St. Ives products are really nice. To start, they're overwhelmingly natural and botanical--think Aveda, but a little less in-your-face. Lots and lots of yummy ingredients that normally come at high prices. Secondly, St. Ives stuff is scientifically tested--and extensively so--in little labs in Switzerland (this is what i visualize anyway)--so you know it works. Really works. Plus, St. Ives stuff feels nice and pampering when you need a little extra care. The products come in big bottles--10 to 20 ounces--so you have something real to hold in your hand, not a tiny little vial with prissy packaging. Gotta love St. Ives. Best of all, though, it's next to dirt cheap! Think $3 for the most wonderful shampoo you've ever tried or $4 for a giant collagen body lotion.
Now onto the product itself. Purifying Facial Clear Pore Cleanser comes in the typical, simple packaging of St. Ives. The bottle is translucent and you can see the greeny-blue gel within it. It's a nice hearty bottle containing a full 10 fluid ounces of product (I'm looking at a different bottle from the one pictured on Epinions.) On the back, the three primary botanicals are pictured: tea tree for skin clarity, soothing chamomile, and moisturizing primrose.
Oh, but there's more to it. Tons of other ingredients fill this face wash, some of them cheerily innocuous (lemon and sunflower) and others a little bit creepy (peg-120 methyl glucose dioleate!). And the words 'Swiss formula' are sorta embossed onto the bottle in raised type (the coolest part by far.) You can even 'lock' the pump for travel.
The Experience
I was going on a month-long vacation and needed a travel cleanser. Basically an inexpensive one, so I wouldn't stress if it got lost or ruined, but also an effective one that would keep my face free from summertime oil slicks. I wisely picked out St. Ives Purifying Facial Clear Pore Cleanser.
The product comes out in a clear, loose gel form on your hands. It has a very light nonoffensive smell ('barely noticeable', Epinions calls it) and a fresh feel. The instructions say to lather the product in your hands before applying to your face, which I did. There were lots of glowing, foamy bubbles. I worked it well into my skin and I could almost feel my complexion getting just a little bit fresher as I rubbed and rubbed. Finally, I splashed my face with cold water and felt an instant tight, uplifted, toned, CLEAN sensation.
I looked into the mirror. Unfortunately, my blackheads (it was summer) weren't gone, or even reduced, but I could just feel that the bacteria from over-prodding had died. There was just a tiny bit of redness on my face but it disappeared quickly - basically, this product was not an issue for my sensitive skin. In fact, it was very gentle, and I could use it a little bit on my eyes so long as I was VERY careful to keep them closed. My pore size was reduced and my skin was nice 'n tight.
In Hindsight...
I have a large array of cleansers (hey, I'm a junkie) and I tend to choose the one that I think will suit my needs best on that specific day. When I have that tired, bogged down summer skin, this is the one I reach for. It instantly revitalizes, removes ALL the oil and then adds a slight bit of moisture. It never strips or overdries, and it leaves me feeling fresh and positively clean. My first bottle lasted me about 9 months, pretty good for $3.50, and I got a new one afterwards.
This cleanser is ideal for those with sensitive skin (the ingredients are generally pretty benign including chamomile, which sooths); those with oily skin (tea tree will just suck up that oil and leave you luminously clean NOT greasy); those with combination skin (this fits your bill perfectly); those with normal skin (get a brighter complexion!); and even those with dry skin (it's got primrose!). Basically: unless you have skin on the far end of the spectrum (either super-dry, super-acne prone, or intensely combinational), this cleanser will absolutely work for you. It will last forever and it's a steal at $3.50. You'll never grow tired of it.
As for me, I compare the results of this to those of my regular cleanser, Aveda Botanical Kinetics Purifying Gel Cleanser. Aveda's cleanser differs in that it is entirely all-natural, packaged in this beautiful green glass, and mucho expensive at $19 for 5 ounces. However, one bottle of Aveda's cleanser (5 oz.) lasts about the same amount of time as the 10 oz. bottle of St. Ives, because I tend to use a very small amount of Aveda's. Aveda's cleanser does give me slightly better results (and it should, given the price), but they are very similar cleansers with similar ingredients. So I use Aveda as my home cleanser, and St. Ives for travel. This works very well, and my combo skin has never been so happy.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
perfectprep
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Reviews written: 81
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
Epinions-crazy, fun and spunky, slightly funky, ever zany.
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