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Post by AF Beauty
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Hello loves.
If you’ve been keeping up with me, you’ll recall one of my last posts was about discontinued products – the love of having known them, and the pain of them being gone.
To this end, I have been searching for a replacement of my daily cleanser, the Body Shop cleansing gel. The key for me, was that this gel wasn’t a gel in the traditional sense – it was an oily gel that melted away make up and turned to a milky texture on contact with water leaving the skin feeling perfectly soft and clean – but not stripped and not greasy.
Replacing Discontinued Beauty #1
Body Shop + Soap and Glory
When the SA at the Body Shop staggered me with the announcement of discontinuance she offered me a replacement product, the Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter. This is a good product. I’m not overly disappointed. It comes in a flat container the size of a large coaster and the product inside is a solid that looks like a pale candle – and the texture isn’t overly different either. I don’t know what the intention is, in terms of how they expect you to dispense the product, so I’ve innovated and basically use my thumb backwards to scoop out an amount. The problem with this is that it’s best guess – I’ve no idea what amount they actually intend for use.
Once applied it melts down relatively well – probably the only downside is that creating the soft oiliness of an easy cleanser is a little bit difficult, not insurmountable – it does dissolve, it removes make up and cleans off easily, imitating the milky texture of its predecessor. As I like things that smell nice, this is also a positive, the smell is pleasant and light. Once washed off, the feeling on the skin is clean and soft – all in all a decent substitute. The only other thing to note is it says the product is suitable for contact lens wearers. As I don’t wear lenses, I don’t know exactly what that means – but I do know that it stings my eyes a bit and is quite uncomfortable – but really I just need to take more care!
The second product I’ve tested is from Soap and Glory and is called The Ultimelt. This comes as part of a cleansing “package” as it comes with it’s own muslin cleaning cloth. Although I’ve used it with both muslin and just a regular flannel, the difference isn’t that much to me. The product is not overly dissimilar to the original Body Shop Gel, perhaps thicker and more like a cream than a gel – but it melts down very quickly and has a lovely texture and removes my makeup.
This also turns milky on contact with water and washes off well. Probably my only criticism is the strength of the lavender that is contained in the product – it is a lovely smell but it is very strong, probably a little stronger than I’d choose. But the product is a good replacement for my Body Shop original, albeit a little more difficult to source in Australia.
These two were the nearest to the Body Shop Gel that I could find, but in searching for a replacement I’ve also tested two oil cleansers – I’ll review these in the next post – so keep an eye out – and if you’re interested in an oil based cleanser, hold off before heading out to purchase!
Until next time, AF x