L'Oréal Paris Skin Perfection Soothing Gel-cream Wash: a bit meh.

I am always looking for a new cleanser that will take off the days makeup easily while looking after my skin. I know that L'Oréal have been upping their game with regards to new product formulations so when I spied the Skin Perfecting Soothing Gel-cream Wash in Tesco for just under a fiver... I popped it in the trolley and that was before Christmas.

Supposedly good for dry and sensitive skin, and making some big claims about removing makeup and impurities, this contains no perfume or soap, and so smells mostly like nothing, but there is a faint wiff of something pharmaceutical about it. It isn't unpleasant at all, just clean. I like that.

The other thing I like is that it has a flip top. And I like how the hole is small, because this cleanser is quite runny, and you only really need a small amount, which makes this great for the budget conscious user. You won't be accidentally wasting this.

This reacts like a gel when you mix it with water. It just spreads further and if you agitate it you will see it captures small bubbles of air, but it doesn't actually foam. As I said it spreads easily and feels soft and gentle on my skin, and I suppose it does an ok job as a morning cleanser. But that is about where the good things end for me.

I tried using this to remove a regular days makeup: moisturiser, foundation, eyeliner, mascara, blush, whats left of my lipstick. And after rinsing off with my usual facecloth and warm water, when I went in with my toner afterwards I still had an awful lot of colour product that came off on the cotton pad. Strike One.

Even after rinsing and rinsing again, my skin didn't actually feel like it was clean. I can't explain it, but I felt like I needed to go in with my balm cleanser. It didn't leave a film behind, but it didn't remove all the dirt/grime/makeup. Strike Two.

It broke me out. One of the ingredients in this caused spots all over my cheeks, jaw and my temples. Despite rinsing properly and using LRP Effaclar Duo +  this broke me out. It was the only thing I changed in my routine... and even though I know I was struggling with my skin, this honestly did it no favours, especially since the breakouts around my temples was new. Strike Three.

A week after I stopped using it the new breakouts started clearing up. I waited for my skin to clear and then I used it again, in the mornings only and within a week I had new spots (little whiteheads) all around my temples and on my chin. I tried it for about 9 weeks, with the same results. breakout central.

I stopped using it. And let himself use it. Aaaaannnndddd it broke him out too. We didn't even finish it... I felt crappy about chucking out a half full tube of product... but it just didn't work for me and my oily combo skin.