November 07, 2011

Review: Kiehl's Oil-Free Ultra Facial Cleanser

Poor Kiehl's. They kindly sent me their Oil-Free Ultra Facial Cleanser and Gel Cream to review over a month ago, but thanks to travel I haven't been able to really give them a try. Since my face tends to break out and go into a state of flux during travel it didn't seem fair to trial their products until everything had calmed down.

Well I've been using the cleanser almost daily for nearly two weeks (sorry a 3-day business trip got in the way) and I think I can formulate an opinion on it now. The gel-creme moisturiser though will take far more intensive testing.

Cleansers are one of those products that are easy to test but hard to review. Unless they do something miraculous or truly hellish you end up with no real opinions on it. So far, I can tell you that Kiehl's falls into the "good but not magic" category. 
It's a cream cleanser. Which I usually hate and at first use... I really hated this one too. I hate the tacky feeling they leave when you rinse them off. But as soon as I dried my face the tacky feeling went away and I was left with smooth, normal-feeling skin. Not tight, not oily. Right on!

After that I came to appreciate the cleanser's soft cushioney foam more and how little you need to use each time (really, just a smidgen). To those keen on not tugging at your face at all, the foam acts as a buffer and gives you a gentler wash. 

I always double cleanse so I have no idea how this performs at removing makeup.

The cleanser is fragrance-free and has no scent at all. It contains Impereta Cylindrica Root and Lemon Fruit Extracts - but does NOT say what they're for. Lemon though is a known astringent and has whitening and exfoliating properties. I have no notion what an Impereta Cylindrica Root is. o_0.

It also claims to remove oil instantly (I'd be worried if I met a cleanser that didn't) and is also paraben, colourant and oil free. All good things. 

Conclusion
I'll be using up this tube quite happily. But so far it hasn't convinced me that it's worth the RM85 for 150ml purchase price since I still prefer gel cleansers, namely Johnson's Head to Toe which is RM17 for three times the amount. 

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had a sample of this cleanser as well and thought it was so-so. I do like the gel cream moisturiser but lately, I've found it to be a wee bit drying because my skin has been rather dehydrated. Sigh, I hate having finicky skin.

xin said...

thanks for the link love! It works what it should do, without weird fragrance. since it is a rather huge tube, i have been using it generously together with clarisonic mia. it helps to create a really soft cushion of foam while the clarisonic is at work :D

Jupester said...

i hate that tacky feeling too,i think it causes me to tug at my facial skin more when i'm trying to rinse it off properly.