No7 Soft & Soothed Gentle Cleanser for Normal/Dry Skin

You gotta love those £5 off Boots vouchers eh, which for me meant that this cleanser only cost £3 (Any amount of money I can save in Boots is a good thing, I spent a large part of my wages there). The trick is remembering that you have the vouchers though isn’t it, and using them before they expire :0)

Looking back at my current skincare post, you may have surmised that I was happy with my Johnson’s nourishing cleansing lotion and that is indeed true. However, I’m always looking for a product that is even better, and one thing my Johnsons doesn’t do is remove my eye make up. Enter No7 soft and soothed.

I was slightly apprehensive about buying a cleanser for normal/dry skin, when my skin is far from normal and/or dry, but since it worked out best doing it that way with my Johnsons cleanser, it seemed the sensible path. My apprehension was about ending up with even greasier skin and a lot of pimples.

Firstly I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the smell of the cleanser, in that it’s almost fragrance free. I have mostly avoided No7 products because any that I’ve tried in the past had a strange dusty old smell to them! (Honestly, check the testers next time you are in boots, it’s really odd).

Ease of use for this cleanser gets top marks as it has a pump dispenser. It doesn’t dispense an awful lot with each pump but that works for me as I usually end up using too much with non-dispenser types.

So, what’s the actual product like? Well, it DOES take off my eye make up easily and as a cleanser it does exactly what it says on the tin – sweeps away make-up and impurities, comforts and hydrates.  I’m a cleanse tone and moisturize girl as you know, and usually my face doesn’t feel “finished” until I’ve completed all three steps, but after using this my skin felt clean and moisturised but not greasy and could have happily been left at that stage. (I didn’t leave it, I’m all about following the skincare “rules” he he).

Now, you know how fussy I am so most products have a downside for me, and for this cleanser it’s that it leaves a film on my eyes after removing mascara etc, so much so that everything looks a bit blurry unless I use a toner over my eyes to finish. Quite a surprising downside since it doesn’t feel that way on the rest of the skin.

My conclusion is that it’s a great facial cleanser, but not £5 better than my Johnson’s (without a voucher it’s £8 and the Johnsons one is £3). If I had another voucher, I would repurchase, mostly for the convenience of the pump dispenser.