It’s not often you’ll find me going for the cheap option when it comes to skincare, but circumstances necessitated a change recently when I went on holiday without cleansing milk. I didn’t want to buy a big bottle that I wouldn’t be able to bring home, as I was traveling with hand luggage only and it’s surprising how few lines offer cleansers in anything less than 200ml bottles. After a bit of searching, however, I came across the German natural skincare line Lavera, who conveniently sell their cleansers in 75ml tubes. And priced at not much more than a fiver in Austria, I decided it was worth taking a chance on their Aloe Vera Cleansing Milk for sensitive skin.

Formulated with organic aloe vera, as well as natural moisturising agents such as sweet almond oil, olive oil and shea butter, this is a rich cream formula, so you don’t need a huge amount to cleanse your face well. It can be applied to dry or damp skin and massaged in, and then simply rinsed off (or you could remove it with a muslin cloth if you had one to hand). I find a lot of cleansing milks leave a film on my skin when I rinse without using a cloth, but this one rinses perfectly clean, leaving my skin feeling clean, soft and comfortable.

It has a very mild lotion-type fragrance and I did find it very soothing on my skin, which often becomes more sensitive after flying. It removes makeup and sunscreen completely and my skin always looks calm and clear after use.

Lavera is available in Ireland from health stores and online (I found it at www.breatheonline.ie for €6.90) and it is very well-priced for a product that is a pleasure to use and has a high quality ingredient list. Oh and the fact that you can travel with it in your hand luggage without having to worry about decanting it into a smaller bottle is an additional bonus.