A Post In Praise of Cleansing Oils

Ah, cleansing oils, how I love thee. I have tried various and many of you at this stage. Creme de la Mer - well, in the immortal words of Shania Twain, you didn't impress me much. You were messy, you smelled horrid and you needed about 4 goes to actually work properly. I know Aphrodite loved you, but you left me cold. To me you are the Brad Pitt of the cleansing oil world - all bumpf and hype, but actually quite crappy and overrated - plus you have also proved yourself to be bit of a wand, what with these shennanigans with Angelina Jolie. Now, if she was a beauty brand, she'd be Anne French. She's just rubbish.

But Shu Uemura - oh, you win the cleansing oil prize, no contest. One of the must-haves on my Japan shopping list was some of this stuff (did I mention that I've just been in Japan? Oh yes - approx 45 times). Shu's cleansing oils are cult beauty buys that are renowned for their sheer ability to do what they say they will - and they do it stink free too. Shu Uemura do 4 oils, but the one I went with was High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil.

I love it. It is actually the best cleanser I have ever used, and one pump of this stuff cleans my face of a days worth of makeup. It's just a brilliant, effective product. It even does a better than average job on waterproof mascara too, and in short, I now rue the fact it took me 33 years to get hold of a bottle of it. But this has led to all sorts of conflicting emotions churning around inside me -I love it, I want to use it all the time. BUT how will I replace it? Should I only save it for special occasions or use it daily? WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN IT RUNS OUT!?

With this in mind I've been checking out some more easily available alternatives. I think L'Occitane's Almond Apple Cleansing Oil is going to be next on my list. I love L'Occitane's wholesome approach to skincare anyway and I've never been disappointed by a product of theirs that I've tried - plus, they all smell delicious. This oil is used in the same way as the others I've used - you rub it onto dry skin, wet your face to emulsify the product and it transforms into a creamy milk that will remove all traces of makeup and dirt.

Oils leave your skin soft and supple too, and are brilliant for all skin types. This one claims to "preserve the skin's hydro-lipidic barrier" as well - what this means is it won't strip the skin and you won't be left with that tight, uncomfortable feeling that using a face wash can often result in. The Almond Apple oil is available now from L'Occitane stockists and I reckon, going on the Sterling price, that it'll be €20+.