Much Love: Dermalogica PreCleanse

I'm in a bit of a cleanser limbo land at the minute.

I like to think I'm the antithesis of those desperate souls in the ad for Batchelors beans - you know the one, where people furiously shake and (ew) lick the nibs of their biros to try and get the ink flowing, or batter their toothpaste tubes to death as they attempt to eke the very last little bit out. As some loony opens her cupboard stacked full of bean tins, the voiceover wryly intones "It's funny how you never let yourself run out of Batchelors".

Replace "Batchelors" with "Eve Lom Cleansing Balm" and you have me.

Well, usually.

At the minute, however - somehow - I'm all out, and there isn't a trip to an NYC or a Harvey Nicks or a Space:NK in my near future. Of course, I could try one of the dupes that now abound. Liz Earle, Boots Time Delay, Urban Retreat, The Sanctuary - all offer cleansers that polish off with a muslin cloth, but I'm saving my sheckles for the real deal and in the meantime using up make-up taker-offers that I'd nearly forgotten I had (and had long since meant to pawn off on gift to Mam and my sister.)

Luckily for my mush, I haven't run out of my other cleansing staple: Dermalogica PreCleanse. I've a bottle of this magic stuff that I'm using to help send the day's slap on its merry way down the plughole before applying Some Random Cleanser That Should Possibly Have Been Binned Last Month. It's a cleansing oil that contains conditioning essential fatty acids to help smooth, calm and nourish skin. Aaaaah.

PreCleanse smells lavenderlicious, and in addition to shifting the likes of waterproof mascara, Double Wear and Double Wear Light without leaving a greasy residue, it lifts excess sebum and any oil-based grime without drying skin. You massage the oil onto dry skin using small circular motions before wetting your hands and massaging your face again, at which point the oil becomes a milky emulsion that rinses off easily. It's best to apply PreCleanse to a damp cotton pad before tackling eye make-up: although suitable for use around the eye area, like any oil it stings like the bejaysis if it strays in the direction of your eyeball.

Using Dermalogica PreCleanse as a cleansing step one means that even cleansers of dubious pedigree and merit manage to pass the white muslin cloth test. I just hope it lasts until my piggy bank fills up and I manage to beg a lift to Dundrum from Himself...

Read more: the Dermalogica Double Cleanse