Tuesday 31 January 2012

Review: Sanctuary Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser.

I got this cleanser for Christmas (I requested it) because I'd heard so much about hot cloth cleansers and as I knew I wanted the Sanctuary 5 Minute Thermal Mask, and all the 'premium skincare' was on a 3 for 2 offer I decided to ask for this :)

I'm sure a lot of you will find a comparison to my Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser interesting/useful, but in the interest of fairness, I'll be giving this a full review of it's own here, and I'll post a short comparison post later on today.

The Sanctuary cleanser is on the pricier side for me, at £10.20 for 125ml at Boots- although compared to other options (like the famous Liz Earle) it is still reasonable. It comes in a box with a muslin cloth which is about 20cm square.




The cleanser contains many lovely ingredients; including cocoa seed butter (the second ingredient!) coconut oil, glycerin, jojoba oil etc. But despite that I'm not sure I like the scent- it's partly herbal and fruity, but at the same time, it reminds me a little of the Sanctuary thermal mask... However, it doesn't have a too strong a scent, I can only smell it if I really sniff the bottle, and I don't think it would really put you off too much :)




It has a thick texture, much like a body butter, but by warming it up a little between my fingers it will apply to my face quite easily. Once massaged into my skin it does still remain quite creamy, which makes it harder to get a really deep clean- and it doesn't remove make up particularly well (I don't rely on my cleanser to remove make up, but it's worth considering!) but after working it over with the cloth my skin does feel properly clean :)
The muslin cloth is a little stiffer and more abrasive than I'd like- it's not too easy to exfoliate around my nose, and I find it a little too harsh for use around my eyes. Someone with less sensitive skin would probably like it though, as it does give a stronger exfoliation- and it's by no means harsh, just a little more exfoliating than I'd prefer. 

I also have a minor gripe about the packaging- I really hate tubes that you have to twist the top off all the way, I find them really inconvenient.




The formula can leave my skin feeling a little tight (in the 'slightly dry' way) which isn't brilliant for my skin, although recently it has been really good at keeping my monthly hormonal outbreak at a minimum (when my skin is less dry, and more spot prone)- so I may actually switch in between this and my Vitamin E cleanser depending on when I need them, instead of using one then the other up.

In fairness to Sanctuary, at no point does this product claim to be suitable for dry or sensitive skin (it doesn't mention a skin type on the packaging at all) so the fact that it does work quite well for me shows how versatile it actually is, but I don't think I'll be repurchasing this one. However I do really recommend it to those with oilier skins, as I think it would be a really good hot cloth cleanser for them.


Have you tried this hot cloth cleanser? Are you a hot cloth cleanser convert? (if so which one is your favourite?)



                                                                                                            xGretalRabbitx

2 comments:

  1. I find some Sanctuary products hit n miss, some I really like others not so much but I haven't tried this one before x

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    Replies
    1. I have to say I'm not a fan of their scent... But their mask is awesome, and I think this would be brilliant for someone with less dry skin than me :)
      xGretalRabbitx

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