Tuesday 16 August 2011

Clinique Skincare review

I picked up this travel size Clinique collection from the duty free shop in Luton Airport before I went on holiday a couple of weeks ago. I was initially drawn to it because I've got very temperamental skin when it comes to skin care. I rarely have breakouts or terrible blackheads, but my skin is quite sensitive; hence why I was drawn to Clinique's allergy tested and fragrance free products. 
I take my make up off every night and exfoliate 2-3 times a week and my only staple product before trying this range was the St. Ives Apricot Scrub
This pack of "daily essentials" was £33 for this travel size selection but the full prices for each product can be found here, here, here, here and here.  Each bottle in my pack is around 50ml except the eye cream which is 15ml. I bought the package designed for skin type 2 - Dry / Combination as I occasionally suffer from dry areas around my nose but generally have no specific "problems" with my skin.
(The products are used in the order they're displayed on the box apart from the make-up remover, naturally you'd use that before the facial wash to remove mascara/eyeliner/eyeshadow etc.)


The description on the official Clinique website for the full size Liquid Facial Soap, Clarifying Lotion and Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion says "It's easy with the 3-Step Skin Care Introduction Kit. Just 3 minutes, morning and night, to see clear, smooth, radiant skin in about two weeks. Cleanse, exfoliate, moisturise. Dermatologist-developed to meet your skin's needs and custom-fit by Skin Type. Works gently, each step enhancing the next."
Personally I haven't seen a change, but like I said above I rarely have any problems with my skin so that's neither a positive or a negative. I really like the facial soap which foams lightly and the moisturiser which is very quickly absorbed and not too thick, though I found the Clarifying Lotion was much too strong. It smells very strongly of alcohol which I found disappointing. I used it all over my face  after washing and before moisturising, but kept a good distance from the eye area as the scent is so strong that my eyes watered! It doesn't require washing off after and the scent doesn't linger it's just quite overpowering when first used. I would advise not using on broken skin as it would be quite painful. 

Looking at the Take The Day Off make up remover I am a huge fan! This product is quite oily which is very effective on waterproof eye make up, I removed my Nars volumising mascara with only a couple of sweeps with a cotton pad (usually it doesn't budge when I use a facial wipe!). You just need to shake the bottle a couple of times and then apply a small amount to a cotton pad and sweep over once or twice. My usual routine was to use the make up remover on my eyes (using a separate cotton pad for each eye and my face to avoid contamination of germs), then the facial scrub, clarifying lotion and facial moisturiser. 
The All About Eyes eye cream has a very pleasant smell and you don't need to use more than a finger tips worth per eye, if that! It claims to be a  "Lightweight eye cream [that] diminishes the appearance of eye puffs, darkness and fine lines. Non-creep, cream/gel formula actually helps hold eye makeup in place. For use morning and night, both under eyes and on lids" I would agree with the majority of the statement and I have seen a slight difference in the darkness under my eyes since using the product. 

Overall, I am very impressed with all of the products in this set. I'm glad I bought the products in their smaller size as I may have been put off by the clarifying lotion initially but since the bottle is so small I knew I'd use it until it was empty. When I run out of these small sizes I'll be buying the full sized products to take back to university with me in a few weeks!  

xo xo






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