By Paola Bassanese
A couple of weeks ago I was kindly sent a cleanser and toner from Skincaredirect.co.uk.
I explained that I have mature skin with pigmentation problems and voila’! A Skin-Lite cleanser and toner appeared at my doorstep the next day. I was very impressed with the efficiency of the service.
I took a picture on day one first thing in the morning (please pardon my less than polished appearance) before applying make up. I then took two pictures that evening, one showing my face with make up and one after the first application of Skin-Lite cleanser and toner.
The verdict from day one was that the cleanser “erased” all traces of make up and mascara very quickly thanks to its gentle foaming action. The cleanser has a gel consistency and in contact with water it forms a gentle lather. The toner felt fresh and soothing and made my skin soft at the touch.
So far, so good. I had been using other cleansers and sometimes you need to repeat the application twice as mascara can be quite stubborn to remove.
Fast forward to day fourteen, after using the products every day. I took another picture of my cleansed skin. All the pictures were taken with a less than professional Blackberry mobile but you can see the difference in the pigmentation. The marks I have on the skin are less visible and I did not edit the pictures for effect.
Let’s now look at the ingredients.
The Skin-Lite foaming cleanser contains cucumber, lemon extract and alas, parabens. I am a big fan of organic products but in this case the presence of parabens did not affect my skin and the results from the application of the cleanser speak for themselves.
The Skin-Lite toner contains lemon extract, cucumber, the aminoacids Glutamic and Aspartic acid, parabens and quite interestingly, a nicotinate. When I researched the ingredient Hexyl nicotine I found out that in clinical studies it has a role in suppressing inflammation on the skin.
You can make your own opinion about the ingredients and as I mentioned this line of products is not organic, however if you suffer from pigmentation and uneven skin tone and haven’t found a cleansing regime that works, this could be for you.
Personally I am satisfied with the results and because I like to research this area further I will continue to test more products to get a balanced view of what is available on the market.