I never used to have a proper skincare routine until recently. I have tried a million and one cleansers, exfoliaters, toners, face scrubs, face washes, face masks etc etc etc but I hadn't found something that actually worked.
A couple of months ago I heard about Liz Earls hot cloth cleaner through another blogger (The beautiful Aisha Liinaa) and so I did a bit of research and read hundreds of reviews online until I finally took the plunge and bought it for myself. All of the reviews for this product whether online or in magazines were glowing, the reviews came from young women as well as older, for people with sensitive skin and those with very oily skin, they came from white women, Asian women, black women and I wondered why there was so much hype from people who use it. After trying this out for 2-3 months I know why.
I have have oily skin which can sometimes get dry patches especially when the weather is colder, having oily skin meant I used to get a lot of spots/pimples/zits whatever you wanna call it.
The drugstore face washes I use to use worked well, for a while anyway, until I realised it was either too harsh for my skin or wasn't doing anything for me. I used to read the ingredients of those products and feel guilty for using it on my skin because of the number of chemicals inside it. It didn't make any sense to put more chemicals on my face to clean my skin of the day to day chemicals I put on (make-up) and from the environment. So I gave it a break for a long time (probably a few months) and only washed my face with water and moisturised with the simple moisturiser.
After reading about the Liz Earl products I went online and purchased the starter kit directly from the Liz Earl website because it worked out to be almost the same as the John Lewis site. My first order came in really sophisticated packaging with a free sample (a proper sized sample in a tube) of the hot cloth cleanser (which I gave to my mum). My starter kit came with 100ml cleanser in a pump bottle and 2 muslin cloths in a waterproof zip up bag (ideal for travel).
To use the hot cloth cleanser you pump some of the cleanser onto the back of your hand and then with dry fingers on a dry face you put some of the cleanser on and rub it into your skin (almost like a moisturiser, but it wont sink into your skin). This sound weird to begin with and feels weird because you feel like you're just mixing your make-up all over your face but it does work. You start with the centre of your face and move outwards in circular motions, using it on your eyes last to avoid getting heavy eye make up all over your face. You then wash your muslin cloth under hand hot water, wring the cloth and wipe the cleanser away using a different part of the cloth for a different part of your face (almost like polishing it). To finish you just splash some cold water on your face to close the pores. It doesn't sting your eyes and is suitable for even the most sensitive skin because they use the best natural ingredients. I often use one full pump or even 2 pumps when I'm removing heavy make-up, but if I'm just cleaning my face and not wearing any make-up half to 3/4 of a pump does the job.
When I first used it, it made my skin feel amazing, soft and really clean mashaAllah. It doesn't have any strong smells or weird textures, it just feels simple and does exactly what it says it does. It doesn't dry your skin out so much that you have to run for the moisturiser. After using this product for a while I went and ordered the toner in a spritz bottle just to try it out. It also came with a free hot cloth cleanser sample (which I gave to my cousin).
I don't know if toners are an essential part of a skincare routine or not and all the ones I have tried don't close my pores or do anything for that matter. This toner works well in terms of making your skin feel refreshed and making it feel slightly moisturised after washing. Whether it makes my skin better or not I don't know but it does make my skin feel nice. I just spray it all over my face and get on with whatever else I'm doing until it dries. I then finish with moisturising my face with my favourite Simple light hydrating moisturiser.
I'll be honest I don't follow this routine everyday let alone twice a day (down to sheer laziness) but I do use it every other day, missing more than one or two days makes my skin feel unclean. I use the cleanser to remove my make up at the end of the day and sometimes to clean my face first thing in the morning (hence why it's lasting me so long). I only use the toner at night because I don't want my face too look oily/too moisturised during the day, but I have used the toner to spray on my stippling brush/foundation brush before putting on foundation so my skin has a little glow without being too shiny.
The Liz Earl products can be quite expensive if you only use drug store products, but I believe it's better to put something expensive on your face that is kind to your skin rather than something cheap with harsh chemicals. After following this routine for a few months my skin is behaving a lot better alhamdulillah, I have less spots appearing and when they do appear (due to hormones) they go much quicker than before. The marks on my face from old spots are also clearing up well. I have recommended it to lots of people, my cousin who I gave my free sample to, loved it so much she went and bought herself a starter kit from John Lewis too.
The only thing I don't like is that I can't tell when I'm about to run out because of the packaging.
So this is my skin care routine and review for the Liz Earl Hot Cloth Cleanser....dare I say I think I have found my holy grail of skin care products and can't believe I hadn't heard about this before.... cleanse, tone and moisturise!
Hope you enjoyed my ramblings.
iHijabi
Please note this was not a paid for review and I genuinely bought the products for myself. All of my reviews are my honest opinions.