The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter
People often say that when it comes to skincare, you can save on cleansers, as they are on your skin for such a short time that spending a lot of money on amazing ingredients doesn’t make sense. In theory, I agree. In practice, I still want my cleansers to be very effective, feel and smell nice and work with my double cleansing philosophy. And no foaming or stripping!
Finding a cleanser like that for a reasonable price is not easy. The market is slowly changing, but generally, mainstream brands don’t do cleansing balms or oils and cheaper second step cleansers – especially gels – tend to be unkind to the skin. There are exceptions, however. I’m not a big user of micellar waters, but many affordable brands (Simple, Garnier, everybody in France) do them well. And then there’s The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter.
This product came up in the comments of my Instagram post recently and several very sophisticated skincare users like it as much as more expensive equivalents. I can totally see why. It’s a silky and relatively light-textured balm that feels and delivers pretty much the same as the iconic Clinique’s Take The Day Off Balm and the luxurious Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Micro Cleansing Balm. But it’s half the price of the Clinique and a third of the Lauder.
It’s not super cheap – around 15 euros* – but it really is very effective and you don’t need much. There is a very faint, nice scent that shouldn’t irritate anyone. I actually prefer that it’s not completely scentless like Take The Day Off, which I find a bit too boring. As the ingredients are not quite at the same level than with the other two balms I’ve mentioned (there’s synthetic wax and shea butter and things), it can potentally be problematic for oily and acne-prone skin, but I’m combination and haven’t had any issues. I’d say in case you’re thinking about trying out a balm without a huge investment or looking for a more affordable alternative to your high-end favourites, this is definitely worth a try.
Do you have any reasonably priced cleansers you love? Or any other kind of affordable skincare, really – I’m planning a post on cheaper skin stuff and all pointers are welcome.
*I got it for eight euros at The Body Shop sale.
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I love Avene products. I have never had a bad experience with them. Hydrance Optimale light is my favorite moisturizer and the Rich version of it I use with harsh weather in the winter (both have a SPF option as well, price is around 25€ for 40ml where I live). Thermal water and micellar water are pretty good too. Can’t remember all the stuff I have tried but I think it a brand that is hard to go wrong with.
A recent favorite is Korean brand It’s Skin serum with hyaluronic acid (around 25€ for 40 ml). It dries to a matte finish and smells soooo fresh. Liked their moisturizer in the summer too – nicely cooling.
Eucerin body care – I had very very dry skin on my body and I have used Eucerin PH5.5 body oil wash and the moisturizer from the same series for years now. My skin is soft, hasn’t got any more of the “pimples” anymore. And I tried a LOT of moisturizers before that. Both are around 11€ for 200ml.
And when you have a situation that you need to buy a facial moisturizer fast but don’t wanna spend on it at all, as you have forgotten yours home on a short trip etc, then I would recommend any base creams in pharmacies. They have different names depending on countries but Physiogel series, Orion , Essex is very well known. When I had skin issues on my face my dermatologist actually prescribed me to clean and moisturize my face only with Essex cos its so basic that it does not irritate at all, just does the job. Still use it occasionally.
Thnak you for this super useful comment! I like Avene stuff too, although I haven’t tried much – they specialise in sensitive skin and as my skin is like an elephant’s, I’m not naturally drawn to them. Will definitely check out Eucerin body stuff: I’ve liked their hyaluronic products in the past and I really need to stat paying more attention to my body.
I just ordered the new Double Cleanse by Pixi yesterday, otherwise it would have been reasonable to try this one. I have been using the Drunk Elephant peeke bar for the past few months, but I don’t really enjoy the “soapiness” of it….
Ja kiitused ägeda blogi eest- raamatud ja kosmeetika on suht kõige toredamad asjad üldse 🙂
Let me know how you find the Pixi cleanser – for some reason I’m not too excited, although I’m absolutely sure it works wonderfully. Have you tried anything else by DE, by the way?
Ja suur tänu! Nii tore kuulda, et meeldib.
I bought the entire DE line except the moisturizers and lip balm. Both of the serums are quite good. The marula oil seems rather overpriced in retrospective. The eye serum was rather drying. I really wanted to like the sunscreen (since it’s so hard to find a decent physical one), but it goes on really shiny and it also has some shimmer in it.
I’d like to try the LaLa moisturizer, the texture sounds nice. But DE is so difficult to get hold of in Estonia, so I guess I’ll have to wait until someone I know goes to the States 🙂
I feel you – it’s so difficult to get in Brussels, too. I really, really like the style and concept of the brand, but while the framboos serum is nice, it’s not amazing, so I haven’t made crazy efforts to get hold of more. The texture of LaLa *does* sound great, though, I’m very tempted.
I have two super cheap favourites: Boots Cold Cream – for GBP 2.49 it is an absolute steal and leaves the skin feeling clean and soft. The other is by ‘Сто рецептов красоты’. The strawberry gel-cream has done wonders to my face. They used to sell a daily moisturiser but unfortunately they have discontinued that so the gel-cream is as close as I can get. And under 3 euros a tube, my wallet is grateful 🙂
My favourite shop is at the Viru centre bus terminal (glamorous, I know) where I go to stock up, every time I visit Estonia. They sell a lot of Russian skin care products and i do find them more agreeable and nicer to my skin.
Oh my god, such coolness. I’m going to visit Tallinn this weekend and must get that strawberry cream. Will report back!
Fine, you have convinced me 🙂 I have just taken a decision to start double cleansing. (Considering also a serum but one step at a time…). All this because I wanted to read a book the other night but got caught up reading your blog instead.
Decisiveness, that’s what I like in a woman? Give it a go, I’ve come to sincerely enjoy it and there are many gorgeous cleansers around these days. Btw, what was that brow brand you were asking about? I’ve been trying to remember, but unsuccessfully.
And I’m obviously extremely flattered that you preferred me to a book.
It was blink brõw bar. Seems to be impossible to find outside of UK.
On cheap skincare – I swear by Simple Purifying Cleansing Lotion for removing eye make-up (but it is not a particularly fantastic cleanser in other respects. Hence my decision to upgrade, after reading ALL your posts on cleansing and discovering what’s available).
And the book you prevailed over is an excellent one btw – The Future of Nostalgia by Svetlana Boym.
If you know what products you want, Net-a-Porter carries bbrowbar and they ship to Belgium. Not the cheapest place to order from, but they are fast and have a lot of other nice things.
Off to check out the book.