Few products have been so keenly anticipated as influential blogger Caroline Hirons’ new Double Cleanse (£24), a duo comprising a solid oil cleanser for makeup removal and a cream to cleanse the naked skin beneath. The ritual of double cleansing has become standard for many beauty enthusiasts, who take the view that a single cleanse is akin to bathing fully clothed.
I broadly agree, at least when wearing foundation and heavy eye makeup (I practically never use eye makeup remover: there’s no need if your cleanser’s up to the job). Hirons, a fellow cleansing zealot, has been smart to tap into this one sound idea rather than to launch a comprehensive range, and has piggybacked on a popular existing (if sometimes inconsistent) brand, Pixi, instead of starting from scratch.
It should fairly be said that Hirons’ balm is remarkably similar to Clinique’s excellent Take The Day Off (£22), and the cream is a version of Clarins’ great and now bafflingly discontinued Extra-Comfort Cleansing Cream. Double Cleanse is as good as each, perhaps even better. While many balms remain thick and immobile, step one liquefies instantly, and dissolves effortlessly every scrap of heavy makeup, leaving skin clean but mercifully unsqueaky. Step two – velvety and elegant – is a pleasure. Neither stings nor tingles, even when smeared carelessly over eyes.
My only gripe is the 50/50 partitioned packaging, separating equal doses of cleanser. An appealing gimmick, certainly, but inherently flawed. I’d have preferred one-third balm and two-thirds cream, so the latter could be used again in the morning on bare skin. Even if used only at night, the cream’s more fluid formula will always empty first (50ml of cream cleanser doesn’t go far) and one is left with an oversized container of balm. As someone who hates the inevitability of running down conditioner before its matching shampoo, I predict frustration.
That said, the dual container is the perfect travel companion, and I daresay Pixi and Hirons will see the sense in launching each product separately in full size. Then I’m confident I’ll plough through vats of them. If double cleansing sounds like hard work, Lush’s wonderful Ultrabland (£7.95) has the cleansing power of balm and the texture of cream. All should be removed with a hot face cloth, of course.
