The hot cloth cleanser for under a tenner that rivals those more than 3 x its price.

Over the last month I have been road testing the Boots Botanics Hot Cloth Cleansing Balm, £8.99 (currently £5.99 on special promotion). I have been hearing jitters about this cleansing balm on the beauty grapevines with many saying it easily matched up to big wig cleansing balms such as the Eve Lom and Emma Hardie’s offerings and so always being one to hop on the old bandwagon as soon as my Emma Hardie balm ran out I rushed to pick one up from Boots and was pretty impressed to have left with change from a tenner, something which is previously unheard of in my skincare department. I was of course apprehensive, it is not that I am snooty but I play it painfully safe when it comes to my skin and even making just one small change it has a tendency to implode with problems, plus in my experience more premium skincare products win every time against a more budget buy, thankfully in this case I was very pleasantly surprised. On first use I instantly noticed that the texture of this balm is definitely harder especially than the almost gooey Emma Hardie balm I have been using forever and so it takes a bit more work to soften and requires a little longer to massage onto the skin, I am talking an extra minute here so nothing drastic but definitely allow to warm to an oil and do not attempt to whack on face as a block of hard product. Once on it turns to a beautiful fluid oil infused with jojoba oil and soothing rose hip, both of which are incredible products to detoxify and brighten the skin. It swiftly lifted away all traces of make up leaving my skin feeling incredibly nourished and squeaky clean minus any feelings of tightness. I did find in using this balm I had to use a separate eye make up remover as for me it was simply too rich to use around my eyes, it affected my contact lenses the following day and left an oily residue I wasn’t too keen on around the eyes, For me however that is no bother, I quickly cleansed eyes before applying the balm with my trusty L’Oreal Absolute Eye & Lip Make up Remover, £3.49. After first use I noticed that this balm left a slight film on the skin after cleansing which I was very sure would break me out big time but luckily never did, I am assuming this was the Shea Butter which is often very rich in texture and harder to break down. I do steam my face twice with this cleanser and double wipe my hot cloth over my skin just to make sure I have everything off and that the residue left is minimal. I looked into this and found most reviews mentioned this waxy film feel on skin after use, very few reported it caused them to break out and the majority like myself had no issue at all. I have been using this cleanser for just over a month and am definitely half way through the pot, I would say you easily get two months use out of each pot which actually compared to the 5-6 months I get out of my Eve Lom balm doesn't make it wonderfully cost effective but is definitely a good option if you are in the market for trying out a cleansing balm for the first time or have more financial peace of mind in having smaller initial outgoings and are happy to replace more frequently. Overall this cleanser has been fabulous, my skin looks well hydrated and pretty darn flawless. I would happily re-buy this cleanser and think it totally lives up to all the hype! Ooh and for any eco warriors out there this product is 97% organic, totally paraben free and tested on humans! woah I am impressed! Get your boots card at the ready girls!