Pai Cameellia & Rose Hydrating Cleansing Creme Review

My face only needs a gentle cleansing in the morning so I’ve been experimenting with mild cleaners in the shower. As I mentioned in my Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque review, I’m gravitating toward products that don’t contain controversial ingredients. I used up a bottle of Caudalie’s Cleansing Milk which I liked quite a lot but wasn’t ready to settle down with it so I kept on looking. I started running into reviews of the Pai Camellia & Rose Cleansing Cream so I decided to give it a try. Below is some information from the container, packaging and Pai Skincare Website: http://usa.paiskincare.com

Pai Camellia & Rose Hydrating Cleansing Cream gently removes dirt, make-up and other impurities that build up on your skin throughout the day. Bursting with Omega 3 & Vitamins A, B & E, it replenishes the skin’s moisture barrier, leaving it soft and supple. The exfoliating muslin cloth lifts away dead skin cells to leave a smooth, even complexion. Suitable for all sensitive skin types, the Pai Hydrating Cleanser is detergent and alcohol-free, so won’t dry out or irritate your skin. Also suitable to use around the eyes to remove even waterproof mascara.

Skin Type: Sensitive, Anti-Redness, Dry, Combination, All skin types
Sizes: 100ml US $50 and 200 ML US $70 Includes muslin cloth (9 x 10 inches)

This product is free from irritating chemicals and ingredients including: alcohol (ethyl alcohols & alcohol denat), artificial fragrances, detergents (detergents including Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine and Decyl Glucoside), formaldehyde (including sodium hydroxymethylglycinate), parabens (including japanese honeysuckle), phenoxyethanol and propylene glycol.

Ingredients:
Camellia – Packed full of Omega 3 and Vitamins A, B & E, this rare oil has been used in Japan for centuries as a skin cleanser and conditioner.
Rose – Rose extract helps the skin retain moisture. Its rejuvenating and restorative properties make it particularly beneficial for damaged and lacklustre skin.
Other Ingredients: aqua, camellia sinensis seed oil*, ricinus communis (castor) seed oil*, prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil*, cetearyl alcohol (coconut-derived emulsifier), vegetable glycerine*, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter*, cetearyl glucoside (corn-derived emulsifier), rosa damascena (rose otto) oil*, pelargonium graveolens (geranium) oil*, lavandula officinalis (lavender) flower oil*, litsea cubeba fruit oil* – may chang oil, mixed tocopherols (natural vitamin e), sodium laurel lactylate (from coconut oil), sodium anisette (basil extract), sodium levulinate (corn extract), lactic acid (derived from sugar beet), glyceryl stearate citrate (from sustainable palm oil)

The Pai Skin Care Muslin Face Cloth is made from 100% unbleached, organic muslin cotton. Pai Skin Care muslin cloths have a gentle exfoliating action that leaves skin super clean and smooth and are designed for use with the Pai Skin Care Camelia & Rose Cleanser. Skin is gently exfoliated and renewed for a glowing and purified complexion.

My Experience With The Product
I started off using the product every morning in the shower. I spread one pump’s worth of cleaner over my wet face and neck for about 10 seconds. I let the shower rinse away the product. As I did research for this blog post, I learned that cleanser is supposed to be great at removing mascara and other eye makeup. I started using the product at night in addition to the morning and it worked out great! In the evening, I dispense one pump’s worth into my hands and massage the product into my skin for about 20 seconds.The facial massage gives you a chance to work out some tight face muscles and I like how it feels. I place my hands over my cheeks and spread the product over my face and neck. If I wore a lot of eye makeup that day, I spread another pump’s worth between my thumb and forefinger, close my eyes tightly and massage the product into my eyelashes and around the entire eye area.

I started off using cotton pads to remove the product, followed by plenty of water. I pump a tiny amount of product onto a cotton bud and remove any traces of eye makeup (there usually isn’t much except some eyeliner). When I first started using this product at night, I would follow up with a cleansing using Juice Beauty Simply Pure Chamomile Cleanser (which I really like). After a few weeks, I gained confidence that the Pai product alone was removing all the makeup so I stopped using a second cleanser.

Conclusion
I like that the camellia, caster and sweet almond oil are the first 3 ingredients after water. The cleanser is white, scent-freee and non greasy. Although this product contains rose oil, it doesn’t smell like roses and is virtually scent-free. The container is attractive and the pump is wide and easy to use. The pump dispenses the correct amount of product and the plastic top keeps the product clean and dray. This cleanser leaves my face feeling clean, hydrated and not greasy.

This cleanser is great for morning or evening face cleansing. I settled on using this product at night since I need something really effective and it works so well for makeup. I didn’t care too much for using the muslin cloth at first. I thought it was a little scratchy and kind of a pain to use. Eventually, I decided to start using it more regularly, using it gently every other evening. The cloth is a great way to exfoliate and leaves your skin feeling very smooth. It’s important to wash the cloth in the washing on delicate and it needs to be hung up so it can dry between uses.

This cleanser is fairly pricy but well worth it considering it’s a luxury, high quality product. It isn’t possible to see how much product remains in the bottle so it’s good to have a backup handy. I already repurchased the large size. Because I liked this product so much, I purchased 3 other Pai products: Chamomile & Rosehip Calming Day Cream, Comfrey & Calendula Calming Body Cream and Kukui & Jojoba Bead Skin Brightening Exfoliator. I will be reviewing these products when I’ve used them long enough to form a firm opinion.

Have you tried any Pai products and if so, what were your impressions?

This Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque Review contains my impressions of this product, information about the product and whether I plan to repurchase it. One of the things I love most about reading beauty blogs is learning about new companies and products. I first read about the Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque in essie-button’s Beauty Blog. I tend to gravitate toward products that are not “mainstream” (boutique products not readily available in drugstores or department stores). Finding smaller companies with interesting philosophies, unique offerings and cool packaging is a treasure hunt I really enjoy.

I was attracted to Aesop because it seemed like a high-end no frills, down to basics brand on the luxury side). I researched the company and was attracted to their product honesty (full disclosure of ingredients), ethics (no animal testing) and philosophy (support for local culture and community). From their website: “Aesop was established in Melbourne in 1987 with a quest to create a range of superlative products for the skin, hair and body. We are committed to using both plant-based and laboratory-made ingredients of the highest quality and proven efficacy – particularly those with the greatest anti-oxidant properties.” (About Aesop).

Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque Product Review

Aesop describes this product as “A clay-based masque to deeply cleanse and refresh most skin types, particularly sensitive or dry. A gentle yet thorough deep-cleansing treatment that extracts impurities clogging the pores, to smooth and refresh the skin. Aroma: Lavender, herbaceous; Product texture: fine, smooth clay; Skin feel: deeply cleansed, softened, refreshed.”

Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque Ingredients

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Kaolin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Alcohol Denat., Glycerin, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Ormenis Multicaulis Oil, Carum Petroselinum (Parsley) Seed Oil, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Linalool

I purchased the mask on Aesop.com and I’ve been using it once a week for a few months. The packaging is elegant style-wise. The metal tube gets squishy and funky looking as you use it but that’s not a big deal to me. The instructions suggest using the product twice a week but I don’t always have time and energy to add additional steps to my skincare routine Monday through Friday.

Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque: Right out of tube and after 15 minutes

I find the product thick, wet, smooth and somewhat cool to the touch. The fragrance is mild, slightly earthy and pleasant. I wash my face and let it dry about 10 minutes. Then, I apply the mask in a thin layer all over my face, avoiding the eye area. I sometimes spread it down my neck as well. The mask turns from green to white after it dries (about 15 minutes). As the product tightens on my face, it feels like it’s pulling all the impurities from my pores.The product is really easy to remove with water and a washcloth. It doesn’t take long to remove every trace of the product off of my face and it leaves my skin feeling smooth, clean, refreshed and soft.

In the past few months, I’ve been learning about companies and products geared toward “safer” ingredients.I bought this product before I started becoming obsessed with natural/green beauty blogs. I’ve been learning a lot about ingredients that some people choose to avoid and why. As I prepared for this post, I was curious to know if this product contains any controversial ingredients. I did research on the EWG Database (see EWG Findings section below). The Environmental Workgroup maintains a database of cosmetics ingredients. It rates ingredients in terms of safety in the following categories: Cancer, Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity, Allergies and Immunotoxicity and Use Restrictions. Although the product contains a number of ingredients that don’t cause alarm including water; aloe; kaolin; lavender oil; evening primrose oil; and parsley seed oil; a few ingredients are potentially problematic. Two products rank 5 on the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database; three are a 4 and two are 3 or less. In general, products that include ingredients that rank 4 or more in the EWG Skin Deep Database are above my comfort zone.

Conclusions

Am I going to continue to use this product? Absolutey! The product was fairly expensive, I enjoy using it, I like how it makes my skin feel and I don’t feel bad about using it. Will I keep this product in my permanent skincare rotation/will I repurchase it? Since I’m currently leaning toward products with fewer controversial ingredients, the answer would have to be no. I’m not deathly afraid of these ingredients but I am choosing to avoid them in future purchases. For me, it’s a matter of being safe vs. sorry.

Is anyone aware of a similar product that doesn’t contain the products EWG calls out as controversial?

Thank you for reading my post!

Barbara aka Curious Babs

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EWG Findings

Here is what I found out when analyzing the ingredients using the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. Please refer to EWG for more information.

Alcohol Denat (Denatured) – Function(s): ANTIFOAMING; ANTIMICROBIAL; ASTRINGENT; MASKING; SOLVENT; VISCOSITY CONTROLLING (EWG Score – 4)

Linalool  Fragrance Ingredient (EWG Score – 5)

Methylisothiazolinone – Widely used preservative; has been associated with allergic reactions. Lab studies on the brain cells of mammals also suggest that methylisothiazolinone may be neurotoxic (EWG Score – 5)

Methylchloroisothiazolinone – Widely used preservative; has been associated with allergic reactions (EWG Score – 4)

Phenoxyethanol – Fragrance Ingredient; Preservative (EWG Score – 4)