I started to use it last year when I realised that even the gentlest foam was slightly drying my skin, my cheeks especially. I have combination skin, meaning in winter my t-zone tends to be on the normal side and the rest of my face and neck who are usually normal, get dryer.
How do I use it?
On days where I only wear powder and bronzer over an SPF moisturizer
I take a little less than teaspoon of cleanser and gently massage all over my face, neck and décolleté. I follow with a damp baby washcloth to gently remove it. Careful not to use water that is too hot or too cold. I usually go for "warmish" water which is a little on the cooler side. I rinse the washcloth and then proceed to gently remove my eye makeup. I don't rub the eye area I simply use the cloth as a light compress at first and with light fingers, finish off. There's usually enough cleanser left on washcloth for this step. Do note that I don't wear waterproof mascara so this works well for me.On days where I wear foundation and/or sunscreen
I do the same as above except for the eye area. Too much makeup is left on the washcloth even after rinsing and I don't want to use it on my eyes. I use a micellar water. My favorite at the moment is Caudalie's. I use it to remove eye makeup and then as I would a toner to swipe all over face, neck and décolleté to make sure there are no traces of makeup left. For this, small cotton rounds are great for the eye area and larger ones for face work very nicely.
I didn't buy this cleanser for redness although I do have some. I simply wanted a creamy, less drying formula for Winter. Does it help tone down redness? I really can't say. What I can say is that my skin is a little more sensitive when the weather is cold and this is very gentle. Same goes for my eye area. It the past few years I've noticed that I have to be more careful with not only eye makeup but cleansers as well. If you have very sensitive eyes then you might want to proceed with caution. It does have the light Avène fragrance which could be an issue for some.
Reviews:
MakeupAlley, 3.3 / 5 for 3 reviews including mine.
One bad review reads as follow:
"So I found with in the past 2 years my skin has gone from combo to sensitive. I've recently started noticing I'm getting mild rosacia on my cheeks. So I decided to give this product a try. Boy what a huge mistake. With in a week not only did my rosacia get worse, this stuff made my whole face dry. it's been about 3 weeks since I stopped using this and I'm still dealing with a bit of dryness around my cheeks."
I don't know what the rest of this person's routine is or if she started using several new products at the same time. It could very well be the cleanser. Some do react to Avène's Thermal Water which is present in all their products. A friend of mine gets hives from it. If you are very sensitive it would be advised to do a patch test for about a week to see how your skin reacts to it.
Beauté-test, 4 / 5 stars for 57 reviews.
Ingredients from Beautypedia:
Avene Thermal Spring Water, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Poloxamer 188, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Blue 1, Carbomer, Chlorphenesin, Dextran Sulfate, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance (Parfum), Hesperidin Methyl Chalcone, Phenoxyethanol, Ruscus Aculeatus Root Extract (Ruscus Aculeatus Extract), Sodium Hydroxide, Water
Lastly I unfortunately don't remember the price, I believe it's around $25.00 for a 300 ml bottle. Avène products are often on special so look at drugstore flyers or websites to take advantage of promotions.
