Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish: is it worth the hype?

This is another one of those products that beauty editors would swear blind deserved its cult status.  But does it? Does it really? *looks mean*

This is one of my wordier posts so make sure you click under the jump to read it all, wouldn't want you missing out on one of my gems of knowledge now, would I?

I have had this since about last September (ish) and it has been used thoroughly..I'm sure I had a post about this in draft form already but I couldn't find it anywhere..

Anyway, do I think it is worthy of the hype that surrounds it?

Read on and you'll find out!


The consistency is unlike any other cleanser I have ever used.  It's quite a thick cleanser.  You can't just slap it on your face and hope it works for you, you need to work for the results.

All Liz Earle products have a signature herby scent so you know it's Liz Earle that you're using.  It smells of eucalyptus which I've been conditioned to link to getting better from having the flu/a cold.

The muslins!

The starter pack comes with two muslin cloths which is good as I've never managed to find muslin cloths for sale on their own.

The muslin cloths are huge.  Don't be tempted to cut them down to a smaller size because you do need a large one to get all the makeup off your face.

I use them once before putting them to be washed.  You could use it for longer but I don't advocate that because you really don't want to be using a cloth that has mascara and foundation remnants on it more than once..

When they say hand hot water, they mean hand hot.  Water that is too cold won't help get the product off your face and water that is too hot will leave your face looking like this. 

I like the pump dispensary situation as you never use too much and end up wasting any product.  As the product is a mixture between a cream and a harder substance, it never comes shooting out and coating more of the bathroom sink than you'd like.

However, I don't know how I'm going to get the last dregs of it out.  I'll have to stand it on its head or get Simon to cut the bottle as I'm far too dainty for manual labour.. 

I dropped the bottle onto a tiled floor from a height of nothing more than two foot and the lid developed a massive crack.  As a consequence, the lid didn't settle properly so I had to chuck it away.  The annoying thing is that I can't really take it with me anywhere without having to put it into a smaller container which is a pain..

How it works if you don't wear makeup.
This is how I applied it:

Squeeze one pump into your palm and then rub it all over my face (not including the eyes).  I work it into the skin and let it sit for a minute or two whilst I'm wringing the muslin cloth.  Poke a finger under the cloth and then rub it all around my face, taking the product off.  Rinse and I'm done. 

I was less than impressed.  Using one pump did nothing and anything more than one pump made my face feel really tight.  I didn't really see it doing anything.

My favourite cleanser for my combination skin when I don't wear foundation is The Body Shop's Passionfruit Cleansing Gel (click here for my review).

How it works if you do wear makeup.
One of my resolutions for this year was to make an effort every single day, which means the obligatory use of foundation, blusher, mascara and eyeliner.  I decided to take the plunge and use my Cleanse and Polish to see if it would astound me this time around.

I used the same method as last time and it really left my skin feeling clean. Obviously that is to be expected because I had makeup on but it felt even nicer and smoother than it did when I used it without makeup on.

I could see the foundation coming off on my muslin cloth which was great because it showed the product was actually working.  It didn't sting my eyes at all and believe me, it was all up in my waterline.  The makeup practically slid off around my eyes.

Is it worth a buy?
For me, I wouldn't buy it if I didn't wear makeup on a daily basis.  I find that my Body Shop cleanser works better for that as it actually makes my bare skin feel cleaner.

If you do wear makeup on a daily basis (i.e. a foundation and blusher) then this would be really good because you can see the product coming off and it leaves your skin clean.  If I keep up my makeup wearing resolution then I will be buying a backup.

I have been using it about three/four times a week since I got it and it's still going strong.  I find I need one and a half pumps to fully clean my made up face so I can see it lasting a fair while.

You can buy this in all different sizes, my one (100 ml starter kit) will set you back £13.25.  You can get it in a tester size (30 ml tube) which costs only £5.10.