L'OREAL VELVETY-SOFT TONER AND NOT-SO-MIRACULOUS CLEANSING OIL.

I'm a traitor. My much adored coconut oil is currently taking a back seat, because once again I've become a total sucker for OOOH SHINY NEW SKINCARE, and picked up these babies;

Why yes, it's the Miracle Cleansing Oil and Velvety-soft Toner from the L'Oreal Skin Perfection range! You know, just incase you couldn't see that from the picture. Or the post title. I picked the oil up on a whim and the toner on somewhat less of a whim after reading a review which described it as 'hydrating', so obviously I was all over that jazz. I find toners are generally either oh-so-stripping or just.. boring. 

So, what dey all about?

I have to say, I am not disappointed with the toner. I've been using a Clarins offering for some time now due to a continual gifting of it at Christmas and birthdays, but I've never really had any strong feelings about it. It's just plain okay. But this. THIS. 'Velvety' is most definitely the appropriate word, because sweeping this across my face was like.. er.. well, it was soft guys.

Like a baby's butt.
Like the fluffiest of puppies. 
Like actual velvet. 
This is the first time I've been genuinely sold on a toner. GREAT SUCCESS! It also a really lovely scent which is very reminiscent of suncream, which is (oddly) just one of my favourite smells of all time. As a bonus, Boots currently have 1/3 off on select L'Oreal skincare, so this cost me a bank breaking £2.66 (usually £3.99)!

Now, the Miracle Oil. I have significantly fewer feelings about this compared to the toner, but probably only because this doesn't really deliver anything new for me. I've been double cleansing with coconut oil and cleansing milk for some time now, and I'm very much sold on the ease of it (in terms of easily dissolving face grime - 'like dissolves like'), and the benefits it's had to my skin. The only flaw with coconut oil is the fact that it's solid at room temperature (though this probably depends on where in the world your room is, given its low melting point of 24°C), so the fact that this 'ere miracle oil is liquid and dispensed via a pump is pretty convenient. Of course, there are many oils out there that you can purchase and put in a pump dispenser yourself, probably for a vastly lower cost (as a side note, I would high suggest looking in to the oil cleansing method and/or double cleansing with oil, whatever your skin type. They're flexible routines which can suit anything from the super dry to the super oily, and can be incredibly beneficial for problematic skin).

But what's in this biz? Well, mineral oil mostly, AKA liquid paraffin AKA baby oil (minus the fragrance). Opinions are divided over mineral oil - I've read and understood enough of the chemistry to have no objections to putting it on my face however. The next ingredient on the bottle is 'caprylic/capric triglyceride', which is a specific (liquid) fraction of coconut oil. Yay, coconut oil! That's like, my favourite. As for the actual cleansing power of this combination - it's good! It dissolved my makeup effortlessly while leaving my skin feeling all super smooth. But this is nothing different from my usual coconut oil (albeit a slightly more convenient form), so I'll be unlikley to repurchase this - it'll probably be saved for when I'm travelling and lugging my industrial sized tub of oil is a little unreasonable. I picked this up for £5.33 in Boots, and it usually retails at £7.99.

I think I need a skincare no-buy. Alas, Escentual have up to 1/3 off French pharmacy brands for the whole of June, which means I'll very likely be stocking up on some La Roche-Posay and Avene, plus I'd reeeeally like to give the Nuxe Rêve de Miel lip balm a go. SHAME.