DHC: Cleansing Oil and Washing Powder

I've been using these two products regularly since mid-March, and have been meaning to review them for a while.


DHC Cleansing Oil:
The cleansing oil is a yellowish colour with a thick consistency similar to olive oil. It has a strong scent of olive oil too.




The thick feel of the oil makes it a pleasure to massage into the skin. Afterwards I use a little bit of warm water to massage with the oil to emulsify the dirt, before splashing off the remaining oil with lots of lukewarm water. I find it leaves my skin with just the right feel - no tight / dry feeling on the skin. If I had a lot of product before or if its been a very humid / grimy day, I follow up with the washing powder.

The product comes in a pump bottle with a cap on top. The cap helps protect the pump from being pushed so you have no fear of product accidentally leaking out during travel. I got the smaller size, which is 70mL which passes the airline liquids rule of max 100mL per bottle.


DHC Washing Powder:
The washing powder is a fine white powder. You pour out about 1/2 tsp into your palm, add a little bit of water and rub to foam up the product. Btw the picture shows too much product - I just poured some out to take the picture but this is definitely over 1/2 tsp :D




The bottle cap is a blue flip top, with a small hole so that its easy to measure out the tiny amount you'll need.




I tend to use this as a morning cleanser, and then at night only if I didn't wear makeup that day, or after using cleansing oil to remove foundation first. So far I find it can be a little drying if I use too much (over 1/2 tsp). Otherwise it does its job , a small amount is really all you need.

What I like best is how convenient the powder format is for travel. No need to worry about the bottle leaking. You also don't have to factor this into the liquids restriction on flights!

The main reason I took so long to review these two products because I couldn't see a dramatic difference in my skin. These products did not improve my skin dramatically, but they did not affect it badly either. During the last few months, my skin has been alright - no purging from using these products, but no massive breakouts or other problems either.


Overall:
For the cleansing oil, the aroma and consistency may appeal to some but not others. I personally liked this because the scent makes it seem more natural, and the thickness of the oil feels nice.

However if you'd rather have a more odourless and thinner product, check out MAC's cleansing oil. MAC's product is also made of olive oil, but it is clear and has much a thinner consistency. It also cleanses just as well as the DHC product and has a milder scent. However MAC comes in only a 200 mL size, while DHC at least also offers a small bottle which is more travel friendly.

Price: 3/5 (US$11/ 70 mL, US$24/200 mL)
Packaging: 5/5
Effectiveness: 4/5
Repurchase: Yes

For the washing powder, I like how the dry format makes it convenient for travel. In my opinion it'd work best for normal/combo skins.

Price: 5/5 (cheap at US$8.50/bottle)
Packaging: 5/5
Effectiveness: 3/5
Repurchase: Yes

a haul of major proportions

i finally got some time to take pics of the haul my bf very kindly bought from Japan :)

Firstly, he brought me some clip on earrings which was sweet of him :) I didn't ask for them at all so it was a nice surprice :)



I don't have my ears pierced...my mom never wanted me to get them pierced. Even so, I've been considering getting them done since I was 15 but even now I still haven't decided if I want to.

Anyway, I'm always envious of the selection of pretty earrings other friends have, and have mentioned it to my bf several times so I guess he thought I could use these ones in the meantime. What I like about them is that two of the earrings don't look like clip ons at all from both the back and front. Only one of them (the one on the right) has the telltale clamp thing on the back of them.

For most people these probably look really blah, but to me, these are finally the first pairs of earrings I can actually wear out. I bought a couple pairs of magnetic earrings before but those always hurt my earlobes after a while, plus I couldn't find dangly ones that weren't obviously clip-ons. These are my favourite out of all the stuff I got ^^

He also got me 3 bottles of DHC Cleansing oil, and 2 bottles of DHC washing powder which I'd requested:




And some makeup...He and his friend were so sweet, they went and searched for every single item on the list I gave him even though I'd emphasized he didn't have to get everything. And its not like they even know what any of this stuff looks like so it wasn't easy....





Details and closeups:

1. Kiss Me Heroine Long and Curl mascara

I wanted to try the Japanese version since I'd been using Blinc for the past 3 months and its good, just pricey at over CDN$30 vs 798 yen in Japan...thats less than 1/3 the price I paid for Blinc :S




2. Kiss Me Heroine liquid liner

Chiara's review said it was easy to remove with just warm water, similar to the Kiss Me mascara so I had to try it :)




3. Kate Gel liners in purple and gold



I didn't expect the pots to be that small actually, I thought they'd be close to Fluidlines but they are a bit smaller. Will review when I try them.




4. Lunasol Sheer Contrast Eyes in Lavender Coral



I love the packaging, its all metallic, even the bottom. Pricey though...





You'll see that almost every palette gives you two double sided applicators that are actually shaped for a specific purpose. Only the cheaper brands like Majolica Majorca and Lavshuca provide one applicator, which are still better than the crappy Maybelline / ELF ones.


5. Coffret D'or 3D Lightning eyes in Blue Green





I love the metallic cover, but too bad the base is plastic instead of metallic like the Lunasol one, but then it IS cheaper by about 1500 yen (US$15) so...

6. Sofina Aube Jewellery Shower Eyes in Purple







7. Majolica Majorca Majolook palette in GR741 (LE)





I love this one the most even if it was the cheapest because my bf had to check several different stores before finding it. Most stores were sold out of it, probably because its LE.


8. RMK Shiny Mix Eyes in Light green








9. Shiseido Maquillage Sheer Climax Rouge lipstick in PK730






10. Coffret D'or Combiant Rouge lipstick/gloss in 06 Peach blossom




11. Shiseido The Makeup Hydro powder eyeshadows in Violet Visions and Languid Lagoon

I asked him to pick these up at the airport because they're more expensive here with the 13% sales tax plus whatever markup there is for Canada.




So...reviews to come when I try them out :D