Review: Althea Pore Purifying Serum Cleanser
Hello again Angels!
I’d love to start my blog this year with a review of my current favorite cleanser, one of the latest exclusives by Althea Korea called Pore Purifying Serum Cleanser. This cleanser, apparently, is no ordinary cleanser. It’s a full-face makeup remover with weird texture: runny like oil, but the consistency is pretty thick like a gel. Sounds interesting eh?
ALTHEA PORE PURIFYING SERUM CLEANSER
Origin: South Korea
Purpose: Makeup Remover, 2-in-1 Face Cleanser
Before we jump deeper into the formula and others, as always I’d like to talk about the packaging first. The product comes in this simple-but-pretty clear turquoise bottle with nice flip-top cap. Sadly, even though the flip-top mechanism is very secure, the product still can leak from the twist-off part. I noticed this when I brought this product with me on a short getaway and this cleanser leaked a lot, causing my bag & stuffs inside soaking wet with good amount of product ☹ Moral of the story: repack this cleanser into a smaller & more secure bottle if you’re going to travel with it. The original bottle is not very travel-friendly!Purpose: Makeup Remover, 2-in-1 Face Cleanser
the flip-top cap is nice, but sadly the twist-off part is not leakproof! |
product description on the bottle. sadly I cannot read Korean words so below I give you the description taken from Althea's Site. |
At the intro, I mentioned that this product has unique texture. Watery and runny like oil cleanser, but somehow, it’s kinda dense, resembling gel texture. Apparently, the Pore Purifying Serum Cleanser is formulated with dual moisture cell system, a system that combines water and oil in overlapping layers! This explains why the texture of this product is unique and different from all other first cleansers that I’ve tried before.
At first glance, I was skeptical about the cleansing power of this product. It’s very lightweight in texture, how can it be so potent to remove heavy makeup? Then I tried it myself, pouring sufficient amount on dampened hand and start massaging my caked face with it. I always love the massage step in the cleansing regime, so usually I spend up to 30 seconds doing it before rinsing the cleanser off. To be honest, I was so shocked to see the result: my face was super clean, no makeup residue left! No tightness, no oily residue left on skin. Instead, my face feels so moisturized, super fresh, and clean at the same time 😊 (Anyway, I’m a big fan of double-cleansing method so I always proceed to wash my face again with second cleanser after using this product. Actually this product is a 2-in-1 cleanser which means you can totally skip the facial wash step, but I feel kinda weird to skip the facial wash step so I do it anyway)
cleansing power test! this is the Before pic. Included many waterproof & smudgeproof products here so you can see how well this product works to remove them all. |
poured the cleanser and massaged a bit! |
after rinsing off the cleanser (no double-cleansing) |
When I use my regular cleansing oil as first cleanser, sometimes I can still see some traces of makeup on the cotton pad on toning step. With this product, however, I see very liiiiittle to no makeup trace on my cotton pad. This Pore Purifying Serum Cleanser can remove waterproof & smudgeproof makeup well, but it stings the eyes when used to remove eye makeup. This, I suspect, is because of the mint extract inside. The extract gives nice subtle scent to the cleanser and helps to give cooling sensation to the skin, but I don’t really notice any pore minimizing effect on my skin.
it's dermatologist tested also proven to work well for my sensitive skin! |
Anyway, one last important thing to mention: this product doesn’t break my skin or wallet out! If you’ve been following me and this blog for a while, you must notice that I rarely review first cleansers. My sensitive skin is somehow more reactive to first cleansers than it is to second cleansers, therefore I always stick with the ones that my skin approves. My skin happily approves this product, in fact it’s happier and healthier now! Plus, this product really won’t do damage to your wallet: it only costs IDR 120,000 for one bottle of potent makeup remover! Affordable yet so good, how can you miss this product?
Althea Pore Purifying Serum Cleanser is definitely a bomb! The cleansing power is amazing, but somehow the formula is really soothing and gentle on the skin, even on the most sensitive one – like mine. With thin & runny consistency, this product can penetrate deep into our skin and perform deep cleansing while leaving no oily residue. It removes heavy makeup well, melts waterproof makeup & lip cream in no time, and leaves our skin clean, fresh, and moisturized. It’s very affordable but very effective as well. A must have for everyone, especially those who have dry or sensitive skin that often face troubles with oil-stripping or harsh first cleanser 😉
That’s all my review for this product, Angels! If you have any question or comment regarding this product, feel free to drop comment down below. There are so many other great Althea Exclusives that work AMAZING on my sensitive skin, but as always, I’m a busy bee! Of course I will try my best to take pics and write the reviews for you as soon as possible, so let me know which product that you want me to review first because your requests motivate me to write LOLOLOL 😊
See you on the next post!
0 kisses