Very seldomly do I review just one skincare product at a time – I usually have a few products from the same brand and write brand reviews – but this Aurelia cleanser felt like it deserved its dedicated review because it comes in a format I haven’t seen in a cleanser before. I’ve tried balms, I’ve tried oils, I’ve tried soaps and gels and even lotions. But never a cleansing cream. You know, one that looks and feels like a moisturizer.
I got this as part of a bigger, multi-brand set and was counting on it being a balm. Imagine my surprise when I opened it. This also comes with a little spatula and bamboo muslin cloth, with this last one being essential for the cleansing process, but we’ll get to that.
Formula and Key Ingredients
Ingredients wise, being that Aurelia positions itself as a “probiotic” brand, there are of course a few probiotic ingredients: lactose, milk protein, and bifida ferment lysate. All three are great for hydration, and this last one is also good for soothing the skin. Other noteworthy ingredients are the shea and cocoa butter (very moisturizing), vitamin B5 (soothes and moisturizes), vitamin C (great antioxidant and skin brightener) and chamomile oil (a soothing antioxidant). There are a few perfuming ingredients in it that I could do without, but since this is a cleanser and the product is not going to be in contact with the skin for too long, there is a small chance that those fragrant components will irritate the skin.
The ingredients list looks like a dry skin’s girl best friend, but that doesn’t mean it works when it comes to actual cleansing power. They claim it removes all impurities and makeup. So I really put it to the test.
Ingredients: Aqua/Water (Purified Water), Dicapryly Carbonate (Coconut-Derived Cleanser & Emollient), Cetearyl Alcohol (Vegetable Based Thickener), Glycerin (Vegetable Glycerine), Cocoglycerides (Emollient From Coconut Oil), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Glyceryl Stearate (Natural Glycerides & Thickener), Cetearyl Glucoside (Corn Sugar Emulsifier), Rhus Verniciflua Peel Wax (Berry Wax), Theobroma Cacoa (Cocoa Butter), Kigelia Africana Fruit Extract (Botanical Kigelia Africana ), Hibiscus Sabdariffa Flower Extract (Hibiscus Flower), Adansonia Digitata Fruit Extract (Botanical Baobab),Lactose (Probiotic Bifidoculture Milk Extract), Lactis Proteinum/Milk Protein (Probiotic Protein), Bifida Ferment Lysate (Probiotic Culture), Schinziophyton Rautanenii Kernel Oil (Botanical Ubuntu Mongongo Oil), Panthenol ( Pro-Vitamin B5), Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate (Vitamin C), Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil (Rosemary Essential Oil), Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Peel Oil (Bergamot Essential Oil), Anthemis Nobilis Oil (Chamomile Essential Oil), Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil (Eucalyptus Essential Oil), Xanthan Gum (Natural Based Stabilizer), Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate (Naturally Derived Emulsifier), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Benzyl Alcohol (Preservative), Dehydroacetic Acid (Preservative), Citric Acid (Fruit Derived pH Regulator), Limonene*, Linalool* *Naturally occurring in essential oil
I honestly don’t know how this product would affect someone with a lactose intolerance. Absorption through the skin is much lower than with ingestion, but there are also several degrees of intolerance, so if you have this condition, ask your doctor first if it’s ok to use skincare that contains lactose before trying it out.
Usage and Performance
I used it both as instructed and as I would typically use a cleanser. As instructed, you’re supposed to apply it directly to the dry skin and massage it in, then remove with the dampened muslin cloth. Indeed, with the muslin cloth, even longwearing foundation and liquid eyeliner got removed fairly well. Using some type of cloth to remove cleanser really helps with those stubborn makeup leftovers. After removing the cream with the cloth, I still felt my skin had a lot of cleanser on it. Since the Miracle Cream has a lot of moisturizing ingredients, that might just be it, but I’m not comfortable with cleansers leaving a “film” of product behind, because being a cleanser, I feel the need to have it all removed otherwise there might me some leftover dirt. So even with this method I felt the need to splash my face directly with water.
The second way I tried it was just trying to remove it with water after massaging it into the skin (without using the muslin cloth). It does not work. Honestly, this behaves very much like a moisturizer. It clings to the skin, it does not lather and it does not emulsify completely when in contact with water. So if you don’t use a cloth, you won’t be able to remove half of the makeup or dirt from your skin. For this reason, this isn’t something you can simply use in the shower. You always need to have a cloth to take it off after use.
And although I do appreciate that they include the cloth when you purchase the product, I’ve tried to remove it with a Makeup Eraser type of cloth (with synthetic microfibers) and those just work better than the very thin bamboo muslin this comes with. They take off the cleanser better and faster. Also, the bamboo muslin isn’t as soft.
Final Thoughts
I like that it comes on a light-filtering glass jar. I like glass packaging better in general, they’re better for the environment and feel more luxurious. And it should, since this costs 47,40€. It contains 120ml of product, which for a product that has a thicker consistency, should last a while.
In conclusion, although I enjoy the fact that this is very moisturizing and dry skin friendly, this is supposed to be a cleanser (a “miracle” one, at that) and I think the cleansing power comes from the cloth, not from this. I’m honestly wondering how well a regular moisturizer would remove makeup just by itself. Moisturizers contain emollient ingredients that break up the makeup, just as this Miracle Cleanser. I think this could be a good product for someone with dry to very dry skin, who uses little to no makeup. Because if you’re going to need to rub the skin with a cloth to ensure you remove everything, there are other products out there that do a better job, taking off most of the makeup by themselves and leaving just the leftovers for the cloth, which is faster and less of a hassle.
It won’t be too much of a bother for me to use it up, but as a bulletproof makeup wearer, this isn’t up to the job. I won’t be repurchasing.
