Ooh – I definitely went all geeky over this shiny black cleansing gel – enough to give it a go when it’s really not indicated for my skin type. It’s definitely targeted to oilier skin types than mine to control excess oil with natural bamboo charcoal so I half expected to feel a bit dry and squeaky-skinned after use, but absolutely not. My skin just felt very fresh and clean, but still balanced without any stripped feeling.
When it goes onto your skin, it doesn’t stay this deep inky shade but tranforms into a see-though green-grey shade. Containing glycerine and caffeine it holds onto skin moisture without irritating which rings completely true with my user experience. Apparently, bamboo charcoal is excellent at attracting pollutants so when you rinse off the gel, you rinse away all the nasties too.
There’s also the new City Block Purifying Charcoal Clay Mask + Scrub which I haven’t put to the test yet – but it’s a good companion for the gel in deep cleansing city grime and pollution from your face. It’s interesting that the product contains Disodium EDTA – a guard against environmental metals and chemicals; that’s really not an ingredient that I see a lot of. There’s a sebum control element, which would have a less immediate effect but over time may help if oiliness is an issue, but Kaolin clay does the more instant mattifying thing. Exfoliation wise, it’s silica beads, sucrose and Acetyl Glucosamine along with anti-inflammatory Gentiana Lutea root extract.
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This does seem like a great pair for summer city skin – very freshening and quietly ridding your skin of pollutants we all know are there but can’t even see. Anti-pollution has to be an active choice simply because we can’t see it. Other than obvious grime (think what comes out of your hair after a couple of city days), it’s not the first thing we think of for meh skin. Both products are new, and not officially on Clinique counters until July, but I’ve spotted that Selfridges has the gel on an early release HERE for £18.
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