Beauty on a Budget: Johnson's Daily Essentials

Hi everyone. Welcome to the second instalment of my Beauty on a Budget series, where I share with you my thoughts on some good budget buys.

The new Johnson's face care daily essentials line includes a complete range of cleansers and moisturizers. Here I'm reviewing their; moisturizer for normal skin, fragrance free cleansing wipes, and eye makeup remover.

Daily Essentials Hydrating 24h Day Cream with SPF15 (for normal skin)

This cream costs a mere £3.99 for a 50ml jar. Boots is doing an amazing offer at the moment, any 2 daily essentials products for £4.

According to Johnson's, this cream is:

'enriched with essential skin loving minerals and vitamins, provides your daily essential moisture whilst caring for normal skin with;

- skin loving minerals known to restore freshness

-Pro-Vitamin B5 known to maintain hydration'

The ingredients are listed above. Quite a long list, which includes potential allergens such as alcohol and perfume.

The texture of the cream is extremely light and fluffy. Though it's so light, I found the cream left my skin well moisturized. My skin felt fresh, comforted, with no greasy feel or oiliness. It has a moderate to strong flowery scent, which I would have preferred to do without.

This is the cream unblended on my hand.


The picture above is of the creme once it's blended into my skin. The cream sinks in nicely, leaving the skin feeling nice and supple. I also found that it gave my skin a slight radiant glow. Although this cream did not irritate my sensitive skin, I did not like the fact that it contained alcohol as well as a strong fragrance in its long list of ingredients.

Pros:

-very affordable

-contains SPF15

-feels light and comforting on my skin, leaving a radiant glow

Cons:

-the flowery scent is too strong for my liking

-contains alcohol

-limited added benefits apart from moisture to the skin

-housed in a glass jar, not great for hygiene

Overall, I found this a good, inexpensive simple moisturizer for young skin, or skin without any concerns (such as premature ageing and sensitive skin). It does not contain any anti-oxidants or have any anti-ageing properties. It doesn't perform any miracles (at this price, I wouldn't expect it to), but instead provides good basic moisture to the skin. I like the slight radiance it gave my skin, and my skin felt healthy after using it.

B+

Daily Essentials Fragrance Free Facial Cleansing Wipes

I chose the 'fragrance free' version of face wipes because I have sensitive skin which is extremely prone irritation from harsh cleansers. This costs £2.99 for 25 wipes. According to Johnson's, this is:

'enriched with essential, skin loving minerals and vitamins, our wipes gently sweep away make-up and impurities whilst caring for all skin types. Skin is cleansed, soft and cared for. Dermatologically tested, suitable for sensitive skin.'

The wipes were fairly gentle on my skin (though I found Simple's facial wipes to be a little more gentle), and it managed to remove all traces of face makeup. It states on the packet that it removes even waterproof mascara. It was quite good at removing eye makeup, but it made my eyes sting so I wouldn't recommend using it on the eyes. I prefer using an eye makeup remover for that.

These wipes are great for after a night out when people may be too tired to use a face wash. I mainly use it on days when I wear foundation or tinted moisturizer, and use it as a makeup remover before cleansing my skin with a face wash.

Pros:

-affordable

-100% perfume free

-made my skin feel well cleansed

-dermatologically tested

Cons:

- not as gentle on the skin as Simple face wipes

Overall, a good face wipe which does is effective in removing makeup and impurities.
A-

Daily Essentials Gentle Eye Make-up Remover

'Our gentle eye make-up remover blends together to remove all make-up, even waterproof mascara with pro-vitamin B5 known to condition lashes.'

This costs £2.99 for 100ml. It is a double formulated eye makeup remover with a purple layer on top and a clear solution below. The product should be well shaken before dousing on cotton pads and applied onto closed eyes.

It was too difficult to take a good picture of the ingredients list, due to small print. So I've typed them out for you: Aqua, cyclopentasiloxane, glycerin, isohexadecane, butylene glycol, pathenol, sodium chloride, disodium EDTA, sodium hydroxide, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, CI 60725

As you can see this eye makeup remover contains the controversial parabens, which have been linked with possible carcinogenicity (a potential cancer causing ingredient, i.e. doesn't sound good!). This is a great shame as I really liked this product. It's extremely gentle on the eyes, and removes ALL traces of makeup.

Pros:

-affordable

-opthamologically tested

-removes even waterproof makeup effectively

-really gentle on the eyes, does not sting

-packaged in a small plastic bottle which is convenient for travel

Cons:

-contains parabens

I was so pleased with this product until I saw that it contained parabens!! I was going to give it an A+ grade, but now the grade has significantly decreased. I use eye makeup remover almost on a daily basis and will not take my chances with parabens.

C :(