Neutrogena: Oil Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Facial Cleanser

    wow that's a long name, but yeah today’s review is of the grapefruit cleanser from Neutrogena. Now I’ve heard they changed the formula recently, and I also noticed a packaging design change a couple of months ago, so this review may be slightly less relevant, but anyway. I finished my bottle months before starting this blog so I’ll just substitute with this picture from Neutrogena.com. ^^"

    The product itself was a translucent light pink gel, packaged in a clear pump bottle. You could control how much the pump dispensed, which I liked, because some pump designs just give you one big pump and you can’t stop halfway. The straw for the pump also goes all the way to the bottom of the bottle, which I love. It’s a pet peeve of mine when you buy a bottle of hand soap or something, and the straw stops just before the bottom. >:I That’s just stupid design. The gel was smooth and not too runny, and foamed up well. This cleanser smelt lovely, like sweet red grapefruit (as in a bit sweeter than a red grapefruit), and left my face feeling clean and refreshed without feeling totally stripped. I think the citrus scent aided in the refreshing feeling and I liked using it in the morning, as it wakes you up a bit.

    This cleanser claims to clear your skin of blemishes and blackheads, and contains salicylic acid and vitamin C. I felt like this cleanser didn’t get rid of my acne per se, but it certainly cleaned the oil and dirt off my face, and I felt like I didn’t get pimples as often. The small blackheads around my nose didn't budge, although they appeared to be lighter and smaller. For me personally, salicylic acid has never done much for my acne, so this product generally performed as I expected and while it didn’t clear my skin completely, it did a good job of cleaning it. 

    I’ve heard that this cleanser was incredibly drying for some people, but I personally didn’t feel it was all that drying. I had slightly drier skin back then and while my face felt fine while it was wet, after I got out of the shower I would need a moisturiser quickly or my skin would become tight. So while it was drying for me, I’ve tried more drying cleansers so I didn’t feel it was all that drying in comparison. Neutrogena deep clean cleansers I’m looking at you. D:<

    The only real problem I had with this product was the packaging design, although it probably wouldn’t affect many people. After a month or two using this cleanser, I realised that the level of product didn’t seem to be moving, and when I looked closer I realised the colour of the cleanser was getting paler. It still worked fine, but after a while it got runnier so I knew for sure that water was getting in, but how? I wasn’t submerging the bottle in a bath, the way my brother ruined a bottle of liquid soap once.

    I leave my cleansers with the other bottles in the shower, and I don’t have a soap tray in my shower so I leave them on a ledge (which I assume was built for this purpose) near the floor of my shower. When I bent down to get some cleanser, water would run down my hand and into the bottle through the collar of the pump. The fact that enough water could get in through this apparently invisible weakness seems like a bit of a stupid flaw to have, in my opinion but nevertheless I liked the formula so I would still recommend it.

    Neutrogena is available at Priceline and Woolworths and this cleanser seems to sell quite well so I think it’s in most if not all shops.  I think I got it on sale, but it currently retails in Australia at $14.99 for 175 ml (I don’t know why the picture says 177) but you can probably get it for cheaper on one of Priceline’s (very frequent) sales. 

Effectiveness : 7/10

Feel (texture, immediate effect) : 8/10

Packaging : 5/10

Overall : 20/30 or 6.6 repeater/10

The basics: really cleaned oil and dirt off my face, mildly drying, appeared to reduce incidence of acne.