I’ll get around to trying the Oil Cleansing Method eventually, but for now I’ve got a big bottle of Green Tea Toxin Cleanser that I cannot stop using.

Ingredients (provided at madefromearth.com)- “Organic Aloe Vera, Organic Green Tea, Milk, Organic Lavender Distillate, Organic Roman Chamomile Distillate, Rose Distillate, Grapeseed Oil, Witch Hazel, Vitamin E, Polysaccharide Gum, Organic Honey, Vitamin C Ester, Pro-Vitamin B5, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate), Black Willowbark Extract, Neem Oil, EDTA, Rosemary, Citric Acid.”

Since I couldn’t locate this product in the Cosmetics Database, I’ve linked to each ingredient individually above. The only ingredient listed on the website with a hazard score higher than a 2 is Vitamin A, and it has a high hazard score of 8. Since this product is a cleanser and is not ever on my face when I’m in the sun (and since retinyl palmitate is most dangerous when exposed to UV light), I have accepted this ingredient’s presence in this product and feel okay about it. There are a couple of ingredients listed on the bottle that are not listed on the website (maybe because a recent reformulation?), and they are as follows: Emulsifying Wax NF (4), Vegetable Glycerin (0-no data), Phenoxyethanol (3-4, depending on usage), and Mannan (0).

Some great things about this product:

1. It contains organic ingredients.

2.It’s cruelty, paraben, and sulfate free.

3. The bottle is made from #1 plastic and can easily be recycled.

Product Description(provided at madefromearth.com)- “Green Tea is a base antioxidant. Our healthy cleanser is enhanced with vitamins A, B, C and E. Since it contains no chemicals, the cleanser is hypoallergenic and non-irritating for people with sensitive skin. The Aloe Vera base in the cleanser combines with Green Tea to provide an antioxidant boost to remove free radicals restoring healthier skin. This product does not contain the typical surfactant or detergent ingredient that most cleansing gels contain; it is a chemical-free gentle cleanser.”

Price- around $16.00 for an 8 oz. bottle.

Performance- Between this product and Karen’s Botanicals Gentle Cleansing Lotion, I’ve been completely converted to soap-free cleansers. My ordinarily combination skin has ceased to be especially dry or oily, and breakouts have been at a minimum. My favorite way to use this product is as a mask, which I’ve been doing each night before bed. After applying the cream to my face and neck, I wait three minutes or so before rinsing it off with warm and then cool water. My skin is so soft when I’m done that I feel like I’ve been treated to a day at the spa! While in the shower, I simply massage this product into the skin on my face and neck for about 30 seconds and then rinse.

Scent- It has a very faint aloe and lavender scent.

Rating- I’m subtracting 2 points for the questionable ingredients, but this product easily earns the remaining 8 points. 8/10.

Image Source

Image courtesy of Ecostoreusa.com

I was thrilled when Eco Store USA offered to send me two products to try in exchange for a review on my blog, especially after checking out their products! Aside from Method (which doesn’t really have the most impressively safe ingredients),natural and eco-friendly cleaning products are something that I haven’t really devoted much time to trying. This seemed like the right time, so I chose the Lemon Cream Cleanser as my first product to review.

Ingredients (provided at ecostoreusa.com)- “Water, Calcium carbonate (chalk), Plant based anionic surfactants, Plant based glycerine, Plant based thickener, Xanthum gum, Lemon verbena oil.”

I couldn’t find this product in the Cosmetic Safety Database. I tried searching each of the ingredients individually, but some of them are pretty vague, like “plant based anionic surfactants.” I couldn’t find an exact match for it, but I do know that Sodium Laureth Sulfate is actually considered a plant-based anionic surfactant.  Plant-based thickener is another vague ingredient listed. It could mean aloe vera gel, which wouldn’t be a bad thing since it has a hazard score of one. I can’t really make an accurate assessment of the ingredients since I don’t know what a couple of them are, but the straight forward ingredients all have hazard scores below a three.

Some great things about this product:

1. It’s cruelty-free.

2. It’s formulated without toxic petrochemicals, phosphates, synthetic polymers, amides, ammonia, EDTA, and synthetic dyes or perfumes.

Product Description ( also provided at ecostoreusa.com)- “You’ll be amazed at the versatility of ecoSTORE Cream Cleanser. Using only plant-based ingredients, including Lemon Verbena oil, this wonderful cream cleanser can be used everywhere from the bathroom to the stovetop.  Not gritty.  Not harsh.  Works wonders on stainless and just about anything that gets in its way … gentle enough for glass stovetops.  A little goes a long way.”

Price-Around $5.25 for 12.7 fluid oz.

Performance- After using a cream cleanser, I don’t know that I will ever be fully satisfied with a spray again. This stuff seems so much more powerful and effective than the sprays that I’ve tried in the past. I’ve used this product to clean my bathroom counter/sink several times, and the results have been pretty impressive. I love anything that manages to make a once disgusting surface sparkle. Danielle uses it to clean  our stove, and she is a big fan as well. Our stove can get pretty sick and food-crusted, so that’s saying something.

Scent- It has a pretty standard lemon cleaning product scent, but one of the greatest things about this product is that it doesn’t make me feel like I need a surgical mask. The scent isn’t overwhelming, and it definitely doesn’t burn my nose and throat, which is sometimes the case with cleaning products. The fact that it’s not a spray probably has a little something to do with how inoffensive  the scent is.

Rating- The vague ingredients cost this product two points, but it absolutely deserves an 8/10.

Would I purchase this item again?-  Sure would!

*This product was provided by Eco Store USA, but the opinions were provided by yours truly.

Burt's Bees deep cleansing cream makes my face so soft!

By the way, that is the cleanser that I’ve been using for a while now and it is slammin. I have found that cleansing creams are much less harsh on my skin than bar soaps or other foaming cleansers. My skin tends to retain more of its moisture when I use creams. It tingles while I am washing my face too (in a good way).