You may remember a while back I reviewed some of skincare brand Ziaja's SenSitive range(HERE) and loved it. It was all well suited to my dry, sensitive skin and I've since used up two out of the three products I reviewed with a good dent made in the third. Basically, I really like this brand. Aside from being inexpensive (which is really important in these recessionary times), their products actually work, and work as well as some of their more pricey peers do too, which is no mean feat.
The brand's latest offering is for oily/combination skin and is the Manuka tree Purifying range.
I've been sent the deeply cleansing peeling paste, astringent face toner and normalising day cream to try out. Here's how I got on:
So the story with this range is that it was created with oily/combination skin in mind. If you're trying to find a balance between keeping your skin moisturised while also trying to control shine and battling blackheads, dilated pores, minor spots, acne breakouts or blemishes then this is the range for you. The manuka leaf (coming all the way from New Zealand and Australia) is proven to be highly effective in treating oily skin problems as it has antibacterial properties to reduce infection and soothe irritation. Good news is that this range is suitable for teenagers, women and men and all of the products are alcohol free and contain hyaluronic acid salts (a big deal in skincare at the moment). So that's what the brand says. Here's what I thought of each product:
Deeply Cleansing Peeling Paste
This was the first of the three that I tried out and to start with I was slightly confused by the name. This involves no physical peeling on my part, the peeling here refers to the fact that it's a scrub and removes dead skin cells. With that sorted, I applied this like a mask but gave a little scrub as I was putting it on. It says on the tube to then wash it off but I left it on for a minute just to test it for that bit longer. The idea behind it is that it unblocks pores, keeping shine and oil at bay. The great news about this for me though is that it's an incredible exfoliator. Probably one of the best I've ever used actually. My skin felt soft and smooth afterwards (and super clean, it was heavenly!) but it wasn't harsh at all- my skin just looked pink and smooth and healthy. No redness or irritation. Perfect. Another important point to mention here is that this washes off incredibly easily. The texture of it is actually a paste filled with exfoliating granules, as you can see here:
Despite the fact that it's packed with exfoliating granules, it washes off really well. I love my Liz Earle exfoliator but by god do I struggle to get it off my face, so this gets a big tick in that column. This, like the rest of the range smells AMAZING. It's just incredibly fresh and invigorating. Recommended use is once a week and should be used first to prepare the skin for the rest of the manuka range.
Next up is the Astringent Face Toner.
I'm not gonna lie, I saw the word "astringent" and I freaked out a bit. Sensitive skin and astringent have traditionally not gone together but I had my blogger testing cap on so I proceeded regardless (note: I don't have a cap, I wish I did though. It would for sure have tassels and some sort of badge on it). This is a serum-blitzing toner that refreshes while removing any traces of dirt. It also clarifies pores and helps to soothe acne breakouts and helps improve blemishes. Because of the "dirt removal" part, they suggest you spray this onto a cotton pad and use it that way but to be honest, it's quite a light spray and I felt I got a better effect from spraying it directly onto my face. It dried within seconds and left my face feeling fresh and cool, like a good toner should.This is again an extremely bargainous way of treating spot-prone skin.
Lastly, I tried out the Normalising Day Cream.
This is a light moisturiser, again designed for oily/combination skin so it reduces t-zone shineand has mattifying properties. Apparently it's working away throughout the day to blot out oily patches, get rid of blemishes, all while providing moisture and soothing irritations but crucially- without overloading your pores. I liked this, it was nice and light and definitely mattifies (I think that's something the brand does really well- their moisturiser for men is also excellent for mattifying the skin). Again, I can't comment on any of the other claims as I don't have that type of skin but as a daily moisturiser I quite liked it- I personally need something a bit more intensive on the moisturising side (dry skin and whatnot) but if you do have an oily complexion, I think this would be perfect. This has an SPF of 10, which would be a bit low for most people. If you're planning on being out in the sun you'll need to wear a stronger factor over this, just to bear that in mind.
Also in the range, you can get the gently exfoliating night cream and the normalising cleansing gel.
You can find Ziaja online at Original Beauty and in select pharmacies nationwide (handy hint- if you follow Ziaja on instagram they've recently been popping up photos of the pharmacies around the country where they are stocked).
What do you think, does the Manuka Tree Purifying range sound like your type of thing?
I've yet to be disappointed with anything I've used from them and that includes products not even suitable to my skin type!
Must be witchcraft :)