wipes away all traces of mischief
 Jan 24th, 2002
Advantages:
a brillaint eye make - up remover, leaves skin soft and plump and clean, fantastically cheap, nice simple packaging .
Disadvantages:
stings if it gets in your eyes, may be too oily for some people to use as a moisturiser
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
How does it affect your skin?
Does it dehydrate your skin?
Value for money
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  anna_mcnally
About me:
Working in London as an archivist at a big London gallery. Interests are music, art, clothes, cats a...
Member since:12.07.2001
Reviews:42
Members who trust:17
Review rated by 32 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
This review received a counterstatement by a party concerned
Read Comment
I am not reviewing this in comparison with other makes of cold cream (e.g. Ponds) but in comparison with other make-up removers and moisturisers I have used over the years. Boots describe their cold cream as 'deep cleansing and softening' and I would happily agree with both of those statements. Boots Cold Cream is part of their Traditional Skin Care range. A couple of years ago I was attracted to buying this as I had just decided that most of my skin problems were probably due to the wide variety of lotions and potions I was subjecting it to. I'd use a treatment for oily skin which would result in dry skin, and a treatment for that would send it back the other way. So instead I would just go back to basics, let my skin sort itself out and tell me what it needs.
So I was attracted to Boots Cold Cream because it is a
very traditional product and doesn't have added vitamins or AHAs (whatever they may be) or plant extracts or any nonsense. True it's made of good old-fashioned chemicals (paraffin, stearic acid, although it is lanolin free) but so are most beauty products, although they pretend to be the juice of freshly squeezed leaves. I also liked the packaging - a white, squat tub with green and gold writing on the screw on lid. It looks very 1930's and I'm fond of that sort of thing. I also like the idea that most of my money isn't going into advertising it. To be fair, this wasn't the first time I'd used Boots cold cream. My mum had always used it as a make-up remover (and, I do believe, to prevent nappy rash on myself and my brother but let's not think about that now). Aged 7 I decided to experiment with my mum's mascara and her suspicions were confirmed when I woke up next morning with panda eyes. These were quickly wiped away with cold cream and I was told to leave her make-up bag (which, in fact, consisted only of that mascara) well alone.
By the time I had my own make-up to play with, I was also contrary enough to ignore her advice and buy my own make-up remover - namely whatever was on special offer in Boots. Of those that did, eventually, forcibly, remove my three inches of kohl (I was a teenage goth), most either stung like crazy or dried out the skin round my eyes. So before I went to uni I stole her cold cream. I've been led to believe, by assorted magazine articles and advertisements, that wrinkles round the eyes (and indeed anywhere on the face) are more likely with dry skin - hence why tanning and smoking both increase their likelihood. Used as an eye-make-up remover, Boots cold cream (you only need a little on a cotton wool pad) not only removes all my eye make-up in one or two strokes, but leaves the skin round my eyes incredibly soft, which I'm hoping will stave off the odd laughter-line. It removes even water-proof mascara quickly and easily, and although it hurts if you get it in your eye, the trick is not to get it in your eye (this is easier when one is sober).
After a few months of my 'no lotions + potions' experiment I discovered that my skin was often rather dry and - living in central London - needed a cleanser. I tried a few different products for each but, when I run out each time and used cold cream as a stop-gap for the job , I found that, for me at least,it worked best. Wiped around my face at night, the cotton wool comes off a reassuring grey colour, whilst leaving my skin peachy soft. Although my skin then tends to be very dry when I step out of the shower in the morning, if I resist the urge to moisturise, enough is locked into my skin from the previous night and it's set itself right again within an hour or so. However, I didn't really think of using cold cream as a moisturiser proper until I read about it being used as part of the beauty rituals of a character in a slightly pornographic 19th century french novel. Until then, I'd used the E45 body lotion, which I still continue to use on the days when I want to feel slim, healthy, and the like the sort of person who eats vegetables and take exercise (not all of which apply to me on a regular basis). But when I want to wear expensive lingerie and feel like one of Charles II's courtesans (there was a brilliant exhibition about them at the National Portrait Gallery recently), when I want to seduce my boyfriend in an especially lavish fashion, or am just wearing a strapless dress and want my shoulders to be smooth and soft and plump, then I rub in cold cream. It's quite oily (although not greasy) so I wouldn't recommend it for people with problem skin, but is absorbed really easily and makes my skin feel luscious and my body positively voluptuous.
On a more practical note, cold cream is also really good for intensively moisturising your knees and elbows, particularly for the former before waxing treatments. At £2.35 for 200ml, a tub which lasts me around a year, even used in this variety of ways, you can't really complain at the price, even as an eye-make-up remover alone, which is the use I am happy to whole-heartedly promote it for.
p.s.I have rated this product 'excellent', as it is for my purposes and skin, although I toyed with rating it as 'good' because it is not suitable for everyone...and then decided, what the hell this is a totally subjective opinion, so excellent it is.
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19.08.2003 21:42
I'm going shopping tomorrow, and this is definitely on my list! Jess x
05.04.2002 23:04
I wish I could try this but I can't because Boots closed all their drug stores in Canada..LL
25.01.2002 07:37
Good opinion - it's not easy to write about products such as creams etc! Cheers... [dan]