Being a ‘sufferer’ of combination skin, finding skincare products that work to effectively tackle oiliness without bringing the drier areas of your face out in a flaky panic is often a difficult and almost impossible task. Like most combination skin people, I suffer from an oily t-zone, particularly on the forehead but also around the nose and chin area, but find that my cheeks can easily become quite dry. Most products designed for oily skin I find can be way too harsh for my skin and strip the drier patches of the moisture it so desperately needs. Simple have produced a range targeted at those with oily / combination skin which is gentle enough for everyday use, while still being effective at reducing oiliness. The range includes a cleanser, moisturiser, and the Clear Skin Oil Balancing Facial Scrub, to gently exfoliate and removedead skin cells while at the same time targeting oil and combating breakouts.
Company Philosophy
Simple pride themselves on not adding any harsh chemicals, fragrances or colours to their products and attempt to use the purest ingredients, making their products
suitable for the most sensitive of skins. Simple is almost 50 years old, having produced their first perfume and colour free soap way back in 1960 and now has an extensive range of skincare products including a men’s range, baby range, sun care, anti-aging products, haircare, and oil balancing. Their tagline is “We believe in Goodness” and the whole feel of the range places the emphasis on natural, from the ingredients used, to the green and white colour scheme.
Get scrubbing!
Exfoliating is one of the most important steps in a skincare routine and one that is often neglected due to the cleanse-tone-moisturise 3 step routine that we all learn as little girls. But as the dead skin cells build up, it can leave your face looking dull and your skin tired and can even lead to breakouts. Regular and gentle exfoliation ensures that the skin renews itself regularly and leaves the complexion fresh, clear and glowing and in my opinion is one of the most important steps in your skin care routine. In fact, because of the great results that exfoliating gives, it’s very easy to become a little obsessed and addictive about it – one of my friends recently asked me if I thought it was ok to list exfoliating as one of her hobbies on her CV! I think she was joking...!
I bought this facial scrub about a month ago when I had been suffering from a mini breakout from the heaps of stage makeup I had been wearing during a show which had clogged my pores. The oiliness was back with a vengeance on the forehead and come along to join him were 3 lovely red spots – 2 on the forehead and one on the chin – and a couple of mini blackheads. Simple claim that this facial scrub will reduce blackheads by 64% in just 7 days – quite a bold claim and one that drew me to the product. I was also attracted to the scrub when I saw it contained Witch Hazel which is a natural anti-bacterial – if there’s one thing I remember from my teens, it’s how effective Witch Hazel is in calming down red spots and irritations on the skin, so this seemed like exactly what I was looking for to get my skin back to normal. The product also cites on its list of ingredients natural zinc, which is renowned for its ability to absorb excess oil, and rice powder as the exfoliating ingredient, which soothes and softens the skin, making this a gentle but effective product. It also contains vitamin E and Pro-vitamin B5, both of which aid healthy skin.
The product comes in a small 75ml plastic tube which will set you back around £3.75 from Boots and has a bit more of a funky packaging style than Simple’s usual ranges, using a bright turquoise blue and white colour scheme. It stands up on its flip top lid, meaning that it’s really easy to dispense as the liquid naturally falls to the bottom. To use, you simply squeeze out just a 20p sized blob and massage gently over a damp face for about a minute before rinsing thoroughly with warm water. When you squeeze the scrub onto your fingers it feels silky and soothing instantly. Although there is no fragrance added, you can smell a faint whiff of Witch Hazel, which gives it a soothing but slightly medicinal feel. As you massage it over your face you can feel the exfoliating grains which are slightly bigger than lots of exfoliators I’ve used, but seem somewhat softer, meaning that it gives a very gentle exfoliating effect and won’t irritate the skin. Simple claim that it’s so gentle that it is suitable for everyday use, and if my skin feels like it’s about to break out I do use it daily and find it’s more than gentle enough to not irritate my skin. However, generally I use this 2 or 3 times a week as I don't normally feel it's necessary to use a scrub more often than that. It feels quite cooling and soothing as you massage it and it is a good cleanser as well as a scrub, removing makeup and dirt effectively. The big test of how well something has cleansed for me is when I use my toner afterwards to see if it manages to remove any dirt the cleanser has left behind - well full marks here! Not a spec of dirt left, so I often use this in place of a cleanser, making this a good 2 in 1 product.
Results
I love the way that Simple’s scrub leaves my skin feeling – unlike lots of scrubs it actually works really well to soften my skin, leaving it smooth and strokeable, and without feeling like I need to run to apply the moisturiser. The Witch Hazel works effectively to reduce existing spots and I found it worked especially well on reducing redness. Despite being initially sceptical of the bold claim about reducing blackheads, I did find it effective in this area, although I’m not a huge blackhead sufferer. After about a week of using this scrub daily my red spots had disappeared, blackheads had vanished, and the oiliness on my forehead had been neutralised without drying out the rest of my face. It worked well to control the shine throughout the day as well, the Witch Hazel having a mattifying effect on any oil. But what I was most impressed with was how gentle the product was on my skin. Unlike some other products designed for oily skin, it didn’t seem to strip the skin of its natural oils and dry it out – rather it works to absorb the excess oil and nourish the skin, leaving the skin feeling soft and looking clean and fresh. I like to use this as part of my morning routine to ensure my skin is fresh and clean for the day ahead.
Other products which Simple recommend using with the facial scrub are the Oil Balancing Exfoliating Wash and the Oil Balancing Moisturiser. For very oily skin I would imagine these will be lifesavers, but for me, I find that with my combination skin, just breaking out the facial scrub if things are getting a bit oily is more than enough to do the trick.
Conclusion
I love this product. Simple seem to have really got to grips with what oily / combination skin needs and created a product that is effective but gentle. Premium brands like Clinique could learn a lot from Simple, as I found their products for oily skin just seemed to strip the natural oil out of mine and dry it out. This scrub has helped me out of a bad patch, cleared my complexion, and is one I will always turn to when I feel a dreaded breakout coming on. I thoroughly recommend this product for anyone who suffers from oily or combination skin – at £3.75 it’s well worth a try. Simples, as our friend from Compare the Meerkat would say!
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