The Body Shop Passion Fruit Cleansing Gel

When you move house there are many things that tend to happen. You have to pay out loads of your hard earned spondoolies to solicitors. You have to pack everything up, thus discovering many things you no longer knew you had and suddenly decide you absolutely have to keep. You argue with your partner about who made that crucial nudge that knocked over the vase that bounced on the floor and smashed, spraying the cat, and any small children in the locality, with glass. Your intentions to leave the house spotless for the next occupants are toned down somewhat when you realise how long it’s going to take to pick up those bits of glass.

But the one thing that invariably happens in every single move that has ever been made, is that THINGS GET LOST.

“Well you packed it.”
“Well you loaded it into the van so where did you put it?”
“Don’t you blame me, it’s not my fault.”
“Well whose fault is it then? The cat’s I suppose?”
Cue tears, screaming, wild accusations and random reintroduction of all past arguments. Sigh.

When I moved in with Dak I hardly brought any stuff, there just isn’t room for it, but I still managed to lose things. The only thing I really missed though was, sadly enough, a beauty product. I wouldn’t say I am particularly vain but once you’ve experienced The Body Shop’s Passion Fruit Refreshing Cleansing Gel you’ll begin to understand where I’m coming from.

At first I didn’t think anything of losing my cleansing gel. I just dug out another one I had lying around in my ‘spares’ box (Elizabeth Arden Spa as it happens) and used that instead. It was OK, nothing special and by the time I got near to the end of it I still hadn’t found my Body Shop one so I bought a new one. My skin wasn’t looking its best, a couple of spots, a bit of greasiness on my T zone but nothing to get too worked up about.

Less than two weeks of using the Passion Fruit cleansing gel later and I am converted. I will never use another cleansing gel again, and if The Body Shop should make the fatal mistake of getting rid of this wondrous product I will personally tie myself to the railings of the HQ until SOMEONE SEES SENSE.

It’s that darn good.

What on earth possessed me to try something else, I will never know. My skin is spot free, more even in tone and texture, doesn’t grease up through the day, my pores have closed up, my blackheads have dramatically reduced already and generally speaking my skin is very, very happy.

The product itself comes in a clear plastic bottle with the usual dark green Body Shop paper labels. The lid used to be a screw top but now it’s a flip top which I find much more practical in the shower. The label tells us that this is for normal to oily skin and the gel is free from both oil and soap. The instructions, ingredients and packaging recycling information are all around the other side.

The gel itself is a very soft pink colour with a slight hint of orange to it. It’s got a lovely texture too. Thick, but not so much that you can’t get it out of the bottle, and clearly very concentrated so you don’t need to use much. You’re supposed to massage the gel gently into your wet face and then rinse off with warm water. There’s no mention of this product not being suitable for use on the eye area although there obviously is a warning not to put it into your eyes. I do use this over my entire face and I’ve never experienced any sort of negative reaction. As my skin is easily irritated I think this is a very high recommendation.

I use a small blob about the size of a penny and to be honest this is too much. I’m just never awake enough in the morning to think about it much. I massage it quickly between my two hands before applying it to my face and working it around using circular motions with my fingertips. The bottle is 250ml so it lasts ages and ages. It may seem a fairly expensive product at £4.50 but the results and the concentration more than justify it.

Once I’ve rinsed off the gel my skin is left in excellent condition without any tightness and is smooth and ready for my moisturiser. If I’ve been wearing make up this cleanser also removes every trace of it without the need for scrubbing or coming back for a second go. That includes waterproof mascara too. I have combination skin on my face although this has been getting a bit dryer over the last couple of years. I find that this gel is excellent at balancing out the different areas of my face and controls the amount of oil produced very well.

My skin is left clean and, as I have already mentioned, using this cleanser has made significant inroads into the blackheads around my nose with only two weeks regular use. Many cleansers these days include tea tree for its natural astringent qualities. Personally I don’t like tea tree and as passion fruit is also an astringent this is an excellent alternative. The smell is very pleasant, zingy and uplifting, and a good boost to waking me up. It’s quite an intense scent explained by Passiflora Incarnata listed as the number three ingredient. It doesn’t linger significantly once you’ve washed it off though so if you’re a blokey don’t worry that you’ll be humming like a tart’s window box all day.

I find tea tree products often leave my skin too dry and a bit unsettled but this is much more even and calming. The reason for my skin not getting too dry appears to be the presence of glycerin in this gel. Apparently this helps to stop your skin losing moisture and it certainly seems to have the desired effect.

Overall I really can’t recommend this product highly enough. Skin care is a very personal thing but I’ve been lucky enough to find a cleanser that seems to be perfect for me. I hope it works as well for you.

Available from Body Shop stores nationwide. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any information on this product on their website as it’s stand alone rather than part of a range. If you can’t find it in store because of this, make sure you ask!