review: No 7 beautiful skin cleansing brush

A bit of an unusual post today as I don't tend to post about beauty products. However, I love this product so much that I've decided that it's only fair to share my love of the No 7 Beautiful Skin Cleansing Brush. I have not been paid to do this review and I bought this product for the full RRP with my own money.

My skin has always not been great but it's not been bad either. I get breakouts if I indulge too much (in terms of food and drink) and I also get break-outs when it's that time of the month. It's been a lot better since I was 18, but from the ages of 16-18, it was the reason why I lost a lot of self-confidence as I'd always have a few spots keeping me company!

I have tried being on the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) in an effort to improve the state of my skin and also to minimise the extreme menstrual cramps I get on a monthly basis. Although the OCP did work fairly well on my skin, it gave me irritable bowel syndrome and I became sensitive to quite a few foods - resulting in me ceasing the services of the OCP two months' ago.

Anyway, long story short, the bad skin returned and I turned to my diet to ensure that my skin would be the best it could be. This meant lots of water (that's all I drink now, plus the odd bottle of Powerade for those extreme sport days), minimal refined sugar (well, the majority of the time) and a balanced diet. This isn't a problem for me as I'm a bit of a health-freak when it comes to food anyway but my skin was still prone to the odd break-out.

Enter the No 7 Beautiful Skin Cleansing Brush - introduced and recommended to me by a few readers who commented on this post.

As Boots had a 3 for 2 offer on at the time for No 7 goods, and as I had a few vouchers to spend, I decided to get two bottles of the No 7 Soft and Soothed Gentle Cleanser too. I justified this spend because the total of my basket came to less than the price of the cleansing brush on its own and because I hadn't spent any money on clothes this year.

Anyway, this product, along with the cleanser, has been a revelation. My skin has been a lot clearer since getting it two and a half weeks' ago (yes, it does seem to work that quickly!). I wouldn't say it's perfect but the brush seems to help a lot. I don't wear make-up at all (and if I do, it's usually to cover up a breakout...!) but I've heard reports of this brush removing more make-up than just using a cotton wool pad would.

All I do is apply the cleanser to your face (making sure there is a bit on each area), wet the brush head a little and then turn it on (press once for a slower speed or twice for a faster rotation). I tend to do 10-15 seconds for each cheek, 10-15 seconds for the forehead, up to 10 seconds for my nose and up to 10 seconds for my chin. After this, remove the cleanser as usual and proceed with the rest of your routine. I do this once every two days and I haven't found the bristles too abrasive, but I do have oily skin so that might make a difference? I've found that by doing it twice a day, my skin becomes very dry in patches and if I do it once a day, it's still a bit much.

If I had to change one thing, I would have chosen a cleanser that foams more. However, the one I did purchase hasn't been too bad either - my skin has been softer with its use and apart from the price (£8 a bottle when there are no promotions on), I have no complaints. I also decided to tried out the cleansing brush with the Clinique 3-Step stuff I have and it works a lot better with the Clinique Liquid Facial Soap due to the lather created.

The cleansing brush itself is £24.99, which I personally think is a very good price. Considering the Clarisonic is several times that price with their replacement brush heads almost as much as the No 7 Cleansing Brush itself, there is only one winner. Although I have never tried any of the Clarisonic products, I can't justify ever trying them because of how little the No 7 alternative costed me in comparison.

Again, I apologise for a more personal and beauty-orientated blog post but I just wanted to share this great product with you all, especially as a number of readers recommended this product :)