Underachievers And Underperformers

There are so many great products on the market and it's hard enough to keep up with them. I usually manage to avoid the really awful ones, but what about the ones that aren't horrible, just don't perform as you would hope?

Here are a bunch I've encountered in recent months. Please comment if they happen to work better for you.

Boots Time to Cleanse- Time Dimensions deep cleansing wipes
I always have makeup removal wipes on hand, even though it's not the most effective method. You know those nights when one step cleansing is all one can manage? That's when cleansing cloths are a life-saver. I usually use the regular ones in the greenish packaging, but my Target isn't known for being well-stocked at all times, so I picked these instead. They clean, sort of, if you insist and rub your face enough. Not exactly what I want to be doing. Following with a toner solves the problem, but that defies the purpose.

Guerlain Success Future Day Care SPF 15 Wrinkle Minimizer
I've gone through several sample tubes before giving up. It's a daytime moisturizer with SPF 15, but it's just doesn't deliver on the moisturizing front. I tested it under various conditions and the result is always the same: needs supplement. While at $140 for 1 oz it's about half the price of the heavy guns, it's still way too much for a non moisturizing day cream (and the pure amber extract? I don't buy it).

Skyn Icelandic Relief Eye Cream with Biospheric Complex
(Have you noticed how all these products are a mouthful?)
An eco-friendly eye cream full of good intentions but does diddly squat on those mornings one needs extra help to perk up. I've been spoiled rotten by Lancome Secret de Vie Eye, so it's hard to compromise. Works great as a lip balm, though.

Arcona White Tea Eye Makeup Remover
I usually love Arcona products. They tend to smell great and feel wonderful on skin. The high concentration of plant extracts doesn't hurt, either. But when it comes to removing eye makeup this product is a dud. It takes a lot of product and too much rubbing to remove my mascara and eye liner, and even then it's never 100% clean. Completely unacceptable.

Image: synergizedsolutions.com. Some rights reserved.

Berry Clean

Things have been changing in the face cleaning scene the last couple of years. It used to be simple: Everyone had a cleanser and a toner and we used to feel like we haven't done it right if there wasn't a tingling, squeaky clean feel once we were finished.

However, ask most skin care experts today and they'd say that you need to be much more gentle on your face, because over-cleaning and drying actually causes the skin to get active and produce more oil and get generally unhappy and imbalanced. They would also tell you to drop the toner, because it's the most drying product of them all (especially those that still contain alcohol). Modern cleansers aren't supposed to leave behind any residue that needs to be removed and your face shouldn't need any toning.

Old habits die hard. For those who still crave the clean feel of a toner on their skin, there's a three-in-one product that promises to do it all: remove makeup, tone the skin and hydrate it. Cranberry toner by Arcona is all-natural, its ingredient list reads like a Harry Potter herbology class: Hamamelis Virginiana Extract (Witch Hazel), Rice milk, Sodium Lactate, Vaccinium Macrocarpon Fruit Extract (Cranberry), Camellia Sinensis Extract (White Tea), Vitis Vinifera Seed Extract (Grape), D-Alpha Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Citric Acid, Essential Oils.
I did some research to find out what's Sodium Lactate and found out that it's produced by the natural fermentation of the sugars from corn or beets. These sugars are fermented with lactic acid starter culture, similar to those used for cheese or yogurt production.

One word of caution regarding the ingredients: This toner is basically an enriched witch hazel solution. Witch hazel is an astringent and an anti-oxidant. It's also a known skin irritant and some people are very sensitive to it, so take notice.

Those who don't have a problem with witch hazel will find this toner quite pleasing. It cleanses well (though I prefer to use it as a follow-up to makeup remover wipes) and feels nice on the skin. It usually doesn't give the dry, tightening feeling of regular toners, though you can't skip moisturizing. I'm not wild for the fruity smell and color (the cotton pads turn pale purple after using it, which I find disturbing), but since it's made of cranberry extract I guess it's only natural. Berry lovers would love it, though.