Review: Alpure Detoxifying Toning Cleanser

I can't say I'd ever heard of the brand Alpure before, but while looking for bargains on Fragrance Direct I saw this cleanser very heavily marked down and as I was just in the market for a new one, it had to go straight into my basket. Before you even read any further, let me tell you that I've learnt my lesson and realised that when a single product is marked down a lot heavier than all others, there's usually a reason for that.

It was when I read the instructions on the box that I realised I'd made a mistake. Now, I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but in my personal opinion, a cleanser has got to be rinsed off with water (or alternatively wiped off with a wet flannel or muslin cloth). If there's no water involved, I just somehow doubt how it's ever going to get off all my dirt and make-up. With this cleanser, you're meant to apply it onto the face with dry fingers and then just swipe the excess off with a cotton pad. The rest is meant to sink into the skin.
I couldn't help but worry that I was essentially just pushing the dirt further into my pores rather than rinsing it out, but to be completely honest, my towels and pillows were clean after using this, so it must have been doing something.

While it's safe to use on the eyes, I preferred using a separate make-up remover for the eye area, as this just wasn't strong enough. A swipe of waterproof mascara and this would have had no chance. It certainly did strike me how gentle this cleanser was - a little too gentle, perhaps?

You may have noticed that I've written this review in the past tense. That's because I wanted to wait until I'd completely finished the product before I wrote down my thoughts. Despite being a bit unsure about the lack of water involved, I did quite like this cleanser. I enjoyed how gentle it was and it did seem to get a lot of grime off my face.
That was until I finished it and switched cleansers and suddenly realised, just how much my skin improved. In my opinion a good cleanser is the one thing that will instantly transform the skin and as it happens, this one made my skin look rather grey and dull - something I didn't realise until I switched to a different product.

As I only spent £10 on it I'm not too peeved, but it certainly won't be a repurchase from me. Had I spent the full £30 that this is marked up as, I would have expected a far, far superior product.