A fortnight ago, my skin was a sight to see, not! It was red and blotchy and angry because I had been assaulting it with lots of potent products (read about it here), but then I realised my mistake and I decided to go a bit slow with all the products and give my skin some pampering care because, as everyone knows, too much of a good thing is also bad.
One of those new products that I am quite obsessed with these days (and went overboard in the usage) is “What A Girl Wants“, a vegan, handmade clay facial cleanser for combination-oily skin made by Shreya Sharan under her brand “Burst of Happyness”.
So, what does a girl want in a cleanser? It should be sulfate-free – Check. It should clean her skin without drying it out – Check. Tt should smell nice – Check. It should have ingredients that keep acne away – Check. It should remove makeup – Oops, sorry…that’s asking for a bit much. Anyway, “What A Girl Wants” basically ticks almost all the right boxes in theory. Read on to know how it works in practical…..
What a Girl Wants is a soap free, rhassoul clay based cleanser which will cleanse your skin gently, effectively, removing all dirt and grease. It contains jojoba oil which has a non-greasy texture, light weight and anti-inflammatory properties making it an ideal ingredient to use for treating acne-related skin problems. It is a very good moisturizer as it is similar to the natural oils that our bodies produces. Rose petals add a royal touch to it as it contains antioxidants and vitamins which are good for the skin.
Rhassoul Clay, is mined in the fertile Atlas Mountains of Morocco . Its most impressive properties in skin improvement are its capacity of absorption due to its high level of ions exchange. Studies have shown that it is reputed to reduce dryness and flakiness, improve skin clarity and elasticity. It is rich in magnesium, Silica, potassium and calcium.
Tea Tree Oil and Lavender Essential Oil are well known for their anti bacterial properties and are known to help oily, acne prone skin.
This clay facial will leave your face so moist and soft you will think twice putting on a moisturizer
This facial cleanser contains no water, therefore doesn’t need ANY chemicals to preserve, emulsify, thicken, etc. like any other conventional face wash. It is an all natural wash and free from aggressive detergents, such as harsh SLS, soap and other synthetics, therefore it does not dry your skin.
I was quite impressed after reading the ingredient list and with the fact that this cleanser doesn’t have any preservatives or sulfates or parabens. How much more natural can you get? This cleanser is what is known in traditional skincare as “Ubtan” or a blend of ingredients that you need to make into a paste and use as a cleanser. At first glance, it just looks like mud packed into a jar but when you look closely, you can see tiny fragments of crushed rose petals. It has quite a strong tea-tree oil smell which I quite like but might smell a bit overpowering to some.
To use this cleanser, I simply take around half a teaspoon, add just a couple of drops of water and leave it for a minute so that the clay soaks up the water and becomes a nice thick paste. Be careful not to add too much water or it gets runny and you’ll have drops of it running down your hands while you cleanse your face. I gently massage my face with the paste and rinse it off with water. The crushed rose petals in it give it a gritty appearance but when you use it, it just feels like a smooth paste without any scrubby particles.
Due to the essential oils in this cleanser, I feel a little tingling sensation when using this. A friend of mine who tried this out felt a stinging sensation and her skin became slightly red, probably because she has sensitive skin (her skin reacted that way even when she used bleach for the first time which is why she never bleaches. Neither do I actually.) It is always advisable to do a swatch test before using new skincare products, especially if those products have essential oils in them because they might not suit certain skins.
“What A Girl Wants” is a very effective cleanser and gets rid of all the dirt, sweat and oil on the face. I don’t know if it can remove makeup because I haven’t tried it on makeup. You also can’t use it around your eye area. Initially, I used it twice a day but I felt that was a bit much for my skin, especially since I was also using glycolic acid toner after it. Torture for the skin. Now, since ten days, I use this just in the morning and it makes my skin feel fresh and helps in controlling the oil too. My pores definitely look less noticeable and my face doesn’t get as shiny and greasy as it used to and in Bombay’s hot and humid weather, that is saying something. My skin also doesn’t feel tight and stretched after rinsing it off though I definitely need to apply moisturiser. Also, since I have started this using cleanser, I have had no new acne breakouts (hope I don’t jinx it by saying that). Guess that’s the tea-tree oil doing it’s job.
Overall, I really, really like this cleanser for my morning skincare routine. I also use it sometimes before I get ready for an evening out because it takes away the day’s sweat and oil and my skin feels like a clean, smooth canvas over which makeup goes on quite well ( I don’t use a primer anyway). If you have combination to oily skin and want an effective, checmical-free cleanser for summers, I would definitely recommend this one. However, based on my experience, I can’t stress enough, the importance of using all these effective, potent products in moderation.
“What A Girl Wants” is priced at Rs. 380 for 100gms which is very economical because you need such a small quantity of product. 100 gms will certainly last for 3-4 months! You can buy it on the website www.burstofhappyness.in where there are loads of other handmade goodies to tempt you.
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I have been asked to do a morning and evening skincare routine for girls in their 30s so I shall be doing a detailed post on that soon. And, in that post, I shall include a no-makeup selfie so you can see for yourself how the products in my routine have been working for me 🙂
PS- PR Sample. Honest and unbiased opinion as always.
It’s really nice for combo n oily skin.
I would love to try this product for sure..
Thanks Apoorva 🙂 . Though, honestly, my skin is in a bad state coz it is still recovering. But yes, routines coming soon.
I want to know too! My son picks these seeds up from the ground outside his school and brings them home. He’s collected about 50 of these and wants to plant them but I have no clue what tree they are from or if they’re edible. Guess I’ll take them to the building gardener and ask him.
This definitely is an interesting product. I would like to try this one. Also.. I always wanted to know your skincare routine. 🙂 I saw so many beautiful pics in instagram of urs 🙂
This does seem interesting. I might want to check these out.
Digressing a bit, do you know what those shiny seeds are called? I have seen them at so many places and always wondered? Are those edible? In fact, right today, my little niece picked up a few from somewhere.