A skincare product that I had sitting on my shelves for some time, waiting to try out was the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel. It is one of those products that a while ago everyone was raving about. Because Oskia is a brand that is not readily available to me (I bought this on one of my London trips) I was super late to hop on the bandwagon. Now that I finally start using it, I can give you my thoughts on how this cleansing gel works for me.
Oskia Renaissance Cleasing Gel Illuminating Vitamin Melting Cleanser
The main reason why this intrigued me is because so many raved about it. It is definitely one of the most expensive cleansers I have ever tried: it retails for about the €35 mark. My favorite cleanser by The Body Shop is about a third of the price, just to give a comparison. However, this product doesn’t just claim to be a simple cleanser but to nourish your skin at the same time.
The Packaging
This cleanser comes in a box and then in some stunning, simple, clean looking packaging. This bottle just looks like a high end skincare product. I like how this cleanser comes with a pump: it makes it easy to dispense and you don’t overuse product easily. A bottle contains 100 mls of product, which is a good amount.
The Ingredients & Claims
The ingredient list of this cleanser is not too long. This is it:
CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, GLYCERIN, AQUA, CETEARYL OLIVATE, SUCROSE LAURATE, BENZYL ALCOHOL, SORBITAN OLIVATE, SUCROSE PALMITATE, PARFUM (NATURAL), GERANIOL, DIMETHYL SULFONE, CITRONELLOL, DEHYDROACETIC ACID, LACTOBACILLUS/CUCURBITA PEPO FRUIT FERMENT EXTRACT, BORAGO OFFICINALIS SEED OIL, SUCROSE STEARATE, LINALOOL, RETINYL PALMITATE, CI 77491, JOJOBA ESTERS, TOCOPHEROL, ASCORBYL PALMITATE.
Oskia website
As you can see the active ingredients of the product don’t come until halfway down the fairly short list. Since this is a cleanser, I am not too fussed about that, but still, you just know that the active ingredients will be present in very low quantities.
What this cleanser aims to do is not only cleanse, but also improve texture and overall look of your skin. In a way it’s a bit like an exfoliating face wash due to the pumpkin enzymes in it. It contains a vitamin complex that should help improve skin and help the skin to combat influence from the environment. In short, this product should leave your skin feeling smooth and soft, while not being aggressive for the skin.
The Swatch
I was surprised to see the color of this product. It looks quite pink/ peach when you first pump it out. When you start spreading it out, not much happens until you add water. The water activates this product into a soft, foamy texture. I had a similar experience with a tester I had of a Boscia cleanser, but that stripped my skin too much. This does not.
By now, I have been using this product for at least 6 – 8 weeks (my period for testing any skincare product) and at first I thought it was similar to the Boscia. But while that made my skin feel tight after using it a while, this does not have that effect. It is strange, because I do feel that when I use this it takes off makeup well and I can feel it doing something more to my skin than just taking off gunk. I can feel it working with my skin, but it feels pleasant and not irritated afterwards.
The only downside I have found to this product is that I feel I need a lot of product to make this work. I need 2 pumps to do a first cleanse, then another 1 – 2 pumps to go in again. It is almost as if my skin eats up this product as I rub it into the skin. It doesn’t sting my eyes, leaves my skin feeling good, but I think that it terms of cleansing this doesn’t beat my favorite The Body Shop Aloe Vera Foaming cleanser. That does not exfoliate, but it is even more gentle and cleanses my face just as well.
The Conclusion
I like the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel, but it is not my new favorite. I can see why people really like this, but this is not the life changing product that some people make it out to be. It doesn’t irritate my skin, it does what it promises to do, but I have tried other cleansers that I like just as much or even better than this that are cheaper.
4 responses to “Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel”
I recently used up a sample of this that I’d had sitting around for ages. I thought there was loads of product in the sample but it was only enough for one application
Good to know I am not the only one who needs to a lot to make this work.
I do have this and really enjoy it but I agree, you need quite a bit of product each time. I found that with this cleanser, I prefer to use a wet cloth to clean off after I’ve rinsed to really get all the makeup off.
Great tip! I usually use cleansers like this in the shower so I forget to grab a cloth.