Product Spotlight & Review | Lipidol

I remember my first trip to Thailand with one of my besties in 2010. It was a kind of spur of the moment holiday, that turned into an absolutely amazing holiday complete with lots of Thai massages, Thai green curry and shopping as well as warm water and beautiful beaches.

I remember on our way home passing through the duty free store and finding the much talked and raved about Shu Umura cleansing oils. At that time (I’m not too sure why) I wasn’t able to purchase the oil, as it was too much liquid to take onboard. I was bummed.

About two years after that, I remember being at a Woolies sale and I picked up an Organic Cleansing Oil from Bloom Cosmetics. I loved that cleansing oil so much, but when I went to repurchase, found out that Bloom Cosmetics had left South Africa. In an attempt to hold onto the beautiful cleansing oil, I asked my mom to make one up for me (my mom is brilliant with essential oils and has a keen collection of oils. She can pretty much make you anything!). I used my mom’s version of the cleansing oil until it was finished and then moved on to the latest cleanser on the block.

Since then I’ve used cleansing creams, gels, face washes, you name it! Recently I’ve been enjoying my Ren Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Balm because I feel like it doesn’t strip my face of natural oils (I have dehydrated skin so I don’t love extremely astringent face washes). Given my preference for oils and balms, I was super stoked when I heard that Lipidol was launching their line of oils (brought to you by the brothers that made Tissue Oil a worldwide success).

The Lipidol range consists of 6 different products: 2 are for cleansing and 4 are designed to be left on the skin. The Cleansing Face Oil and Cleansing Body Oil are formulated to remove dirt and makeup, whilst keeping the skin’s natural oily layer intact. The After Shower Oil is a leave-on oil that is applied after showering. There’s also a Sunscreen Oil that, in addition to protecting your skin with an SPF of 20, also supplements the skin’s natural oily layer stripped away by sun, wind and water . The After Shave Oil is to help the skin’s natural oily layer stay in tact after being stripped away by shaving and has a masculine scent while the Overnight Face Oil is supposed to be soothing and relaxing, repairing your skin whilst you sleep. As you might have gathered, Lipidol revolves around the concept of not damaging or disrupting the skin’s natural oil barriers. To find out why this is important, click here to watch.

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the cleansing body oil

The Cleansing Body Oil is a brand new experience for me and I was very interested to see how it would work. My thinking was ‘How will an oil compete with a shower gel? How will it lather?’. When applied to wet skin, the Cleansing Body Oil emulsifies and lathers up just a little. When you rinse it off, skin definitely feels clean – but without stripping the skin of moisture. And it smells like lime cordial, so you have that burst or citrus energy. Apparently, the Cleansing Body Oil was the trickiest one to create. Being a moisture retention range they had to formulate a product that wouldn’t strip the skin of its natural oils but would still wash off all the dirt & grime effectively. It does the job and it does it well.

Packaging 
The packaging is simple and clean just like the the entire range. The transparent bottle allows you to easily see the product. I like the fact that the focus is on the product not the packaging. In my opinion, the clean lines of the packaging actually helped to pique my interest around this product.

Fragrance 
The oil is green and fragranced with lime essential oil. It smells like lime cordial.

Performance
Once the oil is applied to wet skin, it spreads easily and softly works into a subtle lather. It then washes off beautifully and easily. You are left with wonderful clean skin and no oily residue (I must admit I imagined that my skin would be slightly oily  after rinsing). My skin never feels dry afterwards and this is because the lipid barrier is never eroded.

Verdict
Buy it! You’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’s like nothing you have experienced ever before. I was thinking just last night about how clever this oil is – it’s an oil but it lathers and manages to clean your skin; it washes off and doesn’t leave an oily residue whilst also leaving your natural oily barrier intact. On the other hand, if you love foamy body washes, love to feel squeaky clean, and you can’t do without oodles of bubbles, then this isn’t for you.

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the cleansing face oil

Even though I’m not new to cleansing face oils, I was still very eager and excited to try Lipidol’s version.

Packaging 
The packaging is the same as the other bottles in the range.

Fragrance 
The oil is said to be fragranced with Rosemary and Niaouli essential oils, but I can’t really smell it.

Performance
As with any other oil cleanser, you apply the oil to dry skin and massage a little bit. Once that’s done you add a bit of warm water to emulsify and then rinse off. The Cleansing Face Oil did a great job of removing my eye makeup (mascara included), but then I got a bit in my eye and it was a bit sore! All Lipidol products are suitable for sensitive skin and are non-comedogenic.

Verdict: If you’re looking for a cost-effective makeup removing face cleanser and you have dehydrated skin, you might want to give this a try. Driven by personal choice, for the time being I’ll stick to Ren and my more natural products, as this one contains liquid Paraffin.

Lipidol is available exclusively at Clicks and each product in the range is priced at R79.95