It's time to post a review about a brand that has created a real buzz here! I'm talking about NEOGEN, a Kbeauty manufacturer that has an eye for innovating the way we care for our skin and a strong focus on natural ingredients (yes!). I am impressed by how simple and yet efficacious their products are. Today, I'm featuring one of my very favorites, NEOGEN Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser, a sumptuous foam that is spot on for oily and combination skin.
Golden Ingredient: Green Tea
The first ingredient that comes up, clearly, are the gorgeous green tea leaves that infuse the bottle. When you look at the very end of the packaging, you can see true green tea leaves that continue to ferment and release actives in the formula. They are separated by a filter, so the solid parts of the leaves never get mixed with the foam itself (I was seriously intrigued by it, afraid they would clog the pump, but nops). Green tea is powered with antioxidants and that means a lot. These miracle actives fight premature aging: antioxidants prevent free radicals from destroying collagen. Antioxidants are proven actives against signs of aging and inflammation, they help keeping skin healthy for longer, revealing stable, translucent, and smooth skin. If you can get skincare loaded with antioxidants, you should definitely do it!
Skin Balance: cleanse + hydrate
Plus, if you have trouble controlling the excess amount of oily produced by your skin or have been targeted by acne outbreaks, this cleanser is a god-sent gift. Remember that excess impurities accumulate and initiate the process of blackheads and whiteheads. When these are left on for a while, they expand the surface of your pores, leading to dilated pores. Oily and combination skin types already have larger pores than most people with normal and dry skin, and that's because the first ones are working hard to release all the oils their skins are producing! One of the great challenges is thus to get your skin to keep to ideal levels of oil production, what we call "balancing" your skin.
This can be achieved through ideal hydration and cleansing. One: you got to hydrate your skin. The more dehydrated, the more your glands will try to compensate with oils. And, yes, oily/combi skin can be both overproducing oil and still be dehydrated. To avoid this situation, invest in humectants, these are lightweight substances that retain tons of water inside your skin but do not sit on top of it blocking your pores. You can search for gel type creams, such as Blithe Crystal Iceplant Pressed Serum and Aromatica Sea Daffodil Gel Cream, or lightweight lotions that can be applied in multiple layers, such as Benton Snail Bee High Content Lotion and Whamisa Organic Flowers Apple Sebum Treatment.
Two: you need to keep your pores clean. This is exceptionally important to prevent those balckheads from turning into inflamed zits. There is a ton of bacteria in this world and some of them will accumulate on your skin and benefit from that excess sebum sitting there. Don't give them the chance. Cleanse your pores, remove excess makeup and sunscreen, and your skin will remain fresh and healthy (hormonal acne is a different chapter, but even then, keeping a clean surface will prevent zits from spreading as fast).
That's where NEOGEN Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser. We mostly look at cleanser as products that merely wipe away impurities. And that's correct. But the right cleanser will always have a dose of hydration, the type of hydration that works for your skin. NEOGEN Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser is special to me because it is one of the most refreshing and elegant cleansers I've tried. It is spot on in washing off all that excess sebum and impurities, but it did not leave my skin feeling squeaky or tight. This is summer time and my skin is particularly overwhelmed by the high temperatures, making a refreshing cleanser all the more necessary.
Performance and Formula
The foam that comes out of the pump has really tiny bubbles. It looks creamy because the foam is just so delicate. Once applied to face, the foam spreads into a thin and very gentle layer of bubbles. It's lovely. The pH is right on the neutral spot, varying from 6.5-7. (Time for disclosure: in my first attempts, I overdid with NEOGEN Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser. I think I was using two pumps of it for my face. The right amount is one pump. More than that and you're just overloading your skin and wasting product.)
The full formula is free of animal ingredients, parabens, artificial dyes and fragrances, salicylic acid, sulfates, mineral oils, and other potential irritants. It's hard not to appreciate the high amount of green tea water here and the variety of botanical extracts, such as sugar cane, papaya, moringa seed oil and argan oil. People often ask what's about brand X that makes it so much more expensive than brand Y. In the end of the day, the only value a brand can present, aside from being an ethical business, is the quality and concentration of the ingredients they put in there. If Brand X asks for three times the price of Brand Y, I expect to see some unicorn tears in there. In most cases, however, what drive prices up is their marketing campaigns and the fancy models converted into brand ambassadors. In the case of NEOGEN, you see you're paying for high quality ingredients and you're getting exactly that. Overall, it makes for honest and democractic prices :)
Verdict
I've been using NEOGEN Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser daily this summer and couldn't be happier. It's a simple, easy to use product that has all the benefits my skin needs right now: pore care, anti-aging, soothing, and anti-inflammatory. Certainly recommended for those with:
- oily and combination skin - helps balance skin keeping oil production to optimal levels; it's refreshing and contains anti-aging benefits!
- redness and inflammation - it's soothing and repairing thanks to green tea properties
- acne and blackheads - a thorough cleanser that removes impurities and melts excess sebum; its anti-inflammatory properties help minimize acne breakouts and prevent them from spreading
You will find NEOGEN Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser here. Check the entire NEOGEN line available at Honeysu here.
