Botanics – All Bright Micellar Cleansing Solution – Review
Boots – £5.49
Boots is not my usual place to buy skincare. There aren’t many cruelty free brands and the ones that claim to be don’t have any accreditation or confirmation from reliable sources – so I’ve basically stayed clear… until now.
Back in January I saw a post from Boots on Instagram that their Botanics range was now Leaping Bunny approved. Fantastic news, but I was perfectly happy with the routine I had – until March came along.
I’m usually able to get my Superdrug Vitamin E Micellar water pretty easy, but not since lockdown. Only able to buy online, my choices were pretty limited, but I am so happy that I found this gem.
All Boots Botanics products are Cruelty Free (leaping bunny Accredited), have a sustainability commitment, and lots are Vegan and certified Organic.
This All Bright Micellar Cleansing Solution is Vegan, for all skin types and is actually an AHA thanks to the addition of Hibiscus. It does mean that your skin is more sensitive to sun damage, but realistically we all should be wearing SPF anyway.
In Use:
I use this in exactly the same way as my original Micellar water from Superdrug, directly onto a reusable cotton pad and sweeping it all over my face. The smell is neutral, a light floral scent that disappears fairly quickly after applying.
Writing this, I know I should be using a cleansing wash for a better cleanse (and I quite often do as well), but I have always found Micellar waters work for my skin type and this particular one leaves my skin feeling so clean.
Being alcohol free it doesn’t dry out the skin, but manages to leave it soft and smooth ready for the next step of your routine. Only negative, I don’t really think it’s done anything to brighten my skin - although this might have been more to do with my skincare routine already having AHA’s in it to begin with.
Packaging:
Unfortunately, it’s always the packaging that lets these products down. Plastic, plastic, plastic. As someone who is consistently trying to reduce their plastic consumption, being unable to find a good, readily available Micellar Water that does not come in a plastic bottle has been a real struggle.
Botanics does claim to have a sustainability commitment, although this isn’t explained on the bottle. After a small amount of googling, I found their full statements and it does sound pretty encouraging. You can read that here.
This packaging really isn’t perfect, but I was happy to see that it had no unnecessary stoppers or catches inside - I personally never know if they’re recyclable or not. This just has a simple screw cap lid, also making it easy to get out every last drop.
Verdict:
As always, the biggest question is, would I buy this again? The answer is firmly YES!
It seems to be always on offer at buy one get one half price or something like that, it’s not overly expensive to begin with, and most of all it actually works. It has become a daily part of my skincare routine and I’m happy that I was forced out of my comfort zone into buying it.
As a side note, this is no good for removing makeup and you would definitely need to use a much more heavy duty cleanser for that job. A cleansing balm is my favourite for this.