A clear winner: Softsoap wash is landslide choice of N&O panel

Nov 10, 2008 (The News & Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- FD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- It was no easy task finding a cleanser that appealed to everyone on The N&O Beauty Panel.

But for once, all our testers agreed. The winner was Softsoap's Body Wash Spa Exfoliating, which the panel said lived up to its promise to gently polish skin. The winning element of the body wash wasn't so much its exfoliating abilities as its scent, which sent a few testers out to the coast with the smell of the ocean.

The panel also came fairly close to agreeing on Biore's Pore Minimizing Refining Exfoliator, a scrub so powerful one panelist feared scrubbing all the skin off her face.

They were lukewarm, however, on cleansing tissues infused with olive oil, and not all them were impressed with the cleansing abilities of Olay's Regenerist Eye Make-up Remover Plus Anti-Wrinkle Treatment.

Here's what they had to say.

Softsoap Body Wash Spa Exfoliating, 18 ounces, $5.49, drugstores

Stephannie Cooper: This was is one of my favorites! I absolutely love the smell. You can get a nice lather worked up, and the microbeads do a great job of gently polishing your skin. I will continue to use this for a long time.

Jill Dykes: This left my skin feeling moisturized and smooth. The product is infused with sea salts and the smell reminded me of the ocean, so it's a nice way to wake up in the morning. This is a good product at a good price.

Helen Featherson: Another experiment for me. I normally use Dove soap, because I have dry skin, and I never use body washes. Since I did not have anything to compare this with, I scored it a 7 out of 10. I would have liked a little stronger scent. I didn't feel the exfoliating effects. .

A.J. Scarzafava: Imagine the ocean coming to you in the shower every morning. The fresh scent of the sea and the brilliant blue color only point in one direction, to the coast. It's a nice getaway right in your shower. This is the great exfoliator it claims to be.

Lynn Wegner: I enjoyed using this. I'm not sure how "exfoliating" the imperceptible mineral sea salts were, but it lathered up nicely, smelled very "spalike" and left my skin feeling soft and clean. (I do not like a residual oily film on my skin, and this did not leave one!) As this was touted as "soap-free," this would be a good choice for those who have dry skin (causing no dryness) and those with oily skin (no tacky residue). The price is right for something that is going to be quickly rinsed down the drain.

Olivella Daily Facial Cleansing Tissues, 30 tissues, $7.99, www.olivellasoap.com

Stephannie Cooper: By now most of you know how I feel about foods that try to multitask as beauty products. Here is another example of that experiment gone wrong. These tissues were a huge waste of time and good 100 percent extra-virgin olive oil! They were not effective in removing makeup and seemed to leave a weird film on my face that I had to use another cleanser to remove. Perhaps it would be a decent choice for a person with dry or sensitive skin, but it definitely did not work for my oily skin. I would rather use the olive oil in my kitchen.

Jill Dykes: I've already used the entire package and need to buy more! This is a great product. It's nice to know that something so natural and gentle is also so effective. It completely removed all makeup, including mascara. Best of all, it didn't leave my skin feeling greasy or oily, just clean and hydrated. The fact that you don't need to rinse makes it a quick, easy way to remove makeup and cleanse the skin.

Helen Featherson: These won my vote for convenience! It was great to have the cleansing element and tissue combined. Also, it did a thorough job of cleaning my face. One tissue did the job of getting rid of makeup, however, getting rid of mascara took extra effort. I did not notice that my face felt moisturized after using it. In the past, I have bought baby wipes for less money and obtained the same results. Of course, I used plain baby oil and did not have the advantage of using olive oil.

A.J. Scarzafava: This is a convenient product to keep in your car or even in your gym bag, but not for an everyday use. It has a subtle scent but it's not particularly pleasing. These wipes do remove makeup and dirt and leave your skin feeling clean but quite dry. Be sure to pay attention to the maker's cautions: Do not use on blemished skin. In my experience, they made my blemishes worse. Beware.

Lynn Wegner: I was positively inclined toward the Olivella tissues as I travel a fair amount and these would avoid the need to stuff another bottle into my limited Ziploc bag. The tissues are moist, have a mild and not-unpleasant odor and did not burn my eyes when I swiped over my eyelids. The problem was I couldn't see any evidence of makeup on them when I finished! That made me nervous. Bottom line: I would use these when I travel, but for home use, I'm sticking with the cleanser I already use.

Lush Ultra Blend Cleanser, 1.5 ounces, $14.45, Lush

Stephannie Cooper: This reminded me of the tried and true Noxzema without the strong menthol aroma. I liked the consistency, and it seemed to remove my makeup thoroughly. I also liked the feel of my skin after using this, but I did miss that powerful Noxzema smell.

Jill Dykes: The directions say to wash off with a damped cotton wool cloth. I don't know where you all might get this, so don't worry about not having it! It has rose water, peanut oil and beeswax cream. I opened this product and thought it looked and smelled a lot like Crisco. But surely it wouldn't feel like Crisco on my skin, right? Wrong, unfortunately. Maybe the problem was that I did not own a cotton wool cloth, which the directions say should be used for wiping it off. The product felt greasy and heavy, and I had a hard time getting my skin to feel clean after using it, which is not good, considering this is a cleanser! Luckily, I had an arsenal of other cleansing products to try, and after several washings, I was finally able to get rid of the greasy feeling on my skin.

Helen Featherson: I first saw the Lush line of products in Atlanta at Macy's in June. All of the products smelled good enough to eat, and the array of colors were appealing to me. This cleanser performed well in removing makeup, and my face felt moisturized and softer after using it. However, it took extra effort to remove mascara. The smell was very pleasant also. I highly recommend Lush.

A.J. Scarzafava: Their motto was "the most thorough of all cleansers" and I say "the most oily of all cleansers." When I applied this grease to my face, I thought it was not soap but rather some thick, oily cream. Although, it did remove all my makeup and dirt from my face, I had to scrub with my "cotton wool cloth," as it states in the instructions. Whatever a "cotton wool cloth" is. I'm not sure if I rinsed off the whole amount of the product. I found that throughout the day I could feel the remnants of this so- called "cleanser" on my face. I used it once, and that was one too many times. My face is still recovering.

Lynn Wegner: I hate this! I didn't like the way it felt on my fingers as I rubbed this cream on my skin, and I never felt like it was really wiped away. Concerned that I might be overreacting just a tiny bit, I asked my 25-year-old daughter, whose skin tends to sensitivity, to give it a try. She liked it a lot and was pleased at the softness after using it. So maybe it was just me!

Olay Regenerist Eye Make-up Remover Plus Anti-Wrinkle Treatment, 6.7 ounces, $9.99, drugstores

Stephannie Cooper: This product was a little confusing for me. It is supposed to remove your eye makeup, which it did not do a good job of doing. The other part of the product was supposed to be an anti-wrinkle treatment. Now if I use the product to remove my eye makeup, doesn't that mean that the product with the anti-wrinkle treatment has been removed? Do I apply more remover as the treatment part? I am confused again.

Jill Dykes: I look forward to using this product each day because it's really refreshing. It's like a mini spa treatment, especially around the eye area. The creamy formula smells good and feels cool as you massage it around your eyes and face. It's supposed to improve skin's appearance as it cleanses, so that's an added bonus. I haven't been using it long enough to notice a difference in terms of wrinkle control, but it leaves my skin clean and well moisturized.

Helen Featherson: Since this product claimed it was an eye makeup remover, I was eager to see if it would remove mascara. It did, but I had to reapply the cream to pads several times and rub my eyelashes hard. Thumbs down! Since I have been blessed so far not to have wrinkles, I cannot say whether the product is an anti-wrinkle treatment. I found it difficult to aim the tip just right to get the product on the cotton pad. Consequently, the product squirted places that I did not want it to be.

A.J. Scarzafava: This eye makeup remover is gentle enough to use near your eyes, unlike some. It has a nice scent, so nice you almost want to use it as a moisturizer, but don't. It is a bit greasy, so be sure to use sparingly just around the eye area. It comes in large bottle with a pump that shoots this remover quite fast.

Lynn Wegner: This is one of the touted Regenerist products claiming to have the same intensity of wrinkle fighters as "department store" products and therefore could show eye wrinkle impact over time. I will not be able to verify this as the lotion did not completely remove my waterproof mascara during the week I used it. I was forced to get out my Neutrogena eye makeup remover and complete the job.

Biore Pore Minimizing Refining Exfoliator, 3 ounces, $12.99, drugstores

Stephannie Cooper: I was excited to try this. Who doesn't want smaller pores? This is probably one of the strongest exfoliators that I have ever used. The abrasives are no joke, and I could only use it twice a week out of fear of scrubbing all my skin off! I suggest you pay attention to your skin's sensitivity level to prevent skin irritation. Having said that, my pores are smaller and less noticeable, which is good.

Jill Dykes: I like the exfoliating aspect of this product, and it did make my skin seem brighter, but I did not notice an appreciable difference in the size of my pores. The product claims to "polish your skin to perfection," a bit of an overstatement. You can probably find a good exfoliator at a better price, but if the pore-minimizing aspect is important, this is worth a try.

Helen Featherson: This was a scrub, and I cannot use words to describe how I hate the feel of a scrub on my face. However, I did use the product twice. I thought that I would have to wear some of it permanently, because it was very hard to get it off my face. Part of the problem could have been that normally I do not use water on my face for any reason and reluctantly used wet pads rather than thoroughly rinsing my face. If using a scrub is part of your routine, I would suggest trying this one. However, I didn't notice any difference in my skin texture.

A.J. Scarzafava: This face exfoliator creates a post-facial feel. Everyone loves the fresh feeling of your face after splurging on a $50-plus spa facial treatment. But now the spa has come home at a fraction of the price. You only need to add a small amount to your wet face, then just massage it over your face and rinse. Your face will feel super clean. You can definitely see a difference after a few uses.

Lynn Wegner: I completely understand chemical exfoliation, yet there is something satisfying about rubbing a gritty cream over my old dry layers of skin, rinsing it all away and feeling softer skin! I really liked the Biore exfoliator for this reason. It is really gritty! The white cream smelled OK (a little pear scent), and the tiny particles felt like they were really working. I must admit, I became bored before I had completed the recommended three minutes, but my skin was truly softer after the treatment and not at all red or irritated. At this great price, I'll buy this again.

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