It’s been a little while since I’ve done a product review, but I am slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things. I’ve been discovering and looking into a lot of fun things for my blog, so be prepared as I work to take Legacy of a Writer to a new level and broaden its scope a bit. 🙂

I was given the opportunity to review Citrus Clear‘s Gentle Cleanser face wash. First off, let me explain what Citrus Clear is. This company is a “…natural and holistic treatment for acne, sensitive skin and all skin types.” Citrus Clear offers natural acne products such as face washes, moisturizers, and acne treatments that are targeted to meet the needs of those looking to get rid of acne. On their home page they say, “We are known for being the most ‘natural acne treatment’. We value each of our unique formulas, and ensure that only the most potent citrus juices, extracts, tinctures and peels are used in our acne products. Our natural skin care is made for all skin types.” They have a line for both Acne Control and Sensitive Skin.

I was very excited to get the opportunity to review this, as I have recently become very interested in facial products – especially for cleaning my face. I have struggled with acne for as long as I can remember. It has been really, really bad the past 6 or more years, but recently – with a lot of research about acne and the products that help fight against it – I am almost acne free. Almost. I have a lot of scaring and dark pigmentation from when I used to break out really bad, and I still get one or two every week or so. But compared to how I used to be – it’s like night and day for me!

Now that you know a little bit of history about the company and about my dealings with acne, we can continue on with this review. 🙂 I don’t consider myself to have sensitive skin – though since beginning my acne regimen my skin tends to be more dry than oily. But since Citrus Clear’s gentle cleanser was for sensitive skin, I thought it would be a perfect fit.

Well, I had a very interesting experience with the cleanser. To begin with, when I first tried to pump some of the product in my hand, it wouldn’t work. I tried for several minutes, but no matter how many times I pumped the nozzle, nothing came out. I finally unscrewed the top and discovered that the straw that brings product up from the bottom and into the nozzle was way too long and had been bent in order to fit it into the bottle. Because it was bent, there was no way for the product to squeeze through the straw and get to the top, so that’s why I wasn’t able to get any product out. This all was really odd! Because it was bent and prohibiting the product from getting out, I am thinking that this was just a malfunction during the making of the product, so I cut the straw enough to allow the product to get into the straw, and tried again.

For some reason, I still could barely get any product out when I pumped the nozzle. Maybe the whole nozzle was broken or had a malfunction during processing, but in order to use the product I had to unscrew the cap and just swipe the product that clung to the straw, onto my hand. Not very sanitary, I know, but…I was out of options! 😛

The sensitive face wash smells delicious! Just as they describe it, it smells like tahitian lime. Yummy! The face wash had little white beads inside that worked to gently exfoliate my face, which I liked. I hadn’t used an exfoliate for some time, and I missed using it and knowing that it was helping get all the dead skin cells off my face. The only thing I was well aware of while using this product is that I should NOT get it in my eyes. I made the mistake of swiping it over my eyes and I guess my eyes weren’t closed enough…regardless, they started  to sting! After that, I made sure to keep my eyes closed and not use the wash around my face, and I never had it get in my eyes after that.

I used it for about a week or more, and was really enjoying it. I always love trying new things! But then I started to notice that the skin at the corners of my eyes were getting really dry. I thought this was really weird, since I’ve never had a problem with dry skin on my eyelids. As the days progressed, I started seeing more dry patches on my eyes until basically my whole eyelid was dry, flaky, and painful to the touch. They were noticeably red and my mom asked me what I was using that was different. That’s when I realized that I had switched up my usual night time facial wash with the Citrus Clear one.

I stopped using it after that, and after a few days, my eyelids were back to normal – not dry, flaky, or anything. So weird! I find it hard to believe that something that’s so ‘natural’ would have such a negative effect on me….which makes me think maybe there was a product that I was allergic to – since I started getting dry lids almost as soon as I started, and it stopped immediately after I stopped.

All in all, I have to say that I did not like the face wash. I wanted to like it – I really did! But there was something in this product that evidently did NOT like me! So I am not able to use this or give it a positive review. The only thing I can say is that maybe I was allergic to something in this product, and maybe you won’t be.

There are a lot of positive things about Citrus Clear products – from their not using chemicals in their products to their line for acne treatment. But, just for me personally, I will not be using these products in the future.

If you are interested in looking into it (maybe you know what you are and are not allergic to, unlike me), there are many ways to connect with Citrus Clear.

If you decide to look into Citrus Clear, let me know. Or if you already have your facial regimen down pat, feel free to share what you use in the comments below. I love learning what regimens people use to control acne – or any other skin problem you might have!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.