Beauty Trial: Elsor

I received the Elsor introductory collection sample kit in a Violet Box back in September. It was something I had been meaning to try but got lost in my bathroom cupboard along with the stack of L’Oreal hairsprays that I am still slowing getting through from last years fashion week. After going on a cleaning spree at 3am one morning, as you do, I decided to pop all my little trial products in a pile and make it my mission to give them ago. Elsor prides itself on its HPT System of hydrating, protecting and treating to help improve overall skin health. It is “paraben free, science driven and nature derived”. Sounds pretty a-ok to me. In the introductory pack I received a cleanser, peeling gel, mas and day cream, all which ranged in different results.

Soothing Refiner and Cleanser - RRP $28 USD

I loved, loved, loved this! It was so refreshing and felt great on the skin. It was a gel like cleanser that took me a bit of getting used to, but after double cleansing with it my skin felt incredibly clean and soft to touch. Unlike other cleansers this didn't leave my skin feeling dry, tight or irritated and I would recommend this to anyone after a more soothing cleanser that still does the job. 

Botanical Peeling Gel – RRP $38 USD

If you want to freak yourself out in the bathroom, just apply this product all over your face. You are meant to apply this gel, wait the allocated time, rub your face in circular motions and then simply wash it off with some warm water. Sounds good in theory, but this is not how it went down.

 Let me set the scene. I’m in my bathroom and I’ve just finished drying my face off from the wonderfully refreshing cleanser. I have high hopes. My standards are set high. The greatest hits of Cheap Trick are playing in the background. Obviously I’m having a great time. I apply the peeling gel all over my face and wait the recommended 5-10 minutes before I peel it off. Which is singing along to ‘Surrender’ about 3 times. So I start rubbing my face in circular motions and this stuff is going everywhere. There are big pieces of the peel flinging itself in every direction. It’s in my hair. Between my boobs. All over my bathroom mirror. Messy stuff. Then I go to rinse it off, thinking it would come off with a few splashes of water. What a fool I am. I’m gently trying to wash it off but it isn’t budging. It has liquefied and is now all over my eyelids, on my mouth and through my eyelashes. It is not coming off my face. No one is home, so I have to blindly stumble through the house, being extremely careful not to get any of the peeling gel in my eyes until I find a washcloth. Find one, stumble back to the bathroom realizing how I’d be a terrible blind person, and try to get it off. IT STILL WON’T COME OFF. Until I go in scrubbing extremely hard with almost very hot water. I finally get all of the product off my face, and my skin is so sore and irritated that I’m pretty sure I cast some sort of black magic spell I heard while watching Charmed onto the product and it’s makers. This whole dilemma took me half an hour, when it should have take 15 minutes.

Chlorophyll Lifting Mask – RRP $38 USD

This lifting mask is a thick green gel that is quite difficult to apply evenly to the skin because it sticks in certain places and is hard to spread evenly across the face. When I first applied this I thought I was having some sort of allergic reaction, which is exactly what you want with skincare right? You are meant to leave this on until it dries and as I sat on the couch in my trackies and ugg boots, I found it hard to watch my choice educational programming of Gypsy Sisters because my eyes were stinging and watering so much from the smell of the mask. I didn’t have any of the product in my eye, in fact it was far far away from my eyes, but the smell is SO strong it makes it really difficult to keep the product on. 1 minute in and I was tempted to wash it off because I couldn’t handle the stingy and watery eyes, but instead I just toughed it out like the good bloke I am. After about 5 minutes, the very distinct smell goes away and after another 5 minutes the product finally dries and your skin and goes extremely tight and cold. Just like Amal Clooney at the Golden Globes. This was a lot easier to wash off than the peeling gel and after I dried my face my skin felt amazing. I honestly thought I would have washed it off and my face would be red, angry and swollen from everything that it has gone through. Instead it was incredibly soft and not at all angry like I thought it would be.

Firming Collagen Day Cream – RRP $85 USD

This product smells like my evil grandmother; similar to the Estee Lauder perfumes from the 90’s that she used to wear that smell strong and overbearing. I could carry on about my distaste of certain family members and terrible smells but I wont. Even though the smell of this product is powdery and heavy, once you smooth the day cream onto your skin it is actually quite lovely. I wouldn’t say it is firming, more like a lovely cream that gives you that soft as a baby’s bum feeling, which is why I don’t think I’d pay $85 for it.

Overall this was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster and some of the products were a bit difficult to use, but after going through the routine my skin for the next week never felt better. It was a tiny bit red from scrubbing off the peeling gel but my skin was smooth, bump free and looked absolutely beautiful. I don’t know if I could use this routine consistently as it takes quite a lot of time, but the results were absolutely marvellous and it was nice to be using products that are naturally derived and free of parabens and sulphates.