Emma Hardie is UK-based facialist and and skincare specialist, and those of us who haven’t got the dosh to fly over and get a session from the woman herself {and one of those would be me} can dig into this: her Amazing Face Professional Cleansing System is a fantastic treatment-in-a-box, and even though it comes across as complicated, it really isn’t.

It feels complicated because it is bitty, and it feels like there’s a tonne of stuff you have to read before you begin. Most facial products are pretty easy to comprehend> apply and then rinse or wipe off. Having said that, most facial products don’t do what this one does, which is to deeply and gently cleanse and to deeply and gently exfoliate.

To accomplish that, you need more than one thing, and you do need a bit of guidance.

In the box, you receive:
>Moringa Balm
>Rosehip Exfoliating Seeds
>a Dual Action Cleansing Cloth

The Moringa Balm is the cornerstone of the process. You scoop a bit  into {onto?} your palm and add a little bit of water. Mixed together, they make a cream that when applied removes all your make up — all of it, even the pesky waterproof stuff. Now, in fairness, the pesky waterproof stuff needed a little more Moringa than prescribed, but even that ‘little more’ was less than what my other removers generally require.

The Rosehip Exfoliating Seeds are the truly fiddly part, but they are also truly worth the fiddling. The shaker top of the container is rather unwieldy, and it took me several goes to figure out the best way to combine it with the Balm, which is the goal. Do I scoop out the balm first? Then my hands are slippy. Do I tap some seeds onto {into?} my palm, and then proceed to scoop? I felt like I lost some seeds that way. Best I could do: tap some seeds into the cap of the seeds container; scoop up the balm; pour the seeds from the cap to palm. <Hey, I figure this stuff out so you don’t have to.

Tap, scoop, then mix and apply. The first time I did this, I thought, Eh, not really feelin’ the exfoliation — but when I used the Dual Action Cloth to wipe it away, holy wow, my skin felt as clean and smooth as if I had paid that top dosh for a session with the woman herself.* This concoction of balm and seed is also great to use as a mask, and clearing off the whole shebang with that cloth is just the best part. The ‘dual’ part of the cloth’s ‘action’ comes from it having a micro-fibre side for buffing, and a muslin side for exfoliating.

The thing with the cloth is that is also washes off clean as a whistle, even when you’re using it post-cleanse. This is nothing short of miraculous.

It occurs to me to bang the towel in the microwave, to heat it up a bit? I wonder if that is a great idea, or crazy.

Once you get into the swing of this, this system is truly amazing, and not that big a hassle. And it turns out, that’s the easy part: on the flip side of the instructions that come in the box, there’s a series of pictures that show us several facial massage techniques designed to improve firmness and elasticity. *Sigh* I’ll get back to you on those… talk about a lot of work…

€49.99/£42/$71.82 via feelunique.com, with free worldwide delivery {!}

*If a session makes my skin feel even better, then maybe I’ll start saving my pennies for a facial excursion…