Olay Total Effects 7 in 1 Anti-Aging Revitalizing Foaming Cleanser

I am so excited to do this empties / review post because I honestly think this may be my first completely used up skin product ever! I am somewhat notorious for buying a lot of products I never completely use because I always have multiple products per category. On top of that, I used to be terrible about following a routine so it takes me forever to work through a product. OK, confession: before I started wearing makeup, on some nights I'd go to sleep after just washing my face with water. I know, it's really terrible. But I'm totally reformed now, I promise!!

Before you dwell on what I just told you and I lose all credibility let's just talk about this product, shall we?

I bought this Olay Total Effects 7 in 1 Anti-Aging Revitalizing Foaming Cleanser a while back, before my new found obsession with skincare, and to be honest I never really saw this product with the same level of excitement that as my more recently purchased cleansers. I'm not exactly sure why that is--maybe because the packaging isn't as cute? However, time and time again I find myself reaching for this cleanser over my new ones. I guess to me, this is like that old frayed sweater you don't wear out to wow anyone with, but love wearing whenever you just want to be comfortable.

What I love about this gel cleanser is that it's just a really really good, effective cleanser. There are no surprises with this cleanser, but honestly, that's totally OK. Gimmicks don't deliver, anyways.

This gel cleanser is iridescent white in color, and has a slight fresh scent that's not hugely noticeable, but kind of nice to smell. I'm not sure what I would describe it as...it's not like a floral or fruity scent. To me it seems like a generic scent that Olay put in to make the cleanser smell fresh. I hope that makes sense. I don't think anyone would be put off by this scent. A quick FYI--Olay also makes the same product with citrus scent, if that's your cup of tea.

I am big on cleansing twice nightly whenever I wear makeup and this product does a solid job in removing my makeup and is gentle enough to use twice back to back. I generally only wear light foundation or tinted moisturizer, powder, blush, brow powder, and mascara, so my cleansers don't need to be too heavy duty in terms of makeup removal, but whenever I'm patting my face dry after the first wash (when I decide to save the second wash for later in the night) there's no leftover makeup residue on the towel.

While this is marketed as "foaming cleanser" I did not notice big foaming power. When I lather this product on my face I can see it changing color as my makeup is coming off, but it never really ends up creating a thick layer of dense foam the way some of my other foaming cleansers do. There's some foam, but for the most part the cleanser stays gel-ly in its application, and I've actually found that to be more refreshing for my skin.

Here are the seven claims Olay makes about this product and my thoughts on each claim.

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Total Effects fights 7 signs of aging (fine lines and wrinkles, rough texture, uneven skin tone, dullness, prominent pores, age spots and dryness) by:

• Cleansing skin thoroughly--Check.
• Maintaining skin's moisture balance--Check. My skin does not feel dried out even after two uses.
• Minimizing pore appearance--I'm not sold on this claim. I've not noticed a visible difference consistently after use, but personally I don't hold it against Olay. As far as I'm concerned most pore-minimizing types of claims are usually 90-95% marketing.
• Deep cleansing to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles--I don't have a lot of fine lines (yet).
• Fighting dullness for healthy-looking radiance--I'm not sure. I generally don't believe cleansers can affect dullness/radiance, so same reaction as "pore minimizing."
• Maintaining smooth feel--Check.
• Gently purifying--Yes, I would say this product leaves my skin feeling clean, refreshed and purified.

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In summary I really adore this product. I am a bit fickle about cleansers so I may try out a few other cleansers next, but I can definitely see myself returning to this one. There you have it! What are some of your not-flashy-but-effective products?

Katherine