Review: Happy Skincare’s Cloud 9 Deep Cleansing Balm and KUU Konjac Sponge

My Ren Ultra Moisture Cleansing Milk finished up about 2-3 weeks ago and I wasn’t sure whether or not to buy the same cream cleanser again. I like cream cleansers for the mornings, when my face doesn’t need anything harsh (there’s no makeup or smog to remove) and my skin generally feels drier in the mornings than in the evenings. While the Ren Cleansing Milk is lovely, you only get 150ml and at around $40 I didn’t think it was maybe worth that much. It’s a very gentle yet effective cleanser, but doesn’t put to much moisture back into your skin. Then I discovered Happy Skincare – a little Australian brand (hailing from Newcastle) that uses only the most natural and best ingredients out there. I figured I’d give the cream cleanser a go since it sounded lovely and I wanted to try something with hydrating oils included in the formulation 🙂

Here is what Happy Skincare say about the Cloud 9 Deep Cleansing Balm:

“The ‘Cloud 9′ Deep Cleansing Balm cleanses and moisturises at the same time (unlike common cleansers). By using organic plant oils to dissolve the oily impurities in your skin it removes stubborn makeup, sunscreen, oxidised sebum (black heads) and daily grime without leaving your skin drier than an Australian desert. 

You may not realise but over-washing (and the subsequent drying) of your skin can trigger big problems. Oily skin becomes oiler increasing breakouts and dry skin becomes drier making it look older and more susceptible to other issues. The Cloud 9 Deep Cleansing balm overcomes this by using the principles of the Oil Cleansing Method with a few tweaks. Instead of being straight oil we have added Shea butter and Aloe Vera juice for a nourishing, luxurious and meditative experience.

The Cloud 9 Deep Cleansing Balm will help balance and restore your skin during cleansing, reducing breakouts and preventing dehydrated skin. You’ll also see your skin’s recovery time improve dramatically because of all the Omega 3, 6, 7, and 9s that your skin is drinking up. Nourishes the skin with the beauty mineral MSM and other essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.

You may have picked up that we have not promised clear blemish-prone skin overnight. That would be irresponsible of us. But we do promise that your skin will improve so much after a month that you won’t look back.”

And the wonderful ingredients:

Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis) Leaf Juice*,  Shea (Butyrospermum Parkii) Butter*, Hemp (Cannabis Sativa) Seed Oil*, Castor (Ricinus Communis) Seed Oil*, Macadamia (Macadamia Integrifolia) Seed Oil*, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Candelilla (Euphorbia Cerifera Cera) Wax, MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane), Tapioca (Manihot Esculenta) Root Starch, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Elderberry (Sambucus Nigra) Fruit Extract, Polyglyceryl-3 Polyricinoleate, Anisic Acid, Mandarin (Citrus Reticulata Peel) Oil, Lemon Myrtle (Backhousia Citriodora Leaf) Oil, Sandalwood (Santalum Album) Oil, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract.

* = Certified Organic

I love that the cleanser doesn’t have any ‘fillers’ – no useless ingredients. Just full of goodness! The balm smells like lemon myrtle but it isn’t overpowering – just refreshing. The texture of the balm is like what you would expect – thick and ‘balmy’, so a little goes a long way. As you massage the balm into your face, you can almost feel your skin drinking up the stuff. The more you work it into your skin, the more it seems to ‘disappear’ and your left with little excess. I bought the sponge that they recommend for washing/rinsing the balm off your face – the KUU Konjac Sponge. I always wanted to try one of these natural sponges, so this was the perfect opportunity! It feels super ‘spongy’ but leaves your skin feeling fresh and clean. You can definitely feel the moisture in your skin after using the balm and in no way is your skin left feeling ‘oily’. This is one of the only cleansers where you could potentially wash your face and not feel like you need to moisturise your skin afterwards or else it will dry out and ‘crack’. Your skin is left clean and feeling the way it should be – hydrated, smooth and healthy. I can’t comment just yet how it works on blackheads, but I will let you know later on as I use up the cleanser.

In regards to the sponge, they had two available on the Happy Skincare website – the Bamboo Charcoal (for acne prone, oily and problematic skin) and French Red Clay (for dry, sensitive and/or mature skin) – I went with the French Red Clay version as I wanted the sponge to be gentle.

Here is the description of the sponges and why they are beneficial for the skin:

“The 100% natural KUU Konjac sponge gently cleanses and soothes the skin by removing dirt and oil, naturally restoring the pH level of the skin. Cleansing helps to stimulate blood flow and encourage new skin cells, revitalising the complexion without damaging the skin. In Japan the Konjac (Konnyoku) sponge has been used for its medicinal properties for over 1500 years.

Made from 100% natural vegetable fibre, the sponges are very soft and do not contain the chemicals, synthetics and colourings that are in many other sponges currently on the market. The beauty of the sponge is its simplicity. It is naturally alkaline to balance the acidity of the skins impurities and oils.”

They are biodegradable – so after you are done with the sponge (they should last a good 2-3 months if you use it daily) you can add it to your compost heap – how cool is that! If you don’t have compost, you can burry it in your garden.

Some other benefits of the Red Clay Sponge is that it is loaded with Iron Oxide (deep cleanses and accelerates the regeneration process to leave skin looking radiant). It has a soothing effect on irritated, sunburnt and sensitive skin and it can also help with rosacea.

As I mentioned above, the sponge feels really ‘spongey’ (I know, how great am I at describing things lol) almost a bit plastic though. It’s a strange texture, but nothing that you can’t get used to. It is soft so it doesn’t feel irritating at all. Apparently you have to let the sponge dry in-between uses and it is supposed to go hard when dry. To use the sponge, you only need to rinse the sponge in warm water and then gently massage it on your skin (and then gently rinse the sponge again after using).

So far I’m very happy with both the cleanser and the Konjac sponge. I do feel a little silly though, as I originally wanted to try a cream cleanser that would last me a bit longer than the REN one, but this cream cleanser only comes with 80g of product. Perhaps it will last about the same amount of time as the REN cream cleanser? I do use less product compared to the REN cream cleanser for each wash – as it is more ‘concentrated’ you could say, so let’s hope so! The Cloud 9 Deep Cleansing Balm retails for $34.10 Aus gold coins and the KUU Konjac Sponge retails for $9.90 Aus gold coins. You can find both products on the Happy Skincare website here. Happy Skincare do sample packs should you want to try some sample products before forking out the gold coins for full sized products (which is always a good idea).

Have you tried any Happy Skincare products before? Any favourite cleansers that you can recommend? 🙂 Don’t forget to join the beauty antics on the Beauty Bee Facebook page! 

Beauty Bee~

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