(Two notes about the photo: First, I apologise for quality. Second, it’s not a typo, nor is it a counterfeit product: Diadermine is called Diademine in Russia and CIS. It’s due to phonetics.)
This is what happens when I shop with someone else and am rushed: I buy things I haven’t read a lot about, ending up with products that are a poor fit for my skin.
Upon the first few tries this product was okay. My skin felt a bit tight after using it, but nothing out of the ordinary. Being the possessor of oily skin, sometimes I welcome such tightness. I continued to use it for a while, and then my skin started looking red after. The redness dissipated in a minute, and tightness could be fixed with moisturiser and a mask 2-3 times a week. I couldn’t decide on another washer, and didn’t want to go back to my old one or purchase another dud, so I continued using Diadermine’s.
But then one day I ran out of make-up remover and used Garnier’s micellar water to remove make-up all over my face prior to washing it.
And my face inflamed.
I swear I was as red as an oddly cool-toned tomato. For a moment I wanted to take a picture, but then my nerve endings caught up with my optical, and my skin started burning. Luckily I remembered that I had Oriflame’s Aloe Vera & Arnica gel still, so I applied that sucker all over my face. Didn’t have much hope, but: It took the redness and the burning down immediately. I watched it go in the span of seconds. It left my face both refreshed and moisturised.
Call me an idiot, but I’m still using the washer – because I currently don’t have anything else, and if I skip at least one of the wash-tone-moisturise steps, I break out. I use it very sparingly, taking care to use a tiny amount and mix it with water in my hands prior to coating my face with it, and I don’t massage my face too much. When used like this, it’s OK. Better than soap, but I cannot recommend it either.
It doesn’t dry the skin out, and it doesn’t provoke break-outs or additional congestion for me (in fact, it clears it up), as some of the so-called balancing washers sometimes do. I’m not sure where the ‘supports skin’s hydra balance’ promise comes from, though, because that’s something this product doesn’t do.
I really hope that The Burn was an isolated incident. It didn’t happen again so far, although I never tried repeating the Garnier micellar water/ Diadermine washer combo, nor do I intend to.
Long story short, I’m in the market for a good facial cleanser, and I will not be repurchasing this one.