Purity Made Simple Cleansing Cloths

Trying and reviewing the Philosophy Purity Made Simple One-Step Cleansing Cloths was a no-brainer. I love the original cleanser, and I love face cleansers in wipe form. However, these were a little bit of a miss for me. I’m really surprised, and kinda disappointed. I wanted to love these so much because I’ve loved nearly everything else I’ve ever tried from Philosophy! 

Philosophy claims these are supposed to be everything we love about Purity Made Simple cleanser, but in a travel-friendly wipe format. There are no sulfates, parabens, or synthetic fragrance or dyes. The product description says it is safe for the eye area and will remove even the toughest makeup without irritating sensitive eyes.

I don’t hate this product. There are actually a lot of good things about it. It has a pleasant, herbal, fresh scent that I don’t mind rubbing on my face. The cloths have just the right amount of cleanser on them so that they aren’t too wet or too dry. They’re also a good size (about 5″ x 8.5″ roughly), pretty soft (with a textured side and a non-textured side), and surprisingly strong. I doubt they will disintegrate or tear while you’re wiping your face, which is nice. Oh yeah, and they actually do remove makeup and cleanse pretty well without leaving a noticeable residue or stickiness. 

The packaging for this product is just so-so. It’s a foil pouch with a sticker to close it. I like the foil pouch, as it’s going to be better insulating for the wipes and keep them moist longer, but I think a ziplock or a “lid” on the pouch would have been better than a sticker, which can eventually lose its stickiness and then not keep the pouch as effectively sealed. 

The price of these is a bit high. $20 gets you 45 wipes. When you consider that for $20 you could also get an 8 oz bottle of Purity Made Simple, which will last you much more washes than 45, the wipes seem expensive by comparison. 

One of the things I like the most about Purity Made Simple is how gentle it is while still being extremely effective. Some people have told me that it dried out their skin and made it feel stripped, which is always so shocking to me as my skin always felt so soft and clean but refreshed after using it. Anything but stripped! 

However, these wipes are not as gentle as their liquidy counterpart for me. I first used them to remove some very heavy mascara, and my eyes started to burn like crazy. In the past this has happened to me because the mascara is getting in my eyes and it burns. This time though, it was the wipe. I’ve tested it again on clean eyes and the skin around my eye socket feels like it’s on fire when I use these there. Similarly, when I wiped off a lip gloss with one of these, my lips started to tingle and go numb like I’d put a lip plumper on. 

While these do remove my makeup really well, I can’t fully endorse a face wipe that I can’t comfortably use on my eyes and lips! Insanity abounds. I don’t know what it is that makes my skin burn from these, but I know I won’t be re-testing it any time soon. I will use these up though in my gym bag, as they’ll be fine for wiping my face/neck after a sweaty workout. Wait, who am I kidding? Any work out is sweaty. I imagine then that these cloths will actually feel pretty nice. But only as long as I keep them far away from my eyeballs.

Water/Aqua/Eau, Ethylhexyl Stearate, Betaine, Sorbitan Laurate, Polyglyceryl-4 Laurate, Dilauryl Citrate, Gossypium Herbaceum (Cotton) Seed Oil, Santalum Album (Sandalwood) Oil, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Oil, Rosa Damascena Extract, Piper Nigrum (Pepper) Seed Extract, Geranium Maculatum Oil, Guaiacum (Guaiacum Officinale) Extract, Cinnamomum Cassia Leaf Oil, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil, Aniba Rosaeodora (Rosewood) Wood Oil, Amyris Balsamifera Bark Oil, Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil, Cymbopogon Martini Oil, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Citronellol, Geraniol, Linalool, Methylisothiazolinone.

Original Philosophy Purity Made Simple Ingredients (for comparison):
Water, Sodium Lauroamphoacetate, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Coco-Glucoside, Coconut Alcohol, Peg-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, Aniba Rosaeodora (Rosewood) Wood Oil, Geranium Maculatum Oil, Guaiac (Guaiacum Officinale) Extract, Cymbopogon Martini Oil, Rosa Damascena Extract, Amyris Balsamifera Bark Oil, Santalum Album (Sandalwood) Oil, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Oil, Cinnamomum Cassia Leaf Oil, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil, Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil, Piper Nigrum (Pepper) Seed Extract, Polysorbate 20, Glycerin, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Yellow 5 (Ci 19140).

Oh and as a final thought, Sephora advertises Purity Made Simple as sulfate-free when you can clearly see that the third ingredient is a sulfate. What??? This is not the first time I have seen this! When Sephora declares something is _____-free, READ THE LABEL just to check for yourself, please! I’m not saying that sulfates are good or bad. In fact, I like a lot of products with sulfates in them. What I don’t like is false advertising or misinformation given to consumers. What is with that, Sephora?