St Ives Cleansing Stick with Cactus Water and Hibiscus

I like to try new products in my skincare routine. When I first saw St Ives Cleansing Stick I couldn´t resist and I bought three of them. I tried only one and I want to share my thoughts with you.

About St Ives Cleansing Stick

Get glowing skin with Cactus Water & Hibiscus Cleansing Stick. Inspired by Korean beauty trends, this solid cleanser easily dissolves away daily grime while leaving your face feeling healthy and soft. A solid daily cleanser inspired by Korean beauty trends. Cactus Water & Hibiscus Cleansing Stick cleanses while it hydrates with 100% natural coconut oil for skin that feels healthy and soft. Just twist and glow!

St Ives Cleansing Stick cleanses away impurities so you can glow your brightest. St. Ives Cleansing Sticks offer a highly sensorial and fun cleansing experience. They provide a gentle massage for your skin in a way traditional cleansers don’t and the fragrances awaken your senses. These ingredients are known to refresh dull skin. Talk about being glowed away! Take the chore out of your cleansing routine! Made with 100% natural coconut oil to leave your skin feeling alive, fresh, and glowing.

St Ives Website

How to use it

First, wet face. Second, twist-up stick and rub over the skin. Third, massage with fingertips to lather. Finally, rinse and glow! For best results, use twice daily

Ingredients

Cocos Nucifera Oil, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Glycerin, Aqua, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Peg-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, Sodium Chloride, Lauric Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Caprylyl Glycol, Cereus Grandiflorus Flower Extract, Citric Acid, Coco-glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Hibiscus Sabdariffa Flower Extract, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopherol, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Linalool

Price and availability

It is available in most drugstores retails and online. The average price is £5.

What do I think about St Ives Cleansing Stick

The product comes in a stick format. It is a twist-stick that reminds me of lipstick or old-style deodorants. The tube is a blue cylinder in the case of the cactus water version with a screw cap. This screw cap is completely secure, it will not open making a mess. The packaging is very handy to carry with you when travelling or in the gym bag, you will not end with all your clothes soaked in facial cleanser.

When you open the product for the very first time you find a piece of plastic protecting the product. You can replace it after each use, but as the stick size is becoming small, it becomes difficult to replace it. Consequently, I removed it after few uses.

The cleanser itself is white, oily, with a very soft scent. I am terrible at identifying smells, but I should say that this product has a floral scent.

How do I use St Ives cleansing Stick

I started using the cleanser as the second step of the double cleansing in my night skincare routine, just after the oil-based cleanser and used it as recommended. I applied the product straight over my wet face. First of all, I don’t think it is hygienic this way of application. You are applying the product directly over your dirty face. Second, I felt I didn’t have product over my face. I couldn’t have any lather at all and I didn’t like the experience.

Another problem with this way of application is that you end up spilling the product outside the cap when you close it. That is not only a waste of products but also a mess. You should wipe with a cloth or rinse under the tap water to remove the excess. If you use tissue it is worst as the tissue sticks to the product.

After few applications in that way, I decided to modify the way I apply it. I rubbed the stick on my hand, massage it between the hands to form lather and applied it over the face. This process of application was slightly better, but still, I felt that the product didn’t leave my skin as clean as I liked.

I decided then to give one last opportunity as a morning cleanser. I also modified the way I apply it. The way I apply the product now consists of taking the product with a silicone cleansing pad. First, I rub the pad with the stick and then apply it all over my face. I wet the pad when I feel I need to and in that way, I got a good amount of lather. I do know lather does not mean a good cleanse, but I normally don’t like cleansers that do not lather.

How does it behave?

However, despite the improved application now, this product is not going to be one of my favourite cleansers. It cleanses the skin, but only if I don’t have too much to cleanse. I do not remove well the rest of the makeup after the cleansing balm.  The product claims to be hydrating, but I cannot feel any extra hydration on my skin.

The ingredients the brand use to attract attention, cactus water and hibiscus extracts, are at the end of the ingredient lists. Probably they are present in less than 1% in the formula. The main ingredient is coconut oil, which is not really recommended for use on the face as it is comedogenic.

I have three sticks now and obviously, I am going to use them, mainly as a morning cleanser and maybe as a cleanser to use in the gym. I like to wash my face before and after my workout in the gym to avoid clogged pores. As I do the double cleansing when I reach home, I don’t mind having a not so good cleanser in the gym. However, I learnt a lesson which is to buy only one unit of a new product to try and if I like, buy more.

Conclusion

The product is not good enough to remove all the makeup and dirt accumulated during the day. It does an average job as a morning cleanser.

The product claims to give extra hydration to the skin which I couldn’t feel.

The packaging is handy and easy to carry and, if you follow the recommended application, it is easy to apply. However, I don’t feel it is hygienic to apply the product directly over your dirty skin.

I was very excited when I first heard about the product and now I am disappointed. I’ve used other cleansers which I like more than this one, such as Holika Holika Green Tea Cleanser.

Pros

• Handy packaging
• Affordable
• Easy to apply if you follow recommendations

Cons

• Does not properly clean my skin
• Does not give the extra of hydration claimed
• Not a very hygienic application
• Quite messy after using
• Do not lather

Will I buy St Ives Cleansing Stick again? Do I recommend it?

I will not buy it again. Unfortunately, I already bought the other two version of the product and I should use them now (or give to somebody else as they are unused).

I am not going to recommend this product. I know that the packaging may be attractive and it sounds easy to use. But the main job of a cleanser is to clean and I feel that this one does not clean my skin as I expected.