E45 Skincare review: "This affordable range is a surprise winter smash"
I spent much of my childhood basted in E45. If you too are an eczema girlie you'll remember the slightly medicinal scent of the paste that was kinda heaven-sent because wow did it soothe the itchiness. No joke, I would have been the scabbiest little kid without that massive white tub.
But as a grown-up, I truly never thought I'd touch the brand again if I'm being completely honest. My eczema only really flares up in the winter (and when I react to lip or eye products but this is super rare) so I arm myself with a lil barrier repair cream and petroleum jelly and I'm G2G. However, a few months back, a brand new E45 skincare package popped up in my inbox. E45... skincare? Excuse me?
But I wasn't hallucinating. It was a bunch of new face care from the brand that was slavered all over my childhood. As we were coming into winter aka nightmare season for my dry/combo skin I decided to take a punt on it. Hey, if it worked for my body when I was a young'un, why wouldn't it work on my age-weathered face? Well, here's how I got on...
E45 Skincare Review
E45 Hydrating Face Serum
"90% of the users felt their skin was instantly hydrated" proudly states the press release for this serum but my dry, tight skin was about to be the judge of that. With a combination of hyaluronic acid, microalgae and seawater this replaced my regular go-to HA serum every morning. It has a really easy-to-massage in, light texture that layers well under the rest of my routine which in the morning includes a vitamin C, moisturiser/SPF and at night a retinal (twice a week) and night cream.
Like the rest of the range this serum is suitable for dry, sensitive and eczema-prone skin, naturally, and I love how supple and hydrated it made my skin feel, especially my neck, which really suffers with eczema and has a compromised skin barrier. I'm such a fan of a no fuss non-spenny hyaluronic acid serum and this one really ticks all the boxes.
E45 SPF Face Cream
In summer, I tend to just use a SPF as face cream in the day and then transition to a moisturiser and SPF in autumn/winter when my skin tends to be drier. However, I did find that with this cream I didn't need to layer up even in the biting cold. It's an easy-to-absorb texture but quenches my dry skin. It provides SPF 30 via chemical formula rather than physical so it doesn't leave a cast on the skin either – big win. However, if you have your fave sunblock on lock, you can opt for the face cream without UVA/UVB protection.
E45 Face Night Cream
As a keen at-home dermaplaner I'm always on the hunt for a night cream that soothes, hydrates but doesn't clog or irritate when applied on freshly-aggravated skin. Mix that with my need for something that suits dry/combo skin and the occasional eczema flare-up and you have a really long list of boxes to be ticked in one product. I used this after my last dermaplaning sesh as I figured surely it's a safe bet? The whole MO of it is to 'repair the skin barrier overnight'. Well, I woke up with the softest feeling skin which had zero reactions from post-planing. I hold it in the same esteem as my beloved Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask which is my normal evening go-to when I've dermaplaned.
E45 Face Wash Foaming Cleanser
Ok, this is probably the only product in the range that I wasn't bowled over by. Don't get me wrong it's good. It's affordable and has a low foam that doesn't leave the skin feeling tight. But I don't feel like it cleansed my skin thoroughly when I tried it to remove makeup and SPF. It was a lovely morning cleanser to refresh my face and get the sleep and drool off of my skin (keeping it real, guys, keeping it real) but as someone that normally opts for an oil or balm in the evening and then a cream cleanser this wasn't enough for me for the evening.
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