Pond's Cold Cream Cleanser

Pond's Cold Cream is one of those products that I'd have put in the same category as powdered eggs, loose tea leaves with tea strainers, cod liver oil and lard. Our grandmothers couldn't live without them and put them on their shopping lists week after week but they seem so outdated now and irrelevant to modern women, having been replaced by more scientifically-advanced, effective or convenient products.

But then the lovely Chloe emailed me and asked if I'd like to test some Pond's Cold Cream Cleanser and review it here on my blog and described it as "a 4-in-1 multi-tasking product which saves busy mothers time and money. It can be used as a cleanser, moisturising face mask, eye make-up remover (including waterproof eye makeup) and a softening hand cream. All this for only £3.99." Wow, I never for one minute imagined it could do all that. I have an image in my head of wrinkly old ladies with their hair up in curlers and a hair net, wearing a padded pink satin-look dressing gown, slapping on a thick white layer of cold cream before going off to bed ! But a time-saving, multi-tasking product with a credit-crunching low price does sound exactly the sort of thing that modern mums need, so I came to it with an open mind.

The packaging is discreet, neutral and modern-looking. If it didn't have the name Pond's on it, I would have thought it came from some swish new spa-therapy type of beauty company. It didn't look at all like the old-fashioned product I had in mind. Pond's has obviously kept up with the times, despite having been created in 1918. And a product that has been around for almost a hundred years must surely be good to have stood the test of time.

So why have generations of women opted for Pond's ? According to the website, "Pond's Cold Cream Cleanser is a rich facial cleanser that deep cleanses, leaving skin soft, smooth and radiantly clean. It deep cleanses pores to remove stubborn dirt and make up, even waterproof mascara. Pond's Cold Cream Cleanser should be used everyday for full effect. Smooth the cream onto the face and neck with fingertips in a light massage action and remove with tissue, cotton wool, muslin or face cloth. For an even deeper cleanse, warm the muslin or face cloth in water and pat over the face before wiping off."

Well, I did just that and was left with lovely soft skin on my face AND hands, because I rubbed in the excess as handcream. I have fairly dry skin so the luxuriously thick cream was lovely and soothing and stopped the tight, tingly sensation I had on my cheeks and the backs of my hands from the cold. It's a very rich cream, which I would say is probably better suited to dry or normal skins than greasy skins. A friend of mine said it is also brilliant at removing children's facepaints, which is logical as it's been adopted by actors and actresses for removing thick stage make-up for decades. I was particularly impressed at how easily it removed waterproof mascara.

If you're used to using totally unscented products, it may take you a while to get used to the perfume but I actually found it to be a light, pleasant, not at all overpowering scent. My only very slight niggle is with the ingredients - I've tried and failed to find a list of ingredients online and, although there is a list on the box, it's bizarrely in Spanish by the looks of it !?! "Paraffinum Liquidum" and "Sodium Hydroxide" sound like things I'd be wary of putting on my face in any language, but this stuff has been around for so long that anything untoward would have been outed and disposed of decades ago !

I have to say I'm impressed. It's cheap and cheerful, so if you want high-tech science or organic and fairtrade credentials, you'll have to go and look elsewhere, but if you're after a no-nonsense, multi-purpose face cream that will give you nice soft, clean skin, you could do a lot worse. Put your prejudices to one side and give it a go !

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £3.99