La Roche Posay® Effaclar Foaming Gel Reviews

I was fortunate to receive this product as a part of the trial team.

This cleanser has a gel formula that has a standard gel consistency (similar to a gel body wash). When mixed with water it foams up into a nice lather, I use about a dollar coin size for my whole face. It comes in a squeezy tube, but it is quiet large and you do get a lot of product.

This product does have a fragrence. It isn't overpowering but definetly has a fragrence similar to that of floral/rose soap. It didn't bother me but if you are sensitive to fragrence you may not like this product.

It did leave my skin feeling clean, however I did not notice any real difference in my oilyness or presence of acne. I did find that it did make my skin feel tight and dry directly after use, so I would not recomend this for dry skin.

This is an ok cleanser, it does the job but I have defiently used better ones from the supermarket and for a much cheaper price. I will continue to use this as a body cleanser (I get some blemishes on my chest as well) but will not continue to use this on my face. As it was too harsh on my skin amd didn't really make a difference I would not purchase this, frankly I expect more from a $27 cleanser. I would not recomend this over several supermarket ones.

I bought this product around February Last year and used it for approx. 4-5 months.

Sadly my sensitive skin did not love this cleansing formula as I broke out in painful under-the-skin pimples (blind pimples). I thought maybe it was just my skin adjusting to a new product however sadly they became reassuring and I ultimately had to stop using this cleanser. About a few weeks after I stopped using my skin went back to normal (Thank god).

Thank you to Beauty Review as this product was sent to me as part of their test panel to discover whether it met my strict criteria in what I’m looking for in good, non-nonsense skin care for sensitive and irritable skin.

This comes in a 200 ml blue tube, not a white tube like the picture states. It will last for ages, especially since it is really hard to squeeze the tube to get product to come out through the tiny hole. I love this, it means I won’t use more than I need. In terms of economy this tube initially looks expensive but will last for months therefore most likely cheaper than many other products out there.

I did hope this was the face wash containing salicylic acid but this was not the case as the ingredients do not list it as being in this product at all.

A quick run through the eleven ingredients listed and potential irritants are Sodium Laureth Sulfate (foaming agent) as second ingredient and last is Parfum/Fragrance. Everything else looks fine for sensitive skin, a few preservatives in there but they are low on the irritation list and should not cause any issues unless someone has an allergy to them. No essential oils or other fragrances such as limonene and linalool.

I am trying this product with fragrance as I do not react to all products that have fragrance in it. I am wary so will go carefully with any product introduced into my regime that contains it.

To me it has quite a heavy tea tree/lemon scent to it which seems to be used in a lot of products for “oily skin”. I do find it overbearing since I’m used to skincare not smelling but the scent doesn’t linger once used.

I started using this once a day to see how my skin coped with the SLS and fragrance. Unfortunately I had to cut down that as it started to make my skin red and irritated.

I did find that it removed my mineral foundation, mascara and SPF easily and left my skin soft without that tight feeling that indicates when something is too drying.

This could be great for oily skin but it seems mine is going through some changes and is more on the drier side so if you have dry skin, this one is not for you and you should look into their Toleraine line which is designed for dry skin types.

I have used a few of La Roche Posay's products and absolutely love them! However the Effaclar foaming gel wasn't one of them. I bought it when I had really bad acne, and while it stopped more from coming, it didn't do much greatness for my skin. I was getting very very dry, red and flakey - which I wasn't expecting from La Roche Posay.

Firstly my skin type is a bit of a mix bag. It is currently combination/sensitive. I have dry cheeks but a very oily T zone with mild acne around my chin and blackheads on my nose. I normally use the Trilogy very sensitive range but I have found lately I have needed something to help get rid/control the oily T-zone and acne.

The packaging is very no frills and rather clinical looking. It is a blue see thru squeeze bottle which states what it is, what skin type it’s for and that it is made in France. It is a descent size tube at 200mls.

On the back is a list of ingredients and instructions on how to use. It also states that it contains: no soap, no colourants, no alcohol and no parabans which is great for sensitive skin types like myself.

it is a clear gel and the texture is very light which makes it great to lather up with water, a little goes a long way. I found the smell very natural similar to the smell of cucumbers which is wonderful as I don’t like heavily perfumed skincare.

I have been using this for the past 2 weeks and I found it gives a lovely deep purifying clean with my skin feeling fresh after each wash. I have also noticed a visible reduction in excessive oil around my T-zone and less active acne. It has also helped reduce redness on my nose and chin however it has been a quite drying on my cheeks so perhaps it is best for just oily skin types rather than combination skin as I have needed to use more of my regular moisturiser to boost my hydration levels.

I really like this purifying foaming gel as it does feel like it is actively purifying your skin but I will not continue using as my skin is more combination then oily and I have find it a little too drying on my cheeks which has caused some additional facial redness/sensitivity.

Nice product packaging is great especially colour of tube but dried my skin out and it caused me to breakout. The gel was a nice consistency smelt nice and foamed really easily. It made my oily skin feel soft but had to alternate between this and another cream cleanser I use to help clear up the breakouts. I stopped using it and moved over to another foam facial cleanser which i love and gives far better results although being a foam cleanser does dry my skin out a bit which is a shame. I still have almost a full tube.

One of the first things I noticed was the strong scent which seemed quite artificial. I didn’t really mind it, but I think it might be a deal breaker for a lot of people. I also noticed that it tastes gross… then I wondered do I accidentally eat all of my cleansers in the shower and this one just tastes especially bad?

I like the nice packaging (sucker for packaging), and I did like that it lathers quite well (doesn’t foam excessively), and is easy to wash off. Plus it definitely gets all my make up off in the evenings when I use it in the shower, so it made my face feel super clean. My face didn’t feel dry after using it, but only after I’d used quite a bit of moisturiser. I was a bit worried that because it foams it might be slightly drying, so I preferred just using it once a day. ‘Gentle’ isn’t really a word I’d immediately associate with it, but it didn’t seem to strip my skin or make it flake or peel though, so my concerns were probably unfounded.

I didn’t really see a difference in terms of how much acne I had or the texture or brightness of my skin overall, so that was a bit disappointing as I had high expectations.

It is a decent cleanser and doesn’t really do anything ‘wrong’, but I think I was just expecting more from this product after all of its claims. For the price, there are plenty of other products that work as well if not better. I think I’ll bring this product back out in Summer when my skin’s a little less prone to naturally drying out.

This worked great on my pimple prone skin. It smells nice and leaves your skin feeling good afterwards.

I've really enjoyed trialling the Effaclar Foaming Gel cleanser.

I like the packaging (blue tube, not white as pictured) which is simple and no frills, but not in a cheap way - it's clean, elegant, very functional, easy to use, and feels very sturdy. It has a mild scent, fairly floral with chemical undertones. I'm not a fan of any scent in facial products so it's a mark against it for me, but it's subtle enough that I can stand it.

I really love the consistency - a little product goes a long way and it lathers up to a lovely rich foam. Applying the product feels great - the dense foam feels smooth and buttery being massaged into the skin.

It leaves skin feeling very clean and soft, although I find it quite drying. Although my skin is oily, if I dry it out too much it will overcompensate by producing even more oil, so I definitely need to pair this cleanser with a rich moisturiser to balance it.

All in all, I'm happy with it - it's lovely to use and is a very effective cleanser.

I'm always a bit skeptical when something claims to eliminate excess sebum, simply because in my experience it's never really worked. Though I must say this product was pleasantly surprising - I found that my skin remained relatively matte throughout the day, especially on my nose.

Gel cleansers are my go to typically, as I find anything else is not as effective on me. Foaming cleansers dry my skin out and aren't great for makeup removal, likewise cream cleansers are great for makeup removal on me and they tend to make my skin oilier. So the concept of a cleanser that was both a gel and foaming one at that was quite intriguing. My past experience with foaming cleansers did leave me with somewhat low expectations, but this product ticked all the boxes for what I look for in a cleanser.

• it smelt nice - it has a faint scent which is quite sweet smelling. I can't quite pinpoint the exact smell. • you can be frugal with it - a little does go along way with this and even though it's a decent sized product, for someone like me who cleanses twice when washing their face (2 cleanses twice a day = 4), this quickly adds up. So knowing a product is going to last makes it worthwhile. • aesthetically pleasing - the packaging isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's simple yet eye catching, especially the shade of blue used. It's also opaque at the top and gradually becomes transparent which is real handy in being able to see how much is left in the tube. • affordable - even though I was sent this as a trial product, I'd happily repurchase. It's RRP at $27.99 and it may seem hefty at first, but it's a 200ml product that even with frequent use, will still last a decent amount of time. I've used mine religiously for almost 2 weeks now (that's 54 washes) and have only used about 2 centimetres of product. • effectiveness - initially there were some breakouts, which is to be expected when trying something new and your skin needs to adjust. Since then, I've noticed that my skin stays matte for at least 12 hours, with my usual products I'm shiny by lunch. My skin is also smoother and I have noticed a difference in texture - legitimately my skin has never felt softer. I also have issues with hyperpigmentation and some mild acne scarring and I've seen that these aren't as noticeable, so I hope that over a long period of time they will fade. • gentle on my skin - like aforementioned, I've not had great results with foaming cleansers, so the fact that this didn't dry my skin out and made my skin feel parched was a plus. I have a VERY dry patch of skin on my left eye that haunts me persistently and I didn't find this aggravated it or accentuated it at all.

Although 2 weeks isn't an awfully long time to devote to a product before giving an opinion, I'd gladly say that within this 2 weeks that this product had proved it's potential and worth. I'd be more than willing to add this to my daily regime and can definitely see this becoming a go to product.