Palmers Daily Calming Facial Lotion

Somewhere along the way I received a little sample sachet of this Palmer's Daily Calming Facial Lotion.  I've never really associated Palmers with (face) skin care - I've always thought of it more as a body care company so I was a bit hesitant about trying this.

When I first opened it I was surprised by how thick it was - 'lotion' suggests to me something that is quite runny whereas I'd describe the texture of this as quite cream like.  It felt quite heavy and I was concerned that it might be a bit rich.

But it isn't oily at all and while it feels thick my skin drank it up quickly and there was no oily residue or anything like that.

And for a couple of days I was really ho-hum about it.  It seemed to be doing an OK job of moisturising my skin (just off a long haul flight - your skin really knows about dehydration at that point!) but I really didn't dig the texture of it on my fingers as I applied it and it has no sun protection built in.  Also, being 'fragrance free' (for sensitive skin) it has that kind of 'fragrance free' smell ... I'm sure someone out there will know what I mean!

But then I put some foundation on ... and wow - for me, at least, it worked as a really good base for foundation.  It was rich enough to smooth out the dry patches so foundation didn't catch, the foundation went on easily, and looked really even (something I have real trouble with if a moisturiser has too much dimethicone in it!).

All of a sudden I went from ho-hum to really impressed!

I've done a bit of research - the main ingredient (after water) is ethylhexyl palmitate which is often used in cosmetics as an organic substitute to silicone.  The use of this, rather than a silicone definitely explains why my foundation went on evenly.  Unfortunately, ethylhexyl palmitate is derived from palm oil so ... I've tweeted Palmers to find out if the product is sustainable (not everyone cares about these things, but I do to the extent that I can ...).  I'll report back when I get an answer!

I can't figure out how widely or readily available this is ... it is listed on the Priceline website (which shows it as 'out of stock') but I can't find it on (the difficult to use!) Palmer's site but other sites do list it as in stock.  Make of that what you will.

Performance wise, this product, after an uncertain start gets a thumbs up from me!

Palmer's Australia.