I have been using these products particularly the first two on and off for the past two weeks, interspersed with my normal skin care products. For the last week however, I have been exclusively using Boire products. Here’s how I got on.

When using the product I discovered that only the barest dot of the scrub is needed to cover my face - which brings me to my other point - whilst I have generally assumed that the scrub is for the face, there is nothing on the container actually stating this, although there is on the other two products. The contents felt creamy but surprisingly heavy for a scrub. Whilst the exfoliating beads can be seen, the overall sensation was more similar to that of a face mask rather than an exfoliator. Washing the product off was a little trickier as I found that adding water into the mix in an attempt to remove the scrub actually made it become frothy like soap, resulting in me unwittingly inhaling or swallowing the resulting foam the first few times I used it. I have to say this experience did not endear the product to me although as I used it more often and learnt to apply less, I managed to reduce this effect. However, the tendency of it to foam up remained and I think this is one of the weaknesses of the product.

The moisturiser on the other hand is surprisingly light and again attractively packaged. Unlike the scrub which smells of melon and something else a bit more chemical and chalky, the moisturiser is lightly scented of only melon making it a very pleasant product to use. The scrub however, gives the impression that the melon scent is unsuccessfully trying to mask a less attractive smell which leaks out and again lessens the appeal of the product.

The initial look of the products is quite attractive; packaged in avocado coloured boxes with a band of stripes across the top in pink white blue and green, they look fresh and inviting, although perhaps giving the impression of being at the cheaper end of the market. Once taken out of the box the scrub is in an attractive easy to use translucent squeezy container that makes it easy to access the pale avocado green scrub inside. My only criticism of the packaging is that the writing on the container is a very similar green to the actual product itself making the smaller writing on the back of the bottle quite difficult to read. Still, the container size at 140ml is a practical size and as I was to discover a very little of the product goes a long way.

Going back to the moisturiser I have no criticism to make of the packaging or application, it is again easy and convenient to use, delicately and attractively scented and easily fits in all but the very smallest handbags – always a plus!

After using these two products for the first few days, I did notice however, that my skin above my lip felt a bit bumpy like there were little spots beneath the surface and also there was some dryness resulting in unattractive white flaky bits which the exfolliator didn’t seem to shift. A few days later I also could no longer deny the presence of an altogether unmissable red zit beneath the corner of my mouth on the right hand side of my face- horror!

To be fair, I have to acknowledge not having the best skin in the world. I suffer from combination skin that has the joys of being both oily and dry at the same time! In addition to that my skin is also in the early stages of pregnancy, along with the rest of me and it is only fair to acknowledge that these factors along with diet could also be affecting the state of my skin. However, all things considered it is a long time since I could boast (or rather hide in shame) quite such a shiner as I now have beaconing from my face.

This of course presented the ideal opportunity to try the facial deep cleansing pore strips. So after reading the very clear instructions on the box, with accompanying picture demonstrating how to apply said strips I got to work... Having not used a great many products of this kind where the idea is that you place a strip on your face and leave it for a while before removing it, hopefully along with various pore clogging matter; the required 10-15 minute time span required to leave it on your face seemed rather a long time to me. However, maybe that is more telling of my preference for speedy facial routines rather than familiarity with what produces results.

Still on eventually peeling off the strips I could perceive no evidence of any blackheads or other pore clogging matter on the strips neither was there any noticeable difference to my skin apart from being able to see the outlines of where the strip had been and indents where the paper had crinkled. Fortunately this look only lasted about a minute or so!

I have to say on reflection that I would not rate these products particularly highly and am looking forward to resuming my normal skin care routine. At this point in time I would score these products as 4 out of 10.