A few months back, I tried a couple samples of Tata Harper's Regenerating Cleanser and - not to be too dramatic - adored it. With a perfect balance between good exfoliation and gentleness, this non-foaming, soap-, alcohol- and detergent-free cleanser sloughed off all my dead skin without irritating my sensitive face. The base of the Regenerating Cleanser is a creamy cleanser - in fact it's Tata's Refreshing Cleanser - so even though this product does double exfoliating duty with apricot seed powder (manual exfoliation) and pomegranate enzymes (chemical exfoliation), it still manages to leave your face feeling hydrated and soothed. I was sold. Or I was, until I realized just how very pricey this cleanser is. Ringing in at $75 (4 oz.), it was beyond what I was comfortable spending, so I started looking around in the hopes of finding something comparable at a lower price point.
Which is where Organic Surge's Skin Perfecting Face Polish came in. At £6.99 or about $12 (2.5 oz.), it falls pretty well on the other end of the price spectrum. The Perfecting Face Polish also has a creamy base, this time interspersed with finely ground olive stones. I like the overall feel of the Face Polish, but I'm not crazy about the olive stones themselves. The individual pieces are on the larger side, but the amount found throughout the cleanser seems a little sparse. Where Tata's cleanser has a very even texture, the problem I ran into with the Organic Surge Polish was that one part of my face would feel well exfoliated, while another would seem like I had just washed it with a gentle cleanser. It takes a bit more work - and sometimes a good deal of product - to get an even exfoliation, but once I'm done, my face is left feeling soft and smooth, so it's not a total loss.
Splurge or Save?
Tata Harper's Regenerating Cleanser was the clear winner for me, so it's a splurge. I really wanted to find a bargain dupe, but the Organic Surge Face Polish just isn't it. The Face Polish does the trick and leaves my skin looking and feeling nice, but it's more challenging to work with and lacks the refinement and wow factor of the Regenerating Cleanser. I also think the olive stone particles would be too harsh for really sensitive skin, in spite of the soft creaminess of the base.
Full disclosure, I'm still not 100% comfortable dropping $75 on an exfoliator. But, in the process of drafting this post, I was excited to notice that Tata is now also selling a new, 50ml size of this cleanser for $38. It's more expensive per ounce, but the smaller investment up front means that this beauty might just make its way to me one day after all!
Have you used either of these? What do you think?
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