What drew me to buy Avalon Organics Vitamin C Refreshing Cleansing Gel was it was certified organic and was not tested on animals. Finally a natural cleanser for my oily skin!

The back states its “Antioxidant intensive cleanser, gently removes impurities while maintaining your skin’s natural balance.” Removes impurities GREAT! My oily skin has impurities that that need to be gently removed.

I used this product for 2 weeks in order to give what I feel to be an accurate review.

The Vitamin C Cleanser had a nice citrus scent and applied easily. I only needed a dime size amount to cleanse my entire face an neck. This cleanser also contains wonderful antioxidants in addition to the Vitamin C, such as Vitamin E, lemon bioflavanoids and white and green tea.

While using this cleanser, I noticed that it would make my eyes sting, even if the product was not near my eye area. This stinging is apparently normal with the use of Vitamin C products.

After using this product, my face felt clean, too clean. I noticed that my skin although looked brighter, it also looked and felt very dry. The fine lines around my eyes were more pronounced and my skin felt tauter. In order to compensate for the dryness I had to use more moisturizer than normal to nourish my skin. After the two weeks, I had to discontinue the use of this cleanser. My skin was feeling too dry and I did not like the dryness especially around my eye area.

The way my skin reacted could be due to many factors. Avalon Organics’ website states that the concentration of Vitamin C used is 20%, this may be too strong a concentration for my skin. It could also be that the form of vitamin C being used Magnesium Ascorbal Phosphate is (which is water soluble) is not suited to my skin.

Overall I did not like the way this product performed on my skin. I think it was too harsh and too drying for my oily sensitive skin.

It is important to remember however; not all skin products react the same on all skin types. The texture and thickness of the skin, among other factors is unique to the individual that is using the product.

I believe the Vitamin C Cleansing gel is better suited to people with oily skin as well as individuals with skin that is not sensitive. For those individuals I believe this product would work well.