Cleansing cream doesn’t enjoy much attention these days. Skincare experts favour melting balms or Japanese-style oils, consumers prefer wipes and foaming washes, but a simple cream has much to recommend it. It’s versatile, removing makeup well at night ( I don’t believe a double cleanse is necessary on lighter days, and I use it for my second cleanse only when wearing foundation and/or sunblock), and refreshing an already clean-ish face nicely in the morning without being so rich as to feel like overkill.

I don’t believe cleansing creams need to cost a fortune, either; I take the view that if one is to economise, one should start with what sinks down the plughole, not with what stays on the skin. The cheapest of my favourites is Superdrug Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser (£4.99 for a bumper 200ml tube from a chain that can do little wrong currently). Thick, rich but ungreasy, it lifts foundation and grime quickly and adeptly (your towel afterwards should bear no traces of makeup: if it does, go again or get another cleanser), and softens skin nicely. The accompanying cloth isn’t much cop unless you’re highly sensitive, so use it for messy kids’ teatimes instead.

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For heavy makeup or extra-dry skin, I love No7’s Beautiful Skin Cleansing Balm (£9.50, 150ml). Balm is a misnomer: this is a cream, but one that cleans as well as something thicker, and leaves the face moist and comfortable. A newer discovery is Bee Good’s superb Honey & Propolis 2-in-1 Cream Cleanser (£11.50, 100ml). Its moisturising honey and bacteria-curbing propolis are ethically and sustainably sourced, helping to maintain a healthy bee community and supporting British farmers, and neither strips skin of moisture nor bastes it in grease. It removes even waterproof mascara. I wouldn’t flinch if it were twice the price.

I like Yes To Coconut’s Ultra Hydrating Cream Cleanser (£6.99, 118ml), but only for morning use because it doesn’t remove heavier makeup. What it lacks in cleansing power, it offers in a delicious, coconut smell. It’s a misconception that only products labelled “hot cloth cleansers” can be used with a flannel. I use the same method (massaging into dry skin, loosening with water, then buffing off with a wet cotton flannel until the skin is clean) with all.

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