Good Things is the new beauty range by beauty journalist Alice Hart-Davis. Launched in Boots on the 5th July, the range, which includes cleansers, wipes, moisturisers, a face mask and an exfoliating polish, is designed for teenage girls and young women, with oily skin in mind.

This is the first venture into product development for Alice Hart-Davis, a renowned journalist and author of ‘Be Beautiful, Every Girl’s Guide to Hair, Skin and Makeup’. Inspired I think by her teenage daughter, she’s created a range which specifically answers the needs of young girls prone to break-outs, who are looking for something lovely and pampering to use which is gentle yet effective. She states:

“It’s called Good Things because it’s full of superfruit beauty boosters – extracts of goji berry, lychee, mango, fig and so on – to brighten, clear and soothe the skin.  The formulations are gentle but super-effective and free from parabens, sulphates, mineral oil and animal-tested ingredients.”

Reading this I was immediately intrigued. As you may know from previous posts, I’m very much anti the usual suspect acne treatment ranges which literally strip your skin of its natural sebum, which only causes it to over-compensate and produce more oil (aggravating the problem whilst damaging your skin). So I requested to try a couple of the cleansers and see what all these gorgeous sounding ‘superfruit beauty boosters’ were all about. Kindly Good Things’ PR provided the two products pictured above for this review.

First of all, let’s talk about first impressions: the packaging. It’s lovely – simple, neutral tones etched with pretty, colourful flower patterns. The cleansers come in standard soft plastic tubes, 150ml, with a good sturdy locking flip lid at the bottom.

Now for the ingredients. Every Good Things product is proudly free from parabens, sodium laureth sulfate and mineral oils and they’re not tested on animals. Those are all very good things indeed.

The first cleanser I tried out was the ‘Fresh Start Cleanser‘ with extracts of Grape and Pomegranate, natural antioxidants. First impressions – it smells divine when you sniff it out the bottle – literally good enough to eat. Being used to an unfragranced, very simple cleanser, however, I found this a bit overpowering. That’s just my preference though; I prefer a very subtle scent, if any. I reckon teenagers would love this. In fact I’m sure ten years ago I’d have loved it.

In terms of how it felt on the skin, I have to say I wasn’t a huge fan – I’m not a cream cleanser fan in general, as I just don’t think you get that fresh, invigorating feeling that you do from a gel based or oil based cleanser, probably partly because you clean it off with a warm towel rather than splashing your face with water. Also, as I’m so used to a fragrance free cleanser, I found this slightly stung my skin – not painfully so – but I was wary that perhaps my skin wasn’t liking the fruit extracts and parfum too much. I also found this didn’t effectively remove my waterproof mascara so I needed to go over my eyes with some oil and cotton wool afterwards. Saying all that, however, my skin felt clean and beautifully soft afterwards so I’m confident that the product doesn’t mess with your natural sebum balance, which is great.

The second cleanser I tried was ‘Stay Clear Purifying Cleanser‘ with Mango and Blueberry extracts to ‘purify and decongest the skin’. This one smells even more amazing – like a sugary sweet smoothie! Again though, this isn’t really to my taste in a facial product. I liked this more as a cleanser as it’s a more traditional gel type, which you foam on then rinse off with water. I noted that it didn’t foam much though, which is due to the lack of sulfates – a good thing – so I didn’t mind that at all. Again my skin felt really soft afterwards – much more so than from my current cleanser. I hardly felt that I needed moisturiser in fact, but I’m addicted to my Gel and emu oil so slathered those on anyway.

From what I’ve seen so far of Good Things, I am really excited about its arrival to the UK high street. There’s been a massive gap in the young beauty market in my opinion for a more natural alternative to the harsh, chemical ridden products which strip your skin of its natural oils. I am very pleased to see a range which has really considered what young girls both need and want: gentle and effective products that work with your skin, not against it, packaged beautifully, and that smell delicious!

Good Things is available exclusively at Boots. Prices range from £3.49 to £8.99.