This is another of my recent pick-me-up purchases from the No 7 range, which I bought as part of their 3-for-2 promotion using a £5 voucher. At full price it would cost £9 for 150ml, which is expensive for a cleansing product but if you use your vouchers when you get them it brings the cost down significantly. This was the product which actually drew me to the No 7 counter in the first place, as I'd seen it in a magazine and thought it would sort out my dry, flaky skin.

The cleansing balm is a little unusual, in that you don't apply it in the usual way. Instead of dotting it onto cotton wool and wiping your face, you apply the product with your fingers and massage it in, then wipe it off with cotton wool. It also doesn't say on the packaging anything about using toner, it just says this is a one-step solution to dry skin, so it's a bit strange but seems to work so who cares!

The balm comes in a tube with a flip lid, and dispenses easily allowing you full control over how much you use. I wasn't sure the first time I used it, how much I should be applying, so I started off with a small dollop, which seemed to be enough to cover my face, but then when I came to wipe it off with a cotton wool pad I didn't really feel like my face was clean. The pad was brown from my tinted moisturiser, and there seemed to be more dirt than I would usually get from my normal cleanser, but for some reason, because it still felt a bit greasy, my face just didn't feel clean. I went to the effort of applying more of the cleansing balm, just in case I'd missed any make-up, but it turns out I hadn't so I'm now happy that although it feels a bit weird when your face is greasy, it is actually as clean as it's going to get.

The cleansing balm claims to dissolve make-up and impurities, which I guess is why you have to massage into your skin rather than applying with cotton wool. I'm not sure how this works but it does seem to be very effective, and compared to my normal cleanser I'm always surprised at how much make-up I manage to remove using this.

As well as being an excellent cleanser, this does actually rehydrate your skin. I felt the difference as soon as I started using it. I think the fact it doesn't require toner helps to avoid overdrying the skin, as this is one of the things I find quite drying on my skin. The downside to this, of course, is that your face only really feels fully clean when you've used toner, otherwise it feels a bit greasy and dirty. I've got used to this now, and am using this in conjunction with the night cream from the same range, so my skin is getting some real moisture reinjected into it.

Although this is expensive for a cleansing product, it does offer much more than a lot of the cleansers on the market. It not only removes every last trace of dirt and make-up, but it does so without the need for toner, meaning your skin isn't being dried out. The formula also contains hydrating ingredients, which care for your skin and lock in moisture whilst cleaning it. It's a bit of a strange product, which takes a bit of getting used to if you're used to cleansing in the usual way, but it's well worth a try if you suffer from dry skin. Since using this, my dry patches have gone and my face is silky smooth and soft.