I have been a huge fan of Clinique skin care for years and at one point used there 3 step regime religiously until my skin stopped absorbing the dramatically different moisturiser and it started to just rub into clumps and then peel off. So I tried the gel version with the same results. Then the anti blemish solution 3 step system made my already bad acne about 10 times worse after a couple of months use it also left my skin extremely dry and uncomfortable. ANYWAY... Not wanting to give up on my favorite brand and after reading tons of glowing reviews I thought I would try the Take off the Day cleansing milk at first I thought it was great the solution is not to heavy and removes EVERY last trace of make up incredibly quickly for a cleansing milk the one thing I didn't like about it then was the over chemically smell so unusual from Clinique I know there 100% fragrance free but the chemical smell is slightly over powering.

I used it almost daily for around 6 months without any problems then out of the blue after using it one night my skin started to feel tight and itchy. I thought it must have been the time of the year as it was winter I work in an air conditioned office so slapped a load of moisturiser on and ignored it.
Used it again the next day and the same thing happened and this time it started to sting quite a bit so I washed it off with a warm water, normally I would wipe it off with damp cotton wool pads.
The next morning my skin was red raw, itchy and really really quite sore. I lightly doused it was some water and slapped some gentle moisturiser on and didn't wear any make up. The redness and soreness progressively got worse over the course of about 4 days then a thin dry layer of skin started to appear covering my whole face which was incredibly tight and uncomfortable I literally couldn't smile it would pull so much and hurt, everything I put on my skin stung like hell! including the E45 cream my GP told me to use. Then after about a week it started to flake off and became so itchy I struggled to sleep and the E45 was still stinging like mad! It took around 3 weeks since the dry skin appeared to heal completely.

I wasn't convinced at first that it was Take of the Day even though I hadn't used any new products, I mean its clinique?! But I started doing patch tests on the back of my hand and on the inside of my forearm and within seconds the skin would go red and start itching. I also did the same patch tests with all my other facial products and nothing happened with those.

I asked a few people "in the know" and they mentioned a protein in Take of the Day that over time can suddenly cause quite sever reactions and they said they wouldn't recommend it to anyone for continuous use due to this as people like me who have never really had reactions to anything at some point are very likely to have a reaction to this.

I still use some Clinique products like All About Eyes cream and concealer but I will be staying clear of there facial skincare range in the future. Which is really annoying as I have loved Clinique for years!!