Monthly Beauty Comparison: Oil Blotting Papers

A couple months ago I rediscovered Oil Absorbing Sheets by Clean & Clear. I'm not sure how I was living without them...

Clean & Clear describes these as: 

"oil absorbing sheets instantly soak up excess oil and remove shine from your face, without smudging makeup or leaving behind powder. These super soft, silky sheets can be used easily around your nose and other oily areas of your face. Use them anytime, anywhere to remove oil and shine throughout the day."

I think these work fantastic! 

I use Bare Minerals foundation and have a bad habit of touching my face often, so I tend to get a shiny and oily look about me by lunch time. I only need to use one sheet and it will thoroughly soak up any oil on my face and a quick glance in the mirror will show all traces of shine removed. 

There are 50 sheets in each pack, and I usually use one about once a day. So I end out running through these pretty quick. 

The sheets are pretty thin and are a little hard to get out of the pack. Luckily, Clean & Clear recognized this and put a little sticker on the inside. To get a sheet, all you need to do is press on the cover and then open! The sticker will have pulled out a sheet for you!

These retail for $6.29 at CVS.

I thought this was a pretty steep price for how quickly I go through these so on a trip to Target a couple months ago, I picked up the e.l.f. version on discount for about $2 for a pack of 3.

(One not shown in photo)

I consider myself to be pretty brand loyal to products I love and use religiously. I am always afraid to try another brand because I am afraid I won't like it. But because there was little risk in buying a 3 pack for just a couple dollars, I figured, why not?

Well, I thought these were absolutely terrible! 

The sheets were so thin, like tissue paper, that I had to use more than one and they always ripped!

They weren't thick enough to absorb all of the oil on my face and the worst part, is the oil would seep through the paper, getting all over my hands! Gross! This doesn't happen with the Clean & Clear ones.

These went in the garbage right after I took these photos.

Even after I felt totally betrayed when I tried to save a little money and go with the cheaper brand, I took my sisters advice and tried the CVS brand Oil Absorbing Sheets.

All CVS products are 100% guaranteed, so if I decided I didn't like these I could easily return them.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover they are exactly the same as the Clean & Clear ones. 

In fact, I couldn't tell them apart really. The package also has the sticker for easy sheet removal and they work just as good as the branded ones.

These retail for just $4.79 at CVS. Which is a $1.50 in savings vs buying Clean & Clear. 

I think I am going to stick with these ones from now on.

Are you brand loyal or are you adventurous and go with the less expensive product?

Thanks for reading and HAPPY APRIL!