I bet you girls still remember my Gamila Secret Cleansing Bar review as quite a number of you including my friends bought the soap after seeing my Before and After picture. Hope you girls benefited from the soap as I did. Well, I finished my mini bar quite some time ago. I love it so much and Gamila Secret Malaysia could have sense it that I was sent a full size soap bar of Gamila Secret Creamy Vanilla to try.

I started using the soap beginning of January and after more than a month of using I thought I might update you on the progress and difference of both Original and Creamy Vanilla on my face. But before that let me walk you through the unique packaging of Gamila Secret. I refuse to open it before photographing the whole “unboxing” so yes I only saw the soap for the first time as I unbox and photograph. Typical blogger I know 🙂

Let me just start by saying THE BOX IS HUGE! It’s packaged as a resemble to mini gift box which is quite nice. There’s no peeking as the lid is sticker-ed heavily from one side to the other. So much so for taking a peek at the soap eh?

I find that the flavour of the soap is on the side of the box. It wasn’t stated on the lid or whatsoever. Just on one side of the box. As you can see the lid is stickered all the way down to the side. And all the way down to the bottom and up again to the opposite side and lid. That’s why I said there’s no way I can open the lid and take a peep inside.

On the opposite side of the box there’s a pointers description on where to use the soap and how to use it. In this case it’s a lot. Gamila Secret Cleansing Bars are suitable to be used on face, body, feet and what do you know…intimate part as well. It can also double up as a mask. Just leave the soap on the face for a few minutes before rinsing. Guys can even use the soap as shaving cream if not as facial soap. With so much of benefit no wonder it’s easy to fall in love with Gamila Secret.

At the very bottom of the box is where the ingredients are listed. There’s also a direction on how to keep the soap. It should always be left dry on a soap dish and preferably a Gamila Secret Stone Dish. If not any soap dish will do.

Something unique. There’s a small hole on the lid. At first glance I have no idea what this hole is for. Then when I look carefully at the fine print at the bottom only I realize this is to sample the scent. It works you know. As you press on the cover and release it I can feel the air from the inside are pumped out. Do that fast and it feels kinda funny on the nose haha. Nonetheless it smells absolutely divine. Great idea since you can take a peep inside and smell the soap LOL.

Some wonderful Gamila Secret’s secret terms. You can read more about Gamila Secret at http://gamilasecret.my/me/about-us or watch the brand documentary at http://gamila.com/#/the_documentary/ and be inspired. From the documentary video only I found out that the pronunciation of Gamila is actually not direct reading of the word but it’s pronounce at Ja-Mi-La. Just pronounce the G as a J.

In the box along with the soap also included is a mini booklet on all you want to know about Gamila Secret from the history, how it all started, formula and ingredients, the process, benefits, how to use and types of soap catering to different skin type. I will include the chart at the bottom of this post.

Love the inner box. At once glance I thought it’s a soap dish but nah. It’s just a mock-up of the soap dish haha. The soap is sitting in the special die-cut compartment nicely and comfortably. Although Gamila is now mass producing their soap but it is still handmade. Just as it is when Gamila started soap making. As it’s handmade you won’t see the same soap as they shape the side of the soap with knife by hand and stamp on the branding on the soap by hand as well.

When I first got the soap I was having a severe skin allergy at that time so there’s no way I can use the soap immediately. The box was so securely tape that I can’t even peep inside the box. I was just curious on how the soap look like in real and the size of it. I tried googling but couldn’t find a picture (at that time) of the soap on a palm. It’s much more easier for me to imagine the size of it when I see a picture of a product on the palm lol! So I told myself die die also I must take a picture of the soap on my palm and here it is!

One full size bar are measuring at approximately 6.2cm width and 6.2cm height with approximately 3.5cm diameter. Look at the beautiful soap and it’s color!

How is Gamila Secret Creamy Vanilla Cleansing Bar on my skin?
I had continuous series of break out since I started the soap. It was pretty frustrating for me as my skin never get the chance to breath from break out. Each series happened one after another. At first I thought my skin could have been in the detoxifying mode so I continued the soap and hope for the break out to stop patiently. Then one day I took a good close look at the mirror and I saw lots of blackheads on the jawline especially on my left jaw. Not only that there’s also lots of small bumps and whiteheads. Immediately it was a nightmare for me as I never had all that at once! I couldn’t stop myself from popping those blackheads out and a week later it came back and again and again. Pimples on the other hand never heal. Even if the pimple subsided the scar / marks is there. I started implementing whitening serum at night to help lighten the marks but nothing works. So you can imagine how frustrated I am. I was more annoyed with the small bumps. I have no idea how to get rid of it since I have too many problem on the face to take care of and when using Gamila Cleansing Bar I couldn’t use too many products on the face. But I believe in the soap and the benefit from using it so I continued using and continue getting more and more break outs for more than a month.

Saving the face with Gamila Secret Original Mini Cleansing Bar
One day (which was a few days ago) I looked in the mirror and felt really devastated with all the post break out marks that I decided to stop using Creamy Vanilla and I took out a mini Original cleansing bar which I’ve gotten from Wonderbox December 2012 edition. I was somewhat relieved that I had the mini bar on hand as the Original mini bar gave me a better skin previously. To be frank this mini bar is my last resort in saving my face. Yes it was that bad that I have thought of taking a photo of it to show you but it’s just too ugly to be put up so I’ve decided to carry on this review without any face shot.

I’m glad to report that after a few days of using the Original bar my face has gotten better. Break out stopped. The small bumps also lessen partly because I also implement b.liv Off With Those Heads Blackheads Sebum Gel sample which I’ve gotten from Vanity Trove February 2013 edition. I don’t see new blackheads and whiteheads popping out as well. The most happiest thing is that the post break out marks is beginning to lighten. Not very much but at least every bad thing that happened stopped. Now I’m in the recovering state to get rid of all the post break out marks.

I think Creamy Vanilla doesn’t suits my skin. Perhaps it’s more suitable for Normal/Dry Skin and I have Combination/Oily Skin which could explain the non-stop breakouts. I will still continue to use Gamila Secret but it’s better for me to stick to Original at the moment. Overall it’s still a great product in my opinion. I just need to becareful with straying over to other flavour soap in the future.

As promised, here’s the types of soap flavour available and the skin type description on each of them.

Disclaimer: Product was sent to me for review consideration. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.