Product: Cyleina Organic Soaps

First, let me say that here in the Philippines, organic is synonymous to natural and Cyleina Organic Soaps are not certified organic. Unlike in the US and other countries, we do not have a certifying body for organic products. Nor do we have any law that sets the rules on which products can call themselves organic and which should just be labeled natural or pure.

Moving on to the review. After more than 4 years of using EC27 Guava Soap, I decided to try other soaps. And because a lot of my fellow GT (GirlTalk) sises are raving about Cyleina's soap products (spanning 12 threads as of this writing), I thought this brand could be the apt replacement.

Cyleina's soap are sold at selected Hortaleza branches only and through resellers. Because there's no Hortaleza branch near my area, I went about and searched online for a reseller who can meet up with me at a convenient place.

My (facial) skin is a bit problematic. It's really oily, acne-prone with large open pores, has an uneven skintone and a little on the dull side. Based on the recommendations for my skin type, my first Cyleina order were Tomato, Black Pearl, Rice Bran, Strawberry, Papaya Goat's Milk and Agave Scrub.


I first tried Black Pearl and Tomato. Tomato is said to reduce oiliness and shrink pore size while Black Pearl is reputed for being an effective whitening soap. I used Tomato in the morning, a combo of Tomato and Black Pearl at noon when I take my bath, and Tomato in the evening. I use PGM for my body.

Tomato stings and can be very drying, especially for if you're a first time user and you leave it on your skin for a bit longer. I made that mistake -- leaving Tomato suds on my face for more than a minute before I rinse it -- and put up with a red, stinging face for two days. Black Pearl, on the other hand, has moisturizing and cooling effects (because of the Peppermint oil) on my skin. And I love its smell.

After one week of using this soap combo, I did note a few subtle effects. My (facial) skin seemed to have a reddish glow, felt softer and smoother, and my oiliness was slightly lessened. What surprised me was that majority of my blackheads were gone, especially on the nose area. However, there was no visible changes in my pores and skintone.

The skin on my body felt softer and smoother, too, although I find the PGM to be very drying. I don't apply lotion regularly because I don't want to feel all sticky afterward. So everytime I take a bath, my skin would look scaly and flaky and really dry. They said this was the micropeeling effect and it's good because it's peeling off my dead skin cells and making way for new cells to surface. New skin cells are instrumental to having a youthful and fairer skin. Unfortunately, micropeeling made my skin look dry, so dry I could write my name on it.

But because the 1-week result was more positive than negative, I decided to purchase more variants. I added Kojic, Triple Citrus, Carrots & Pineapple, Grapeseed and Shea Butter (the most moisturizing of all, hoping that it would counteract the drying effect of the other soaps) to my collection.


Cyleina's soaps melt easily because they don't have soap hardeners. To prolong their "life", I cut each bar into 4 parts and only use 1/4 of the bar at a time. I didn't cut the Black Pearl into smaller parts because it looked hard enough to me. In fact, more than 3 months later, my first Black Pearl is still half it's original size and will probably last me 3 more months. Maybe because I only use it on my face.

1 month after I started using Tomato and Black Pearl, the effects were still the same but nothing dramatic had happened. The effects were actually quite gradual. I also noticed that the glow usually last 1 to 2 hours after I wash my face. I'm not really "red-cheeks" the whole day, or even half of the day. As for whitening, Black Pearl was doing a very slow job.

Then came the week before my period, pimples started coming out. A few small ones and 1 to 2 big, red zits. Tomato was not able to do anything about them. It dried some small pimples but that's it. Didn't do a good pimple-control job for me.

So I decide to try Rice Bran, which is the "for acne-prone" soap because it has antibacterial properties according to testimonials. I tried it out for a week and one thing I can say is, it is very drying. I immediately noticed how dry my palms were everytime I use this soap on my face. Ironically, my face didn't feel dry, probably because it's really oily. But my palms were all wrinkly and it's as if I've used a detergent.

Rice Bran didn't made my skin glow, like Tomato did. And it didn't dry my pimples either. But I was reasoning out that maybe I need to use it longer to see the effect. Close to a week of using it, I noticed some dry patches on both corners of my mouth. And they hurt whenever I opened my mouth too wide like when I yawn, or laugh too hard. That's enough to make me stop using Rice Bran.

Next soap is Kojic, another whitening soap that's also supposedly good for pimples. The week that I was using it, I had two big pimples that didn't bulge nor flinch nor made any sign that they were about to go dry. And like Rice Bran, I was missing the glow that Tomato gave my face. No whitening effect, too even when I'm already using it with Black Pearl.

And like Rice Bran again, close to a week of using it, I noticed a weird bump on my upper left cheek. I inspected it. It's not a pimple but it's raised and there seemed to be something hard underneath the skin. I also noticed that the pores appeared to be clogged and they looked pretty much like facial warts.

I know you're not supposed to pop pimples, but this ain't a pimple so I squeeze it with my bare (but clean!) hands. What came out were hardened oils just like when you pop a blackhead. But lots of them. I do have blackheads and they are usually flat. It's the first time that I had one that's raised and looked bigger than an inflamed  pimple. It's like oils hardened and were trapped inside my pores and eventually formed a bump on the surface. It grossed me out.

So go back to Tomato I did. So far, this was the best soap that I tried in the bunch. If only it can control my pimples. Unfortunately, it can't. I used Tomato on my face until I found another soap to try.

As for the Cyleina's soaps that I used on my body (Papaya Goat's Milk, Strawberry, Kojic, Rice Bran, Triple Citrus, Shea Butter, Carrot & Pineapple and Grapeseed), they were ok. But I micropeeled in all of them (which means my skin dried out in all of them), even with Shea Butter. That's weird. But my favorites are Strawberry, Shea Butter and Triple Citrus, because of their smell.

I use Rice Bran when I don't feel like applying deodorant because it is said to have deodorizing properties. When you work at home, you can afford to skip some beauty regimens, like applying lotion, deodorant or using shampoo or conditioner.

But I can say that my skin has improved. It looked better and smoother, although not really visibly fairer. Sometimes, I look like I'm slightly whiter but I'm not sure if that's because of the soaps or because I seldom go out of the house.

The Verdict

What's left of the Cyleina Organic Soaps that I purchased.

The thing I like about Cyleina's soaps is that they are mild. You could feel that you're not putting harsh chemicals on your skin. I also like their scents, which smelled fresh and not overpowering. The price is reasonable, too. Remember that I cut each bar into 4 smaller bars. 1 small bar would last me more or less a week. So 1 whole bar is good for a month. At P60 per bar, it's really a good buy. And luckily for me, they did allow my new skin cells to surface by peeling off the outer dead skin cells. Although I don't like that it made my skin look dry. But it can easily be remedied by applying lotion, something that I still not do regularly.

As for the soaps that I used on my face, they didn't do very well. Tomato had some nice effects but I still feel that it's not something that can replace EC27 Guava Soap, which for years had effectively fought off my pimples. But being someone who has an undying affair with pimples for quite a long time, I know that not all products that worked on others will work the same on me. So maybe, Cyleina's soaps and my skin were not well suited. But it doesn't mean that the soaps are no good. A lot of people are still swearing by their effectiveness.

Regarding their whitening properties, I am inclined to believe that Cyleina's whitening soaps are not the best there is in the market. They can make you look fairer, but you may have to use the soaps for a few months before you see any significant changes.