Welcome to Deep Reviews—your one-stop destination to discover the absolute best products and brands the beauty industry has to offer. The Who What Wear staffers you already know and trust will research, test, and review the market's most sought-after and buzzed-about products to see which formulas (of the hundreds up for consideration) are worth your hard-earned money and attention. You can expect honest, uncensored feedback and no-BS recommendations our hard-to-please testers endorse without reservations.
The majority of our Deep Reviews will feature our editors' honest, ultra-hot takes on entire product categories or multiple products from a particular beauty brand, but every so often, we'll sprinkle in a special single-product format called Honestly, I Love It. As the name suggests, these reviews will hone in on one standout beauty formula our editors can't shut up about. This time, I'm highlighting the best product from one of my favorite new brands, Motif's Abundance Plumping PhytoCeramide Facial Cleanser ($65).
I was first introduced to Motif at a time when I was overwhelmed by the allure of a 10-step skincare routine. After six months with this product at the helm of my evening ritual, we're down to only three or four skincare steps a night with equal glow. It's that good.
I used to associate two-in-one products with jocks in high school who used shampoo for, well, everything, but this luxe take on the concept has changed everything. This cleanser is labeled as just a cleanser, but I learned directly from the founder that it's extra powerful when you allow it to double as a mask. Now, in the evenings, I apply it and let it sit while I read a few pages of my current book or chat with my friends on FaceTime, and it's all the more powerful, limiting the number of skincare steps that I need. Let's get into what makes this product such a superhero in my cabinet.
One of my favorite things to brag about when I mention this product is just how clean it is. It's made out of ingredients that you can see and feel that are also high performance. I asked the founder, Devanshi Garg, how this product came to be, and she told me everything.
"Cleansers are the first step in our skincare routines. I believe they can either set us up for a great skincare journey or potentially take us back a couple of steps, which we then must make up for. In spite of being 'the most used category' of any skincare product and one used by the largest range of skincare customers, ranging from least sophisticated to the most, cleansers and face washes are overlooked by brands and consumers alike," she said. "Personally, I found that a lot of cleansers were either irritating my skin from fragrance, sulfates, or a high pH, or they were doing nothing. I was inspired to create a cleanser where one can see and feel a difference immediately—a product packed with such beautiful, high-performance ingredients [that] it becomes just as important to someone's regimen as a good serum or moisturizer that they love."
I'm currently only turning to products that are dermatologist backed, and Indy Chabra, MD, was able to chime in on the ingredients listed in this one. He likened the product to what he uses in his office due to one very special ingredient: "One of my favorite ingredients in this cleanser is bromelain, which is an ingredient we use in the office after cosmetic procedures. It is great for preventing and treating bruising, preventing acne, for promoting cellular turnover, and for soothing irritation."
I noticed results right away upon using this cleanser—not just in my skin but also in the time that I have in my day since it's sped up the process of my evening routine. Garg shared with me that her initial customers since the launch in 2023 feel the same. "The results will continue to show a few days into using the cleanser a.m. and p.m. People will notice softer, calmer skin; a skin barrier that's healing; and smooth skin that is radiating and glowing," she said.
Shop Garg's Full Skincare Routine
"I start off with a fresh cleanse and glow, then before bed with another cleanse. I'll sometimes also use it in the middle of the day after a workout." — Garg
"This serum is a powerhouse of a treatment balanced by a lightweight texture. I love the immediate dewiness it imparts and how it is moisturizing. … I don't feel the need to follow it up with a heavy moisturizer, even in the winters, and my skin is dry. And with continued use, I have seen a huge improvement in my hyperpigmentation." — Garg
"You might catch me without makeup, but you will never catch me without a spray of perfume. My current favorite is Valaya by Parfums de Marly." — Garg
"I like that this is a sunscreen with ingredients that have skin benefits, and it is also tinted to give me light coverage, which is all that I need." — Garg
"For makeup, I like to keep it natural. If I feel my eyes are feeling puffy and/or dark, I'll dab a little Kosas Revealer Concealer." — Garg
"I'll shape my eyebrows with the Kosas Air Brow…" — Garg
"And I'll finish with a swipe of the Tower 28 ShineOn Lip Jelly." — Garg
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