Clinique Redness Solutions?

I am confused.  A week ago I picked up the Clinique Redness Solutions cleanser after long dealing with redness and splotchiness in my skin, and recent despiration to aquire some clinique skincare.  I have a large hunch that the redness Clinique aim to solve is that of irritated, sensitive skin.  Skin that burns and itches from products, environmentals, and allergens.  Well I am none of the above,  but redness in my skin is something that I have srtuggled with for quite some time, and my next option is high end skin care, hence the purchase. 

Oh great, sideways photo. Well you get the point nonetheless.

It is an oil-free, fragrance-free gel cleanser that is suitable for all skintypes.  Melts away makeup and impurities. bla bla bla. Calms persistent and reactive redness.

Well I will tell you that I also purchased the Sephora face brush with this product, to really massage it into my skin to get the "full monty".  I mean, I want this redness GONE. FOR EV ER....FOR EV ER.....(sandlot? anyone?)  This is how I've been using it and this is how I've found my experience thus far...

I take a Blob...yes that is very technical makeup artist terminology...on my little sephora face brush, as shown.....and massage it into my dampened face all over for about 60 seconds.

Smiling like an ass the entire time...yes there's no other way to do it! Then a simple rinse with warm water and a pat dry.

Well anyway I'll let you know here that my hugest disappointment, which you'll plainly see in this photo, is that the product does not foam up.  It is indeed a gel cleanser.

On a positive note, it does slightly, not significantly, but enough that I am happy with my purchase, reduce some of my redness, But I do feel that the brush helps the product really get into my skin, and feel that if i were to only use my fingers, it would not penitrate and affect my deep redness but would only help with light surface redness.

The product may also be used similar to the likes of Lush's Ultra Bland, just rubbed onto fdry skin and wiped off or rinsed off, which just left me feeling icky, so that was a bust personally for me.

This product definitley does seem like it would cater nicely to all skin types, as it moisturizes and strips oil in all the right spots of my combination skin.

I do only use this product in the morning, as I do not see the point on using it before I go to bed, especially at about triple the price of what I spend on my night time drugstore cleanser.

As an alternative for this, I would recommend the Aveeno ultra calming line, although I find personally that the moisturizer is too thick (I use it as a night cream) and the face wash does not remove makeup very well.

So all in all I am satisfied with the purchase, but do believe that there might be something even better out there.  For now, I will continue to use, and maybe repurchase, this product until the HG redness removal cleanser is found!

What do you use to remove redness from your skin pre-makeup?