We appreciated that this gel-like cleansing balm felt soft and comforting on our skin, but it wasn’t oily enough to effectively break down and remove makeup. During the night your skin’s ability to repair itself is more active compared to the day. A night cream containing retinol, is can help to boost skin recovery when skin is more receptive to active ingredients, helping counterbalance the increase in moisture loss while you sleep.

After cleansing your skin is prepped for moisturising. Hydrating with a moisturiser is an essential part of any skincare routine as it helps to replenish lost moisture and keep your skin hydrated.This cleansing balm is incredibly well-loved in the beauty community, and its popularity is absolutely justified. The most notable thing about it is its heavenly texture—it’s like a hybrid of a solid balm and a cream, making it both pillowy soft, and workable. It’s formulated with a blend of nine different hydrating oils, ensuring that it won’t strip the skin of moisture as it does its job. If you have oily skin, try and avoid from face cleansing products containing wax or oil, as those only make your skin even more oily. If you have dry skin, face cleaning products with added moisturisers can prevent it from drying out even more. While we (and most of the beauty community) highly recommend it, there are a few things that could be improved on. First, it’s not ideal for breaking down waterproof makeup—it requires some rubbing to fully remove mascara and stubborn makeup. The texture can also be slightly clumpy—when you apply it to your skin, it doesn’t melt evenly. However, we think the pros far outweigh the cons, so it’s absolutely a product we recommend. Cleansing balms tend to be much more hydrating and gentler on the skin than other cleansing formulations such as gels.

Aside from some textural inconsistencies in the form of little clumps (they did dissolve during application), it easily broke down makeup and left our skin feeling calm and balanced. It effectively broke down all face and eye makeup—aside from waterproof mascara, which we needed to use a warm cloth to fully remove—and it didn’t feel stripping or too greasy on the skin. We also noticed a reduction in facial rednessover the period that we tested this product because it completely removed the need to harshly rub skin to remove makeup and sunscreen. They're best paired with a warm cloth as this helps to remove all of the balm so no residue is left behind. What are the best cleansing balms? Cleansing balms need to be massaged into the skin for a minute or two, as this will help break down their oils so that all makeup and impurities are "grabbed".

What is a cleansing balm?

Although this luxe cleansing balm did help make the skin feel more hydrated, we felt that the texture was too slippery, making it difficult to work it into our skin and get a solid cleanse. Unlike similar products we've used in the past that left our oily skin feeling even more oily, we loved that this cleansing balm left the face feeling clean, balanced, and hydrated. Those of us with dry skin also loved how gentle and hydrating it felt while still providing the adequate cleanse we needed. It takes very little effort to remove a full face of makeup, has a nourishing formula, doesn’t leave a greasy residue behind, and is affordable, making it a product we can't recommend enough.