Review: Balm Balm Super Light Coconut Cleanser

Since I stopped using DHC’s Deep Cleansing Oil (reviewed here) I’ve been trying out loads of new cleansers hoping to find one that removes the day’s make-up and grime and doesn’t cause another horrible outbreak of spots.

Review : DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

Thinking back, DHC’s Deep Cleansing Oil and I were doomed from the start. I ordered a bottle online which cracked during transit and leaked everywhere. Excellent. (I was sent a replacement pronto though) Little hiccup aside, I was quite looking forward to trying a Japanese oil cleanser. (Japanese!!) Shu Uemura’s cleansing oils have held the number one spot in Asia for fifty years, with one sold every seven seconds, and the Deep Cleansing Oil isn’t far behind with one bottle sold every 10 seconds worldwide. Pretty impressive eh? And whereas Shu Uemura cleansers are mineral oil based, DHC uses olive oil. And DHC is so much more affordable.

The ingredients are short and simple:

Olea europaea (olive) fruit oil - hydrating, rich in anti-oxidants (and non-fragrant)

Caprylic/capric triglyceride - moisturises and repairs the skin

Sorbeth-30 tetraoleate - a surfactant

Pentylene glycol - a solvent (removes excess sebum)

Phenoxyethanol - a preservative

Tocopherol - Vitamin E

Stearyl glycyrrhetinate - an anti-irritant

Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil - fragrant plant extract

I’ve only used one oil cleanser before and that’s Origins Clean Energy (reviewed here) and I thought it’d be handy to compare the two:

• Ingredients:  The top ingredient in both is olive oil. Clean Energy is a blend of oils, whereas Deep Cleaning Oil (DCO) is mainly olive oil and a surfactant for cleansing power.
• Fragrance: DCO is almost fragrant free (rosemary is at the bottom of the list so it'd be a small amount), whereas Clean Energy has loads of it in the form of fragrant essential oils - sweet orange, lemon, bergamot …
• Smell: I don’t recall Origins having any particular smell, but DCO has a distinctive plasticy smell… It’s a bit strange but not vomit inducing. 
• Packaging: DCO comes in a pump bottle. Thumps up for being hygienic and easy to use. Clean Energy also comes in a bottle but with the pump sold separately. On the plus side, that means you could change the cap and pack it in a suitcase (assuming you were willing to risk an oil spillage). DHC’s bottle isn’t sealable, and it didn’t survive transit in a courier service so I don’t even wanna imagine how it’d fare in a luggage hold.
• Price: DCO is £21.50/200ml, Clean Energy is £21/200ml plus £2 for the pump.
• How long does it last? A 200ml bottle of Clean Energy lasts about four months so I'd assume DCO goes for the same.

You use the Deep Cleansing Oil as you would any other oil cleanser: a couple of pumps into dry hands, massage, add water to emulsify and rinse off with a flannel. As part of the ‘cleansing process’, follow up with a second cleanser. It removes make-up etc. thoroughly and leaves the skin feeling nice and soft - no problems here. The reason I stopped using it is because it might have caused/exacerbated a Vesuvius of a breakout. (Read that lovely post here) The spots calmed down after I stopped using it so I thought ‘hey, must be the olive oil’. I recently tried a new cleansing butter and just a few days later I felt little nasties brewing under the surface of my skin. After the waxes and synthetics, there is was again: olive fruit oil. I thought it MUST be the olive oil … ‘Cept that little theory is defeated by Clean Energy - which contains olive oil :/ Very strange indeed.

So now I’m on the lookout for a reasonably priced cleanser free of olive oil and synthetics ... any suggestions?

Review: Origins Clean Energy Cleansing Oil

image from origins.co.uk because I give up on photographing reflective bottles

If I had been blogging long enough and had enough readers to use rewardstyle links and therefore so inclined to do a “Best of 2013” list of favourite products, this would definitely be on it. 

I first started using oil cleansers when I switched to Bare Minerals make-up and realised (much to my horror, because it took me a few days) that that sh*t does not come off easy. I washed my face three times over with my usual cream cleanser and it STILL didn't all come off! So I figured I'd go all hardcore and get an oil cleanser. Since I started using cleansing oils, the condition of my skin has improved hugely with spot outbreaks becoming less and less frequent. I can't imagine myself not using oil cleansers now - an essential product for anyone who uses suncream and/or foundation.

The Options:

I was going to go right ahead and buy from Shu Uemura, the king of oils, since he brought the trend to the West and all, but I'd never realised how expensive they are!! :o The classic comes in two sizes: £29.50/150ml or £59.00/450ml, which works out at £39.34/200ml or £26.22/200ml.

I'm willing to pay for a good product, but not this. Number one on the ingredients list is mineral oil. I know it’s quite en vogue to hate on mineral oil nowadays because it sits on the skin doing nothin'. (I avoid it like the plague because of Pond's Cold Cream) It's also a cheap ingredient - I’ll be darned if I’m paying £60 for a bottle!

So I decided to look at others. I googled "Japanese skincare in the UK" and came across DHC Deep Cleansing Oil which retails for £21.50/200ml at Selfridges. I don't have a logical explanation for not choosing this one. I thought it might be a bit gross because it's olive oil based - although I went and bought one with olive fruit oil.
 

The next brand I looked at was Origins. Their Clean Energy cleanser also contains olive fruit oil plus a mix of about 50 others. I checked the ingredients and reviews which both looked OK so I got it. It’s £21/200ml but rather annoyingly it doesn’t come with a pump (£2). So it’s really £23. I suppose this makes repurchase cheaper but seriously how much would it cost to make it with a pump? 
Anyhoo. On to the review:

{ Ingredients }
Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, PEG-25 Glyceryl Trioleate, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Aleurites Moluccana (Kukui) Seed Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Sweet Orange) Peel Oil, Lavandula Hybrida (Lavandin) Oil, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Oil, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Cedrus Atlantica (Cedarwood) Bark Oil, Pogostemon Cablin (Patchouli) Oil, Salvia Sclarea (Clary Sage) Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Pelargonium Graveolens (Geranium) Flower Oil, Fusanus Spicatus (Australian Sandalwood) Wood Oil, Amyris Balsamifera (Sandalwood) Bark Oil, Linalool, Limonene, Sorbitan Trioleate, Tocopheryl Acetate

I'll probably do this in every review, but I cannot emphasise the importance of checking ingredients enough!
So it's quite frustrating that Origins don't publish the ingredients on their website ... WHY!? Do you not want me to know what I'm buying?? Companies do themselves no favours by making you look elsewhere to find an ingredients list - I got it from Beautypedia, and its too bad for Origins that it receives a crappy review.
[Side note: the poor review is because of the supposedly irritating plant oils. I haven't experienced any problems though. Unless the irritation hasn't manifested itself on the surface of the skin? Who knows.]

The Good:

It does the job! Simply dispense 2-3 pumps into your hands and massage all over your face. (Don’t imagine it to be like slathering your face in cooking oil - it’s not gross like that at all.) Then wet your hands a little and massage your face summore and the oil emulsifies (it turns milky white). Rise off with warm water and voila! Full face of make-up, gone! I was expecting there to be an oily residue or greasy feeling (like Ultrabland - eurgh) but there was nothing! Just smooth soft skin. (Sidenote: I always double cleanse. Just to make sure my skin is clean)

There’s definitely been an improvement in my skin since I started using it. (FYI I have spot-prone skin, probably hormonal breakouts. Perfect clear skin as a teen, hit 20s and bam, skin turns to sh*t.) I’m not going to made big lofty claims about this being so amazing it will change your life. Frankly I don't believe any one product used alone can really do that for you. It makes a better cleansing routine, and I'd say my skincare routine is finally coming together to give me better skin. :)

The Bad:

The aforementioned lack of pump. But I forgive you Origins. At least I'll be able to pack it in a suitcase.

I’m not sure if the next two things are characteristic of oil cleansers or this one in particular (since I have no comparison).

-Consistency: I was expecting this be thicker (more like Bertolli) but it’s quite thin. Sometimes you feel like you need more product.

-Emulsification: I was expecting this to feel thicker (like milk - more food association). But then again what do I know. I could just be hungry.

I wouldn't say either is “bad” though.

The Final Say:

It works. The price is decent. Pump aside, my only qualm is with how long it lasted. Mine lasted around 4 months, I think. (?? Note to self, dig out the receipt) That might be the average for oils, but I'm use to using cream cleansers which last much, much longer.

It's not cheap, but it's still cheaper than most other oils. Compare it to these Japanese brands, for example:
Sensai Cleansing Oil, £40/150ml

SUQQU Reset Cleansing Oil, £33/150ml

RMK Cleansing Oil, £29/175ml

Shu Uemura Classic Cleansing Oil, £29.50/150ml or £59.00/450ml

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil, £21.50/200ml

For an equivalent 200ml bottle, these would cost:

£53.34 (Sensai)

£44.00 (SUQQU) (How on earth do you pronounce SUQQU? Su-Kyu? Sukotto?)

£33.14 (RMK)

£39.34 or £26.22 , depending on the size. (Shu-Chan)

Price wise the only comparable product is DHC. Why are there so few brands to choose from!? I'm patiently waiting for the cleansing oil to trend to hit like BBs did and I'll have dozens to choose from...
I’m quite keen to try out cleansing balms too. I have a few odd samples from Elemis and The Organic Pharmacy, which I’ll be trying out and reviewing soon :) Might even give the famous Eve Lom cleanser a whirl.

Celine