Cleansing Balm comparison – banila co. Clean it Zero Purity vs. Clinique take the day off

I love a good cleansing balm for removing makeup – a lot of cleansing oils don’t cope this well with waterproof mascara and lip stains, but cleansing oils have never let me down. They’re also quite convenient for travel – scoop a little bit into a container and take it with you. You don’t need to be afraid of leakage like with cleansing oils. So, all in all, super convenient and effective. Here’s the big Cleansing Balm comparison – banila co. Clean it Zero Purity vs. Clinique take the day off.

For ages, I went through tub after tub of Clinique’s cleansing balm. It has a cult following, and rightly so. But then, I went to Seoul, the skincare capital of the world, where banila co.’s cleansing balm ALSO has a cult following, so down the rabbit hole I went. After using both for some time, I’m ready for a comparison post!

 

How to

You all know this already, I guess, but use a small amount of cleansing balm, spread it over your face and massage it in and feel the balm turn into a smooth oil. Then add some water to emulsify, rinse with water and dry. For my eye makeup, I usually use a damp cotton round to remove after I massaged it in with my fingers.

 

The deeds

Clinique take the day off cleansing balm

• 125ml/3,8 fl.oz. for circa $30, made in Japan (Sephora)
• This has a very short ingredient list (less ingredients you could react to, very good!)
• It’s formulated without any nasties, there’s neither fragrance nor alcohol in it
• There’s some Tocopherol (a strong anti-oxidans, Vitamin E derivate) added toward the end of the ingredient list, nice, but likely without huge consequence

• The balm’s texture is very firm, you’ve to warm it up a bit, which is actually a pita in the colder months
• It sometimes stings when it gets into the eyes
• Removes ordinary makeup well, sometimes waterproof eye makeup is quite hard to totally remove and it’ll leave you with panda eyes
• Doesn’t emulsify easily with water, leaves a very oily film on my skin

banila co. Clean it Zero Purity

• 100ml/2,38 fl.oz. for circa $25 (Sokoglam, Peach & Lily), when you buy it in Korea it’s closer to $16, made in Korea
• Comes with a stopper and spatula
• banila co. actually makes three variants of the Clean it Zero balm, Purity is geared towards sensitive skin (others are the regular Clean it Zero, Clean it Zero Resveratrol for oily/combination skin and Clean it Zero Radiance for dry and dull skin)

• While this balm is geared towards sensitive skin, it actually has various flower and fruit extracts in it that are potentially irritating and a rather long ingredient list
• Especially the added citrus peel oils aren’t great for sensitive skin, but it hasn’t added fragrance or alcohol
• The texture is divine – it’s really silky and sorbet-like like advertised: soft and super emollient, a joy to use
• It also stings sometimes when I remove my eye makeup
• It removes all makeup, including waterproof formulas, perfectly

 

Cleansing Balm comparison – banila co. Clean it Zero Purity vs. Clinique take the day off: Which one does it better?

I love clinique’s formula, but not its harder texture. Especially when removing stubborn eye makeup (and Japanese mascara, cough), it resulted quite often in the loss of some lashes (nooooooooo!). I never experienced that with banila’s balm. I believe that both are fairly easy available, depending, of course, where you are in the world. Price-wise, while banila co. is a bit cheaper, Clinique is of course has the advantage that nearly all over the world you can pop into a store and test it. Banila co., instead, you’ve to order online more often that not. While I love banila co.’s Purity balm, next time I’ll go for the Radiance one which is formulated a bit differently (shorter ingredient list, less plant extracts, but based on mineral oil).

So, I guess if you’ve truly sensitive skin, Clinique is the better option of the two, if not, I feel the advantages of the banila co. balm outweights the disadvantages.