Skincare Chat: My Current Favorite Facial Cleansers

I love a good cleanser, one that cleanses my face without leaving it feeling tight.  At the same time, I don’t like anything that leaves a film on my skin after rinsing as I just don’t feel “clean”.  My usual routine includes a foaming cleanser in the morning when I wake up, and an oil or balm cleanser followed by another foaming cleanser in the evening.  Practically speaking, I think 1 good cleanser works for both day and night, but just for the fun of it, I sometimes reach for different ones depending on my mood.  Cleansers are generally easy to play around with as they don’t stay on the skin long enough to really irritate my skin (of course some overly harsh ones do).  In any case, I had accumulated quite a handful of different cleansers lately, and I love each of them for different reasons, so thought it’d be fun to have a chat about them!

Above from left to right: 3Lab Perfect Cleansing Emulsion, Radical Skincare Hydrating Cleanser, Shu Uemura Oleo:Moist Skin Purifier, DrGL Lightening Cleanser, Biotherm Biosource Hydrating Cleanser, Cle de Peau Synactif Soap

3Lab Perfect Cleansing Emulsion* is a lightweight milky cleanser that removes light makeup (including eye) and other impurities.  It contains some nice skin-loving ingredients such as Jojoba Oil, Squalene, Vitamin A and Vitamin E, and can be very soothing for those with irritated or very sensitive skin.  However, typical of such milky cleansers, I found it leaves an oily film over my skin and I need to follow up with a foaming cleanser.

Radical Skincare Hydrating Cleanser* is a fluid cleanser that is able to remove makeup, cleanse and tone the skin.  The texture is more akin to a very light fluid moisturizer, goes on very smoothly and does not foam at all.  At the same time, it does not leave an oily film on my skin after rinsing, and for the first time I don’t feel the need to double cleanse!  Just to be sure, I swept a toner-saturated cotton pad across my skin afterwards, and it came off clear indicating perfectly cleaned skin.  This cleanser contains Tangerine Oil that gently tones and balances the skin so a separate toner is not necessary, and the Radical Skincare collection does not include a toner at all.  I love this for nights when I’m feeling particularly tired or lazy, and just want to climb into bed as soon as I can!

Shu Uemura Oleo:Moist* is a new, innovative cleanser that has been fondly referred to as Shu Uemura’s latest baby oil.  It is actually a gel containing tiny beads of encapsulated oil that gently exfoliates when massaged, and breaks open to remove makeup and impurities from the skin.  When you are done, simply rinse off as usual.  It does leave a slight film over my skin, but nothing as uncomfortable as an actual full-on oil cleanser, and I can get by with a good toner afterwards.  However, I found it does not remove heavy makeup completely, so I reserve this for days when I have been out for just a couple of hours with tinted sunscreen and need to cleanse and re-apply makeup before heading out again.

DrGL Lightening Cleanser* is an interesting watery cleanser that is very pleasant to use as it neither feels oily nor makes my skin feel tight.  It does foam but not overly much, and rinses off easily.  Apart from cleansing the skin, it also contains Vitamin C to fight photoaging, and antioxidants to prevent premature aging.  Although I’m not personally convinced that a product that is rinsed off within seconds is able to make lasting changes to the skin’s health.  Nonetheless, I really enjoy using this in the mornings.

Biotherm Biosource Hydrating Cleanser* is a classic foaming cleanser that lathers up nicely.  As with all Biotherm products, it contains thermal plankton which has skin conditioning effects.  It is also formulated with minerals such as Zinc which known for balancing skin’s moisture.  Although it is designed for normal to combination skin, it never left my skin feeling stripped of its natural oils even though I have dehydrated skin.  I like using this as a double cleanse following an oil-based makeup remover in the evenings, before loading up on all my pampering skincare.

Cle de Peau Synactif Soap is interesting because it brings the traditional bar soap back into our routines and elevates it to a luxury experience.  I found there was a learning curve to using this, as it does not lather well on its own and any attempts at trying to foam it up between the hands or even swiping it on the face resulted in too much product being used and left my skin feeling dry.  One day, I found a lather net which seems to be an everyday household item, and it made all the difference!  I simply passed the soap through the damp lather net a couple of times, then rubbed the net between my palms to create palmful of foam that I then applied to my face.  The Japanese favour this method of cleansing as it does not require tugging on the skin unnecessarily, and I found it created the perfect luxuriating lather without drying out my skin.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about the 6 different cleansers that I currently have on rotation.  There are simply too many here for me to do my usual full-on review, but I hope I have given you enough to get a good sense of each of them.  If there is anything that you would like to know more about, please feel free to drop me a note in the comment section below.  I am still trying to catch up on my replies to you, so if you need anything urgently, feel free to leave me a note over on Instagram as I check that on my mobile more often.

Are there any here that interests you?  Do you switch up your cleansers from time to time, or do you have a HG to recommend?

_{This post featured some products (marked with *) that were kindly provided for my consideration.  Regardless, all opinions expressed here are my own honest, unbiased views.}