Price: $36.96 CAD | $19.85 CAD
Size: 200 mL (full size) | 70 mL (travel size* pictured above)
Before my trip to Asia I went searching for popular Asian products and this cleansing oil from DHC came up a couple of times so I picked it up and tried it out -here is a my review. Please excuse the half used bottle in the photo above, I opened it to try the product while still in Asia and took the picture after I returned – rest assured the bottle does come filled.
CLEANSING OILS
Just a quick note if you are new to cleansing oils: cleansing oils have been around for a bit and sound scary to anyone who has oily skin or are in general just not a huge fan of oil. Simply put there are ‘good’ oils and then there are ‘bad’ oils. The bad oils, for example sebum, are the oils we do not want on our face. However, good oils, for example botanical oils, are the oils we want to add to our face. On our face we have both good and bad oils and when we wash our face with cleanser it washes away both and do not replace the skin with any good oils – leaving your skin feeling dry and striped. You know that squeaky clean feeling you feel after washing your face? Ye, THAT feeling is a face striped of oils, good and bad. This makes your skin feel imbalanced and your skin will produce oils (ie. sebum) to make up for the lack of hydration which in turn could produce acne and the dreaded oily skin. So to combat that from happening, cleansing oils were created to be the saving grace! When you use a cleansing oil the dirt and bad oils are pulled from the skin while keeping the skin hydrated which will keep the skin from feeling the need to produce sebum to re-hydrate it. Now you might think – can a regular oil like baby oil do the same? Yes and no, the baby oil will work to break down the makeup and dirt however, because of the properties in the specific oil it will actually block and clog your pores. This could make it difficult for your skin to breath and that may cause breakouts. So if you are going to venture into the world of OIL COSMETICS make sure you do your research and look into which type of oils are best for your own skin. There are a lot of types out there and they have made oils geared for dry, oily, normal, acne prone, and so on so definitely do your research.
PACKAGING
DHC is a middle range brand so their packaging will be judged accordingly. The cleansing oil (travel size) came in a hand sized, clear plastic bottle, with a simple pump and cap. The label and look are relatively clean and basic like their brand. Functionally, I had no issues with the pump or cap however it was really nothing special, for some reason I expected them to have better packaging as many Japanese brands put lots of effort into the look and function of their products. Overall, the packaging worked fine and I had no trouble at all however, it did not really wow me in any way.
PRODUCT
To preface this section – I will break down what I usually look for in a cleansing oil.
1. The cleanser should be able to break down makeup with 1-2 pumps
2. The cleanser should leave my skin feeling hydrated and plump but NOT greasy
3. The cleanser should NOT clog my pores
The DHC cleansing oil was light weight and the texture was similar to many other cleansing oils that I have tried. Firstly, it worked to break down simple day to day makeup with roughly 2-3 pumps however anything heavier (ie. instagram makeup) and more water resistant products would require a couple more pumps. Secondly, the cleanser did leave my skin hydrated however, I wanted it to feel a little bit more plump and refreshed. My skin usually feels clean and plump after cleansing oils, however, it did not give me that same level of fresh and clean feel. I did go over my face with a toner and could see that the cleansing oil did a good job, it just did not give my skin that clean feeling. Lastly, the cleanser did not clog my pores, however I feel like it did little to help me clean out my pores, so I ended up using a pore clearing cleanser after the cleansing oil just to make sure there was no build up of dirt in my pores which could lead to break outs. Overall, the cleansing oil did do its job however, if I am comparing it to the others that I have tried – and they perform relatively the same. If the price was a little cheaper I would not mind repurchasing the product, however I can get a similarly performing product for a cheaper price so it just would not make sense to repurchase this one. If you are a fan of DHC products and you use their other products and are looking to add this one into the mix it definitely is not a disappointing product, I personally just feel like it did not do much more than other ones that I have tried. Personally for a product that is marketed to be a DEEP cleansing oil I would expect it to clean out my pores a little better.
Side note: it is important to apply the cleansing oil to your DRY face and massage the product in to break down the makeup and dirt. Then you slowly incorporate water and massage till the product turns into a milky consistency and then you can rinse it away. It will not work as well if you use it like a regular foam cleanser.
– SL.
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