Cleansing Balm

[Hiiio]

Hey what is your favorite cleansing balm for taking of makeup that good for sensitive skin?

Spoiler

[tastelikewater]

For my oily, sensitive skin with mild rosacea, I use Clinique's Take the Day Off oil instead of the balm. There's an ingredient in the balm version that causes me to break out. During the sale I hope to pick up the Inkey List oat cleanser that WinglessOne recommends. 

[AngerinDoll]

I really love the CLINIQUE Take The Day Off™ Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm  one for no fuss removal. It gets rid of everything at the same time for me, but I don’t use heavy foundation or setting sprays, just to give you an idea

[SportyGirly125]

@Hiiio  Glow Recipe Papaya Sorbet Smoothing Enzyme Cleansing Balm & Makeup Remover 3.4 oz/ 100 mL  Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm

[faeriegirl]

@Hiiio  My favorites are Youth To The People Superberry Dream Cleansing Balm 3.4 oz/ 100 mL  and Glow Recipe Papaya Sorbet Smoothing Enzyme Cleansing Balm & Makeup Remover 3.4 oz/ 100 mL  

[kellyjiee]

Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm is the best so far

[elise222]

I really enjoy Glow Recipe Papaya Sorbet Smoothing Enzyme Cleansing Balm & Makeup Remover 3.4 oz/ 100 mL  and Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm 

I do have The INKEY List Oat Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm 5 oz/ 150 mL  and the price is appealing, but it's not quite as nice as the other two.

If you're willing to use a cleansing oil rather than a balm, Tatcha The Camellia Oil 2-in-1 Makeup Remover & Cleanser  is also really lovely!

[VicAmbush]

Mine Is same

[Kim888]

@Hiiio @My favorite is the Heimish balm! At Sephora my favorite is CLINIQUE Take The Day Off™ Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm  ! Clinique always tends to be good for sensitive skin!! It’s 

[WinglessOne]

Hey @Hiiio ! I have mostly-dry combo skin that's quite reactive/inflammation-prone and hates certain ingredients. I also have fairly sensitive eyes. Here are my 2 favorite cleansing balms: 

• The INKEY List Oat Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm 5 oz/ 150 mL  - bonus points for colloidal oats, a wonderful skin soothing ingredient. This balm occasionally separates in the tube, which is annoying but doesn't stop me from using it. I store it cap up to avoid leaks. It removes my eye makeup, including colored mascara, without too much rubbing and no eye irritation. Whenever my skin's in bad reaction mode, this becomes my nighttime cleanser; it's the only way I can wash my face with minimal pain in that scenario. I sometimes leave it on my skin for 5-10 minutes as an anti-inflammation mask. 
  
  
• Paula's Choice Omega + Complex Cleansing Balm 3.5 oz/ 104 mL - I've yet to have this one separate in the tube. Removes eye makeup but not as easily as The Inkey List's balm. (Eh, still gets the job done without too much effort.) Doesn't irritate my eyes or skin. If I need to wash my face in the morning (I often don't), I sometimes use this balm instead of a hydrating cream cleanser. 

CeraVe released a cleansing balm this year but I haven't tried it. A friend of mine loves it for her sensitive skin. 

I can't use Farmacy Green Clean on my face because it contains perfuming essential oils. (My facial skin hates those.) But I see they recently released a fragrance-free Farmacy Mini Clearly Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm 1.7 oz/ 50 mL which might not tick off my face—though my skin's iffy with papaya extract. Your results may vary. 

[greeneyedgirl107]

@WinglessOne do you find that fruit extracts are often skin irritants?  I've seen orange peel and other fruit extracts and have stayed away from them because I figured they would be irritating in a similar way to EO.  Would love to hear your thoughts!

[WinglessOne]

@greeneyedgirl107  There's one specific citrus fruit extract my skin's kinda okay with, but only if no other citrus fruit oils/extracts or fragrance components exist in the same product. And even then, I can't frequently use that ingredient. Really though, anyone whose skin hates orange peel oil, grapefruit oil (made from the peel), and other citrus oils should avoid the "[fruit] peel extract" version of orange and grapefruit. Those fruit peels do contain some oil. Some other fruit extracts—cherry, blueberry, acai, cucumber, apple, etc.—don't contain the fragrance components or (especially in limes) a UV-reactive chemical that causes burns. Still, it's possible to be skin-sensitive to nearly anything, so whether or not you avoid any fruit extracts depends on your particular skin's tolerance. 

Papaya contains an enzyme called papain that can exfoliate dead skin cells. That's why papaya extract's in a lot of enzyme exfoliant products. Papain can cause rather bad skin reactions in some folks. The amount that's in papayas might or might not be low enough to not trigger a reaction. Patch tests taught me my facial skin's not always cool with papaya extract, so I usually avoid it. 

[greeneyedgirl107]

@WinglessOne what wonderful information!  Thanks so much!!!  You're always such a great resource!  💕 💞 ♥️ 💜 

[gnomeee]

Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll have to check out the Inkey List balm. The oils in the Farmacy balms don’t bother me, but colloidal oat and a lower price tag sound appealing.