Cleansing Balms have become a cult beauty favourite in the community. Personally they are one of my favourite products and i really do prefer these over the Micellar Water craze (Which to be honest I still don't quite get the hype over.) which has been sweeping the beauty world.
So when i took the two best selling cleansing balms and decided to tell you which i prefer. I decided to weigh up the pro's and cons of both products and answer many questions about what I feel we all love and want from a cleansing balm. But before i do that, i want to describe each product and what i feel the differences about them are:
Emma Hardie - The Emma Hardie is a much softer balm, with a honey like colour tone to it. The idea of this balm is that you scoop a small amount onto your hand, warm this into your hands and then smooth this over the face, with massaging it over the face. With the hot cloth, you work this around the face, work this with your lines and help to work around with acne.
Clinque: This is a more oily balm, which is completely white. The idea is you rub the product onto your face, this turns from Solid to an oil texture and then this is easily then rinsed off the face.
Pro's Of Emma Hardie
- The product comes with it's own cloth.
- The balm is very easy to work into the face and melts very easily on the face.
- The balm has a slight soft but gritty like texture to it, to take unwanted make up.
- The hot cloth method really gives the feel of the spa like atmosphere.
- The smell is wonderful and extremely relaxing.
- This product i feel can be used in the bath when you having your me time.
- The cloth makes you change your wash cloth often as the cloth doesn't rinse well.
- Made from a Morgina plant, so it has a really natural product which can easily be grown and has anti oxidants in it.
- Promotes collegen renewal (It claims)
- Amazing for all skin types and brilliant in winter time.
Con's of Emma Hardie
- The cloth can easily stain, i have had a few now which i have had to throw because they look disgusting.
- The cloth isn't the best i have tried, i prefer cheaper ones from Boots.
- The packaging is such a waste, i don't get why it needs a huge box all the plastic outer casing around the gold part is unnecessary.
- I feel this product is best used when you have the time, when trying to use the product quickly it doesn't work so well because you need to really work and buff it to work it off the face.
- Not great on eye make up.
- Pricey at £36, for a lot of us, this is a real lux treat.
- I would use this as a secondary product and not as a first product, so you need to use something before using this.
- I feel this product temps you to use Micellar Water or a gel cleanser as the first step, which for me is a huge no.
Pro's of Clinique
- This product is great if you really need to quickly clean your face, as this is a quick, put it on your face and then rinse
- It's non scented, so very good for allergies.
- Amazing for all skin types - but more so for Dry skin types.
- Has plants oils in it which makes it more natural.
- A lot cheaper than the Emma Hardie one at £22.00
- More than the Emma Hardie, this can be used without the need of anything cleanser, it gets rid of literally everything of the face.
- It dissolves eye make up way faster than the Emma Hardie.
- You only need this product and not another to get rid of the face base.
Con's of Clinique
- It doesn't really promote collegen renewal and doesn't have anti-oxidants in it, so if you are wanting a balm with an extra part to it for skin repair you really would want to use the Emma Hardie one.
- You can't really tell that this product removes anything, i barely get any residue, i do and don't like this as you cannot tell when you have finished cleansing it into your face.
- It doesn't come with a cloth, can be a pro or a con I guess but for the price it would be nice as even the Liz Earl comes with a cloth at £28.00 for around the same ml.
- Sometimes for me if i don't use the right amount, the balm melts very quickly which makes it a little hard to put on the face sometimes as it can easily melt into you hand very fast.
For me both balm's are great, and it really is down to personal preference. For me i would use the Clinique first and use the Emma Hardie second when i have time to really give my skin that extra treat. For most people i would say the Clinqiue is better. If you have younger / non problem skin, there would be no need for the Emma Hardie product for you. If you have aging or problem skin, both of these i feel would be a top combination to have in your routine.
