When it comes to cleansers, it’s no secret that for years my absolute favourite cleanser has been the Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm. I have spoke about it in many, many previous blog posts (such as my ‘Top 6 Winter Skincare Essentials‘ – which you can read here if you are interested). I had just never really found anything that even comes close to the Emma Hardie cleansing balm. However, I can’t quite believe that I am about to say this… BUT… I have found a cleanser that strongly competes with (and perhaps even beats) my beloved Emma Hardie Cleanser!!
The cleanser that I have recently discovered, and become completely and utterly obsessed with, is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. As the name suggests, it is a cleansing balm just like that Emma Hardie one. This gives it an immediate tick from me as blams are definitely my preferred choice of cleanser. I love balm cleansers for many reasons; they melt down into an oil, you can use them on dry skin, they remove your makeup and they feel extremely nourishing and gentle on my skin.
Ingredients
When purchasing any new product, the first thing I do is look at the ingredient list. Not that I understand exactly what it all means, but from experience I have a good idea at this stage what my skin does and doesn’t like. The active ingredients in the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm include:
- Mimosa and Rose waxes
- UK Starflower Oil
- UK Elderberry Seed Oil
- UK Optimega Oil
- Coconut
- Shea
- Sweet Almond Oil
- Padina Pavonica
- Vitamin E
The key ingredients are:
Elderberry Oil – which ‘contains high levels of Essential Fatty Acids and other micronutrients which are key elements of healthy skin. It is a natural source of anti-oxidants and helps nourish the skin by improving its natural moisture barrier. It has been shown to improve skin smoothness, firmness and elasticity.’
Sunflower Oil – which ‘is grown and pressed in the UK. It is the richest natural source of gamma linolenic acid which promotes good skin health by helping to maintain skin metabolism. It preserves the skin’s natural barrier to help prevent moisture loss.’
Padina Pavonica – which is ‘a unique Mediterranean algae with proven outstanding anti-aging benefits.’
Packaging
As with anything, the next thing that attracted me to the product was the packaging. The product comes in a round, 105g tub with a silver lid. The packaging has quite a simple but luxurious look and feel to it. Like the Emma Hardie one, however, it is quite chunky which doesn’t make it very convenient to travel with as it takes up a lot of space in my toiletries bag.
Scent
Again, like the Emma Hardie cleanser, the Elemis cleanser smells absolutely divine!! It has a very calming and relaxing essential oil / spa like scent, which I love to inhale as I massage the balm into my skin. It really feels like such a treat to use at the end of the day. The scent is very strong so if you are not a fan of heavily scented products then you may not enjoy this but, for me, the scent is one of my favorite things about using this cleanser.
Texture
The texture of the cleansing balm is much softer than the Emma Hardie one and it melts down into an oil very quickly. It has a very buttery consistency which makes it really easy to massage into your skin. Dan said that it looks like lemon sorbet and I have to agree with him lol, it really does look good enough to eat!
Effect On My Skin
I like to scoop out a coin sized amount of the product into my hands (even that is probably a bit too much tbh) and massage it into my face for a couple of minutes. It really does a great job of taking off my makeup, including mascara. However, I have read some reviews from people that have said that they found this product stingy on their eyes. I haven’t experienced that myself, but if you have sensitive eyes than you might want to remove your eye makeup with something else first.
Like I said, the balm melts into an oil almost as soon as it touches my skin, making it really easy to spread across my face, and a little really does go a long way. I feel as though this tub is lasting longer than my Emma Hardie one which I used to go through very quickly, despite coming in pretty much the same size of jar. The Elemis one is 105g and the Emma Hardie is 100g.
The cleanser comes with a washcloth (don’t you just love when you get a fresh new cloth with a cleanser?) and I run this under warm water before using it to remove the product from my face. Sometimes I like to make the cloth quite hot and just leave it sitting on my face for a minute and breath in the smell of the cleansing balm. The scent always heightens once I put the hot cloth on my face and it feels soooooo relaxing!!
After I wipe the cleanser off and pat my face dry, my skin feels very clean and soft. Sometimes cleansers can make my skin feel tight and dry after they strip my skin of it’s natural oils, but this is definitely not one of those cleansers. This one really makes my skin feel pampered, nourished and renewed which is exactly what I want after taking my makeup off in the evening.
Cost
The cleansing balm costs £43 for a 105g tub (including the washcloth) compared to £47 for the Emma Hardie cleansing balm, which is a 100g tub (and also includes a washcloth).
This is definitely not a cheap cleanser but I do think that it is worth the money. It is a very luxurious product which delivers great results and is a real pleasure to use. I really don’t have any complaints about this product and I will definitely repurchase it again in the future. I am completely sold on it!
I never thought that I would find a cleanser that I love as much as the Emma Hardie one but this one ticks all of the boxes. I can’t say that one is ‘way‘ better than the other as they are a very similar product in my opinion. They both smell amazing, have a similar texture, come in similar packaging with a cleansing cloth and are roughly the same price. If anything, I slightly prefer the smell of the Elemis one and it is £4 cheaper so maybe it wins overall, but I would happily use either of these cleansing balms. They are both amazing, but sometimes it is just nice to switch between products for a change.
If you are a fan of the Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm then I can guarantee you that you will also love the Elemis Pro Collagen Cleansing Balm! If you are on the look out for a new cleanser then I highly recommend giving this one a go.
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