Double cleansing is such an important keystone of an Asian Beauty routine but for the longest time, it just wasn’t working out for me. Oil cleaning was giving me acne and foam cleaning was drying my skin out. Go figure.

My first attempts at oil cleansing involved using Banila & Co’s Clean it Zero to double clean. This gave me comedones. My second attempt was using pure 100% mineral oil for OCM. This gave me cystic acne and comedones. Long story short, I eventually figured out products with mineral oil make me breakout. I feel like an anti-vaxxer saying anything negative about mineral oil so I want to clarify that I fully believe the science shows mineral oil as being very, very unlikely to be comedogenic on human skin. In fact, it was because I believed this science so much that it took me a ridiculously long time to recognize mineral oil might just be the culprit.

For a few months when I was recovering from really bad breakouts, I eliminated all oil cleansers from my routine and used Bioderma’s Crealine H2O Micelle Solution and Yes to Cucumber’s Gentle Milk Cleanser. It was only after I got my acne under control that I gathered the courage to give oil cleansers another shot.

Innisfree Apple Juicy Cleansing Oil

I picked this up in my last Koreadepart order. It comes in a convenient pump bottle and smells like caramel apple lollipops (remember those?!?). The scent completely rinses off, which is awesome, even though I’m strangely fond of the smell.

I like this oil quite a bit, although it definitely has flaws. The consistency is thick and I usually use 2-3 pumps to clean. 3 pumps is definitely excessive, but sometimes I do not get enough slip with 2. It does a good job removing makeup (more on that later), but takes more time and effort to fully rinse off than I would like. After using this oil, my skin definitely feels dried out, and I suspect the heavy rinsing is responsible for that.

This cleanser has not triggered any major breakouts, but I have seen an increase in whiteheads and blackheads. Although I am definitely not thrilled about these bumps, they’re no where near the severity of the outbreak triggered by Clean it zero or mineral oil. That is to say, this oil cleanser is a no-go for me, but I’m willing to continue giving this oil cleansing thing a try.

Ingredients are as follows, with cosdna acne triggers and irritants indicated:

Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Triethylhexanoin, Polyglyceryl-10 Dioleate, Hydrogenated Poly(c6-14 Olefin), PEG-8 Glyceryl Isostearate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Pentaerythrityl Tetraethylhexanoate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Cyclohexasiloxane, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract, Citrus Unshiu Peel Extract, Orchid Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Camellia Japonica Leaf Extract, Opuntia Coccinellifera Fruit Extract, Butylene Glycol, Fragrance

Yes to Cucumbers Gentle Milk Cleanser

Ok, I am cheating a little bit. This is not a foam cleanser, but I think it serves the same purpose. If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I have very dry skin. I used the ever so popular Hadalabo Gokujyn Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Foam, which is a really excellent, pH balanced (pH 5.5) cleanser. I don’t know if the rule that foaming cleansers are bad for dry skin is still valid when the cleanser is pH balanced (does anyone know this?), but out of curiosity I wanted to try a non-foaming cleanser to compare.

This gentle milk cleanser also comes in a plastic pump bottle. True to its name, it smells like cucumbers, although the scent is minimal. Sometimes I love the smell and sometimes I don’t care for it. Depends on my mood I guess.

Also true to its name, this cleanser is very gentle. People with sensitive skin, take note! I emailed the Yes to company, and they were kind enough to let me know the pH of this product ranges from 5.5 to 6.5. I would prefer it to have a consistent pH of 5.5, but I’m willing to accept this range.

As for comparing this with the Hada Labo cleanser, I do not find it to be any more or less drying. However, although the HL cleanser, which had been my go-to cleanser for such a long time, will always have a place in my heart, I admit I love this cleanser even more. It’s just super gentle, soothing, has great slip, rinses off really easily, and is not drying or irritating to my skin at all.

Ingredients are below, with cosdna identifying two fatty alcohols as acne triggers and irritants: 

Water, Decyl Glucoside, Lauryl Glucoside, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Isostearyl Palmitate, Stearic Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, Polyglyceryl-3 Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Sucrose Cocoate, Sorbitol, Citric Acid, Potassium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Xanthan Gum, Fragrance

Make Up Removal Test

As mentioned earlier, the Innisfree Juicy Apple Oil Cleanser does a great job removing makeup. In the picture below, I test its makeup-removal abilities on the left half of my arm, which has been marked with Etude House lipstick, TonyMoly eyeliner + shadow, Ellis Faas lipstick (side note: I’m a lipstick junkie and Ellis Faas lipsticks are everything), and the Amore Pacific cc cushion. I used a half pump on my arm (in the second picture you can see it sliding down my arm), and it removed everything except a very faint lipstick stain.

On the right side of my arm, I also test the Yes to Cucumbers cleanser. There are some reviews on amazon claiming it can remove makeup so I wanted to test it out. While it does a better job than some cleansers, it definitely leaves a mess.

Final thoughts: The Innisfree Apple Juicy Oil Cleanser has assuaged my fear of oil-cleansing, but I won’t be repurchasing due to the dryness and acne. The Yes to Cucumbers gentle milk cleanser has firmly earned its place (dethroning Hadalabo Gokujyn Hyaluronic Acid cleansing foam!) as my second cleanser.

	Innisfree Apple Juicy Cleansing Oil	Yes to Cucumbers Gentle Milk Cleanser
TEXTURE	3/5	5/5
EFFECTIVENESS	5/5	5/5
Fragrance	3/5	3/5
Price	5/5	5/5
Repurchase?	No	Yes!

I purchased the cleansing oil from Koreadepart (also available on Jolse, W2Beauty, and RRS) and the Yes to Cucumbers on Amazon (where it is cheaper than the $8.99 physical stores tend to list it for).