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Today I’m going to be giving you my honest thoughts on one of the most popular cleansing balms of the moment, this is my The Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm review.
You’ve probably all heard of The Inkey List by now, the cult-favourite beauty brand that offers simple, effective products and budget prices. The Oat Cleansing Balm has become one of their most popular products, but is it worth it?
Keep reading to find out!
Introduction
I’ve seen a lot of people talk about this cleansing balm. Not only because The Inkey List is a super popular skincare brand at the moment, but also because this product is quite different from your regular cleansing balm – it’s in a squeezy tube and contains oat.
I’m a big fan of cleansing balms and of The Inkey List, so of course I picked up this product as soon as I could.
Why you should use a cleansing balm?
A cleansing balm is an oil-based product that you use as the first step of your skincare routine.
Cleansing balms are extremely effective at removing dirt, oil and makeup because of how rich they are.
It’s a super important step if you wear SPF (which you all should be!), or wear makeup as regular water-based cleansers aren’t as great at removing makeup.
What The Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm claims to do
“This luxurious cleansing balm gently dissolves make-up, cleans and nourishes the skin, making it ideal for sensitive skin types. Combining soothing colloidal oatmeal with ceramides to support skin’s natural protective barrier, it’s also formulated with oat kernel oil.”
https://uk.theinkeylist.com/products/oat-cleansing-balm
How do you use it
I take a small amount of product on my hand (pictured below) and massage into dry skin. Gently massage and you’ll see all your makeup start to come off.
I then take a damp cloth and remove with warm water.
You’ll want to make sure to follow up with a water-based cleanser that will get deep into your pores and clean the skin, something like the CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser or Krave Matcha Hydrating Cleanser.
If you don’t follow up with a water-based cleanser, the cleansing balm can clog your pores and lead to congestion and spots.
Who is it targeted towards
Anyone.
As this is a wash-off cleanser I can’t imagine anyone would have any issues with this product unless you’re allergic or react to a certain ingredient.
It will be particularly effective for people with sensitive or irritated skin as the oat is calming and soothing.
Ingredients
Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, PEG-6 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Oil, Candelilla Cera (Cire de candelilla), Silica, Sorbitan Stearate, Tribehenin, PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Flour, Aqua (Water/Eau), Benzyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Lecithin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopherol, Biosaccharide Gum-4, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil.
Price and availability
This product is extremely affordable at only £9.99 for 150ml and is available at the majority of online beauty retailers like Cult Beauty, Look Fantastic, Boots, ASOS etc.
Packaging
The packaging of this product is quite different from the normal jars/pots that you normally find cleansing balms housed in.
I like the packaging a lot as it’s easier to use and not as messy.
Texture
The texture of this is slightly gritty, which I think is down to the oats. It’s not necessarily exfoliating or harsh, but it doesn’t have that same smoothness that I’m used to with other cleansing balms.
I think to enable them to have the cleansing balm in the tube they had to make the texture a lot thinner than other cleansing balms, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get any product out of the tube.
Because of this the cleanser doesn’t feel as thick and luxurious, it leans more on the oily side.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that the texture is quite different for a lot of people and is not always consistent with day-to-day use.
Sometimes I’ll squeeze some product out and it will be extremely liquid and oily, and on another day it will be hard and firm.
This may be to do with the product separating slightly in the tube, or to do with the temperature, but it’s something I’ve noticed a lot of people mention.
Effectiveness
The most important thing in a cleansing balm is its ability to take your makeup off and, although this isn’t the worst cleansing balm, I wouldn’t say it’s the most effective.
The majority of the time this takes off all of my makeup, but I’ve noticed that when I use certain waterproof mascara, this cleanser doesn’t take everything off.
I think that if you don’t wear waterproof makeup you’ll have no problem with this cleanser, but be aware that if you do wear hard-to-remove makeup you might want a cleansing balm that’s a bit more heavy-duty.
Final thoughts
I really like this cleanserfor daily use. It’s easy to use and is good at removing every last trace of makeup – minus waterproof mascara.
It’s a great product for all skin types, and is the kind of product that I would happily recommend to anyone.
Even though it contains oat, an ingredient that’s great for irritated and sensitive skin, because it’s a wash-off cleanser I don’t think you’d notice any changes in your skin from using this product alone.
It’s the kind of product that won’t improve your skin, but also won’t make it any worse.
I personally won’t be rushing out to buy this product when I run out as there are other cleansing balms that I prefer.
Overall I’d give this cleansing balm a solid 8/10
Similar affordable cleansing balms
- Banila Co Clean it Zero Cleansing Balm (my all-time favourite)
- Heimish All Clean Balm
- Beauty Pie Plantastic Apricot Butter Cleansing Balm
- Versed Day Dissolve Cleansing Balm
What’s your favourite cleansing balm?
molly
