If I had a dollar every time I stumbled upon yet another beauty YouTuber or blogger raving about this, I’d have enough to buy myself a pretty nice bag. While I didn’t get myself that bag, I did get a jar of this to try out to see what the fuss was about.
I’ve been meaning to get the Emma Hardie cleansing balm for almost a year now but I didn’t get around to it because its retail price was AU$72 which is a whopper for a cleanser. Luckily, Feel Unique had a sale going on for Emma Hardie cleansing balms a couple of months ago and I managed to score mine at 50% off.
Whee! 😀
Shipping to Australia took somewhat longer than I expected and while waiting for the order to arrive, I had the chance to try out the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. When the Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm finally arrived, I quickly tried it out and I have to say, it’s pretty darn similar to the Elemis cleansing balm!
The texture of the balm is exactly the same as Elemis’. It’s hard to the touch when you start using it but after a while, the balm softens to the touch. As I’m the only one using the cleansing balm, I didn’t bother with a spatula and just used my finger to swirl around the balm to pick up the product.
The cleansing balm also comes with a face cloth. It’s not your typical face washers; it’s two types of cloths in one where you have muslin on one side and a microfibre towel on the other. Even though it’s quite a fancy towel, personally, I still prefer regular terrycloth face washers for the cleansing balm.
This cleanses my face well and leaves it soft to the touch. As I do use the hot cloth method with the cleansing balm instead of just emulsifying with water, it doesn’t leave any greasy residue on my skin after I’ve removed the balm with a wash cloth. However, if I just wash it off with water, then it does leave a hint of greasiness on the skin. Either way, it doesn’t bother me because I still double-cleanse with a separate cleanser.
The only thing I don’t like about the cleansing balm is the scent. I’ve not used any other moringa-scented products but to me, this smells like jasmine and I’m not a fan of jasmine at all. It’s not very strong that it’s overpowering but it’s not very pleasant for me.
The Emma Hardie cleansing balm is incredibly similar to the Elemis cleansing balm so if I had to choose one over the other, I’d pick the Elemis cleansing balm mainly because it smells a lot better. Other than that, performance-wise, they’re practically the same. If you’re wondering which one to get, I’d say choose whichever one’s cheaper. In this case, when comparing retail prices, the Emma Hardie one is slightly cheaper per ml (the Elemis cleansing balm is AU$89 for 105g). However, if the Elemis one does go on sale, then get that one instead because it really does smell quite lovely.
Emma Hardie’s Amazing Face Moringa Cleansing Balm retails at AU$72 for 100ml and is available at Feel Unique. At the time of writing, if you purchase a full-sized 100ml jar of the cleansing balm, you’ll get a 15ml travel-sized jar for free!
What I like about it: Cleanses my skin well, doesn’t leave any greasy residue on my skin when used with a hot cloth, leaves my skin smooth and soft after use.
What I do not like about it: Not a fan of the moringa scent, leaves a tiny bit of oil on the skin when just washed off with water, pricey for a cleanser.
I’ve never seen anything like that cleansing balm. so unique. Wish we had the brand here, but at that price, it’s better that we don’t 😉 (PS I don’t like jasmine scent either)
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Yay glad to know someone who doesn’t like jasmine scents either. A lot of people I know love the scent. Me, not so much. Hahaha yeah I know what you mean. Easy to fall in love with a product, hard to have to keep up with the love. 😛
Hi Tine! These both sound lovely. I have been wanting to try the Antipodes cleansing balm but Priceline has been out of stock the last few times it has been on sale. This is probably telling me something 🙂 Have you tried the Antipodes cleansing balm?
Yes I have! I reviewed it here: http://www.beautyholicsanonymous.com/2013/12/falling-in-love-with-cleansing-balms-eve-lom-and-antipodes/. I prefer the Emma Hardie one to the Antipodes cleansing balm but on its own, the Antipodes one is good too and definitely cheaper. This is one of Antipodes’ bestsellers, it’s no wonder why it’s always sold out at Priceline. I couldn’t find mine in Priceline either. I had to get it from MYER. No discount there. Blast.
Thanks Tine, I think I need to try the Antipodes Cleansing Balm 🙂
Hi Tine,
As soon as I saw your post title on Twitter. I rushed here right away. I LOVE Emma Hardie. I am on my second tub. You got it for half price? Please let us know next time they have a sale? Thanks Hun x
I have to try the Elemis one once I finish my Emma Hardie. Have you tried Neal’s Yard cleansing balm? I don’t like that one much. Too waxy for my liking. Alpha H does cleansing oil which is pretty much a balm, it’s not bad too. Sorry getting a bit too excited about cleansing balm here but I am really into them at the moment in case you didn’t notice ^_^
Thanks for the review:)
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My pleasure, Grace! Sure thing, I’ll definitely keep a lookout for more sales from Feel Unique and send out a tweet and a Facebook update status if it goes on sale again. I was very lucky to have hit the right moment when they were selling this at half price. I thought I hit the jackpot! 😛
I’m afraid I’ve not tried anything from Neal’s Yard although I’ve heard great things about the brand. Hahaha no worries at all, I totally get the excitement! 😀
Do you prefer this compared to Eve Lom?
Actually, I do. While Eve Lom’s cleanser is very good, it does have small scrubby bits that can be a hassle to remove. Not that it’s a huge inconvenience, but compared to the Emma Hardie cleanser, I prefer the latter.
Caroline Hirons and a lot of British bloggers raves about this. Not sure if I can tolerate the smell of Jasmine because I prefer if the balm was unscented. Glad you got a chance to finally try it 🙂
If you like unscented balms, I highly recommend Clinique’s Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm. In fact, I reckon you’ll prefer it to any of the hot cloth cleansing balms because you can even use the balm without a hot cloth! Great for travelling too. Don’t have to bring along cleansing oils and worry about them spilling all over your toiletries bag. 😉