There are many reasons to switch to the best cleansing balm instead of using harsher makeup removers like single-use makeup wipes (which are bad for the environment) or less thorough formulas such as micellar water. For starters, cleansing balms are better suited for dry skin types. “A balm is an effective option to remove dirt and oil without overly drying the skin,” says New York City-based dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD.
The same philosophy applies to cleansing oils but the choice of formula comes down to your preferences. Most cleansing balms emulsify into an oil as you massage them into your skin and add water. Cleansing balms are “a great first step for removing makeup [and sunscreen] before using a traditional cleanser to clean the pores out effectively,” explains board-certified dermatologist Arash Akhavan, MD, of the Dermatology and Laser Group in New York City. “Sometimes, for extremely dry skin such as with people suffering from eczema, a balm cleanser used alone may help prevent excessive drying for the patient.”
Application-wise, Mona Gohara, MD, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine, previously recommended massaging cleansing balms “three times around the face with gentle pressure.” For some, this process is a welcome departure from the vigorous scrubbing of years past. After a thorough massage, splash on some warm or cool (never hot) water or wet a clean linen cloth to gently wipe away the product. Complete your double-cleansing routine with a water-based face wash, and you’ll notice how much cleaner and revived your skin looks.
Best Overall: Then I Met You Living Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: Waterproof mascara and eyeliner can be nearly impossible to remove, but Then I Met You’s smooth-gliding, Best of Beauty-winning Living Cleansing Balm makes it seem like a breeze. Even after years of testing cleansing balms, this is still the golden standard as far as Allure commerce editor Sarah Han is concerned. “It melts into your skin like but-tah and immediately becomes this slick yet lightweight oil that is so relaxing to work into the skin,” she says. “Waterproof eye makeup — the ultimate test — breaks down and rinses away with ease.”
Best TikTok-Approved Pick: Juno & Co. Clean 10 Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: If you’re a regular consumer of beauty TikTok, chances are you’ve seen Juno & Co.’s Clean 10 Cleansing Balm make its rounds. (After all, Mikayla Nogueira — amongst other popular creators — has given it her stamp of approval.)
Best Texture: Saturday Skin Melt + Cleanse Makeup Melting Balm
Why It’s Worth It: This nourishing cleansing balm is a 2023 Best of Beauty Award winner (and a regular in the Allure Beauty Box), and for good reason. It starts with a smooth, buttery texture and converts into an oil the instant it hits your skin. So you get the powers of both a balm and an oil, with no residue or stubborn makeup left behind.
Best for Sensitive Skin: The Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: The Inkey List has been doing skin care right since day one, and its Oat Cleansing Balm is yet another great launch. Formulated with oat kernel oil to keep skin hydrated and 1% colloidal oatmeal to reduce redness, this luxurious formula will never strip your sensitive skin of moisture.
Best Skin Barrier-Boosting: Banila Co. Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm Original
Why It’s Worth It: The Banila Co. Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm is a K-beauty staple of ours and so popular with skin-care devotees that it’s offered in Clarifying, Nourishing, Original, Purifying, and Revitalizing versions to best conform to your skin-care needs. This three-in-one hybrid balm exfoliates, hydrates, and cleanses by removing makeup, dirt, and excess oil in one fell swoop. It also does a fantastic job maintaining the integrity of your skin barrier, thanks to a soothing blend of flower, root, and fruit extracts (like Barbados cherry, safflower, and much more).
Best for Oily Skin: Hanskin Pore Cleansing Balm PHA
Why It’s Worth It: Contrary to popular belief, those with sensitive skin — especially those who don’t tolerate chemical exfoliants as well — can indulge in daily use of skin-care acids. Spiked with gluconolactone, a common type of polyhydroxy acid (or PHA) that exfoliates while not penetrating as deeply as their AHA and BHA cousins, Hanskin’s Pore Cleansing Balm PHA is a good fit for all skin types. Even people who experience conditions like eczema or atopic rosacea are good fits since PHAs exfoliate, draw in moisture, and offer comparatively less irritation and photosensitivity.
Best for Dry Skin: Eadem Dew Dream Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: Eadem’s Dew Dream Cleansing Balm has a unique, jelly-to-oil texture that’ll successfully expel all traces of makeup, dirt, and sunscreen, without stripping your skin. While that might seem like a nearly impossible feat, direct your attention to the ingredient list, and you’ll understand.
Best Drugstore: E.L.F. Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: Ringing in at $11, E.L.F.’s Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm is one of the most affordable options on this list — but it easily pulls the weight of a cleanser that’s three times its price.
Best for Stubborn Makeup: Milk Makeup Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: Milk Makeup might be known for its Hydro Grip collection, which includes the Readers’ Choice Award-winning Hydro Grip Primer, but the brand has you covered on both ends of the beauty spectrum. Let us explain: While Hydro Grip ensures your makeup stays on all day, products like Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm cuts through the toughest makeup, grime, and SPF to leave you with a clean complexion before you hit the hay.
Best Clean Formula: Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: The combo of sunflower and ginger root oils in this balm-to-oil Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm absolves skin from dirt, oil, and pollution buildup, while papaya extract gently sloughs off dead skin cells. Together, they make one rock solid cleanser. (See what we did there?)
Best-Smelling: Youth to the People Superberry Dream Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: It’s not an overstatement to say that the Superberry Dream Cleansing Balm is skin-care sunshine and melts like, yes, a dream into your complexion. You might not always associate “hydration” with cleansing balms, but this one will flip that perception on its head. Youth to the People’s juicy, mango-scented formula is infused with moisture-boosting heavyweights like oil-soluble hyaluronic acid (in three molecular weights), jojoba seed oil, prickly pear, and vitamin C-rich moringa seed oil to condition your skin while you cleanse — and long after.
Best Luxury: True Botanicals Calm Ginger Turmeric Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: As part of True Botanicals’ Calm product family, which is both pregnancy-safe and geared towards soothing sensitive skin, the Ginger Turmeric Cleansing Balm — to no one’s surprise — results in pillowy soft skin. Not only does this glowy formula refuse to skimp on intensely moisturizing ingredients like sunflower, jojoba, argan, and cucumber oils (just to name a few), this vegan-friendly balm also employs azelaic and lactic acids to loosen dead, pore-clogging skin cells and kill acne-causing bacteria.
Best Exfoliating: Drunk Elephant Slaai Makeup-Melting Butter Cleanser
Why It’s Worth It: The Drunk Elephant Slaai Makeup-Melting Butter Cleanser is a 2019 Allure Best of Beauty winner for many reasons. Yes, this buttery balm removes makeup in a flash, but its gently resurfacing formula is what makes it really stand out.
Best for Mature Skin: Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm
Why It’s Worth It: Made with an impressive cocktail of botanicals like smoothing lavender and chamomile, the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm takes you straight to the spa. Warm a scoop between your palms, massage into your skin, then gently wipe away with a damp cloth.