Elemis Pro Collagen Cleansing Balm to remove make up – my honest and disappointing review

Summary: loved initially but made my acne-flare up – would not recommend for oily skin (continuing to use on eyes only)

Of course I was influenced on tiktok to buy this – it was on offer, so I jumped at the chance to pay £15 for 50ml (it’s usually £27). I’ve been using The Body Shop’s camomile cleansing butter for years so fancied changing up what I use to remove make up at the end of the day.

I’ve got to be very careful with things like this, as I find they’re very thick and oily – the worst combo for my already-very oily skin. It has amazing reviews and is “for all skin types” so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

My first thoughts

The smell is amazing. I’ve visited a few spas and it completely took me back. It’s such a heavenly smell – clean, fresh and high-quality.

You only need a pea-sized amount to get a full face of heavy makeup off, including waterproof mascara. I can completely agree with this – it takes off everything including eyebrow wax, mascara plus heavy foundation concealer & blush. I pair it with my Face Halo reusable pad, that I’ve been using for years.

Afterwards my skin feels gorgeous – glowing, smelling amazing but most importantly, free from makeup & rubbish from the day. It didn’t leave my skin feeling greasy or even the day afterwards, like some do.

Acne flare up

Unfortunately a few days after using this, I started getting acne at the sides of my face, chin & forehead. Nothing else in my routine changed; I didn’t have any different foods, or used anything else different on my face. I used clean Face Halo pads & changed my sheets/pillow cases with normal detergent. I had also cleaned my brushes during this time too – with my usual method, using the product ISOClean. This week is the week following my period, when I’d normally have glowing skin. I’m not sure what’s happened although after looking at the ingredients, it contains several oils – not ideal for me with oily skin.

Ingredients

The full ingredients list is on the elemis website. It includes several that aggravate fungal acne which is what I suffer from occasionally. I nearly ALWAYS use skincarisma.com to check the ingredients of products before I purchase – I didn’t on this occasion (note to self: don’t buy on a whim and investigate properly!!!)

Unfortunately the Elemis cleansing balm contains several ingredients that aren’t safe when it comes to fungal acne, especially oil:

• Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil (also bad for oily skin)
• Sorbitan Stearate
• Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil (also bad for oily skin)
• Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter (also bad for oily skin)
• Borago Officinalis Seed Oil
• Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil (also bad for oily skin)
• Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil
• Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil

See the full list of ingredients here on Skincarisma.com.

If you have oily skin or suffer with fungal acne, I definitely would not recommend this product. Unfortunately I don’t be using due to my skin flaring up up. It worked in the sense it got my makeup off and made my skin feel wonderful after using, but unfortunately the days that followed I had to stop using it.

Update: 27 Oct’22: I’m still using the balm but only on my eyes to remove mascara. I don’t want to use it on my skin again as it flared up my acne massively.