Ren Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Balm

I recently finished a pot of Clinique’s Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm (reviewed here) so had the chance to break into a brand new tub of Ren’s Rosa Centifolia No. 1 Purity Cleansing Balm (what a mouthful!). I had heard about Ren skincare from the goddess of skincare, Caroline Hirons, so I purchased it during one of my last big cosmetic hauls. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and have enough info to compare and contrast to some of my favorites. Read on for my thoughts!

This balm looks very similar to its counterpart at Clinique, except it has a lovely rose fragrance. The texture is soft and smooth, much like vegetable shortening, but it does not feel greasy to the touch and removes easily from the face when using a wash cloth rinsed in very warm water.

I apply this to my face without any water and it almost immediately melts to an easily spreadable consistency (the Clinique melts faster), which I then massage into my facial skin, my eyebrows, eyelashes, eyelids, etc so that the day’s makeup dissolves. Then I wet the wash cloth with very warm to hot water and remove the balm and my makeup. After that, I follow up with a gently cleanser to remove the last bit of balm and makeup. In the two week’s I’ve been using this balm, I’ve yet to have any skin irritation or breakout. My skin isn’t particularly sensitive, though, so let’s look at the ingredients to see what’s in it.

Ingredients:

Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Cetearyl Ethyhexanoate, Glyceryl Cocoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Dibehenate, Tribehenin, Glyceryl Behenate, Butyrospermum Parkii Shea Butter , Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Parfum* (Fragrance), Rosa Centifolia Flower Extract, Cymbopogon Martini Oil, Viola Odorata Extract, Anthemis Nobilis (Chamomile) Flower Oil, Lecithin, Benzyl Alcohol, Oryzanol, Tocopherol, Citronellol, Geraniol, Eugenol, Linalool.

Ren’s cleansing balm contains an oil to dissolve makeup (the sweet almond oil---I use this myself as part of a homemade makeup remover that also includes castor oil), surfactants/emulsifiers (Glyceryl Cocoate and Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate), several fats, thickeners and esters that help with spreadability/texture of the balm, dilution of the active ingredients and moisturizing capabilities of the balm (Cetearyl Ethyhexanoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Dibehenate, Tribehenin, Glyceryl Behenate), moisturizing agents (Butyrospermum Parkii Shea Butter, Lecithin), a number of fragrance ingredients (Viola Odorata Extract, Cymbopogon Martini Oil, Citronellol, Eugenol, Linalool), antioxidants and antibacterial ingredients (Anthemis Nobilis, Oryzanol, Tocopherol---aka Vitamin E), and a preservative (Benzyl Alcohol---often used with fragrances, essential oils).

Several of these ingredients contribute to the rose scent. Those ingredients are: the Rosa Centifolia Flower Extract, the Cymbopogon Martini Oil (also known as Palmarosa oil), and Geraniol. Those with sensitive skin may want to keep an eye on the following fragrance ingredients which can cause skin sensitivities: Citronellol, Geraniol, Eugenol, and Linalool. Each one of these probably make up less than 1% of the formula so there’s not much in there. The product is not overly fragrant so I wouldn’t think it would be too irritating to those sensitive to fragrance.

Overall, I think Ren’s Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Balm is absolutely lovely and I enjoy using it. It does a great job at removing my makeup and rinses away easily with hot water. You can find this product at a number of sources for $48 for large 5.1 ounce tub (quite a bit more than the Clinique product and it smells beautiful!).

Click here to purchase it at Nordstrom.

Have you tried this product? What do you think?

Ages of Beauty rating: ****