The most important step in any skincare routine or in any makeup is cleansing. You cannot achieve flawless makeup or an effective skincare product application over skin which is not clean deeply. That is why I am obsessed with trying different cleansing products, both oil and water-based. This time I tried the elf Mint Melt Minty Cooling Facial Cleanser (a.k.a. Elf Mint Face Cleanser). I am going to share with you how this product behaves on my skin.
What does the brand say?
A gentle foam cleanser that removes dirt and impurities, while leaving skin feeling minty fresh. [….] Gently melts away dirt, and impurities with this gentle foaming cleanser, ideal for daily use and most skin types. The rejuvenating formula gives off a cooling sensation while cleaning the face. Your complexion will feel so (minty) fresh and so clean.
elf Website
elf Mint Face Cleanser Features
- Gently cleanses skin with a frothy, foamy formula
- Washes away impurities
- Vanilla minty scent and cooling sensation
How to use it
With clean hands, splash water onto your face. Massage the foaming cleanser into your face and neck upward while avoiding the eyes. Rinse thoroughly with water and pat dry with a towel.
Ingredients
Water (Aqua), Potassium Cocoyl Glycinate, Glycerin, Sodium Lauroamphoacetate, Sodium Chloride, PEG-150 Distearate, Hydroxyethyl Urea, Phenoxyethanol, Epilobium Angustifolium Flower/Leaf/StemExtract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Water, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Water, Melissa Officinalis Flower/Leaf/Stem Water, Tocopheryl Acetate, Menthol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Sodium Metabisulfite, PPG-6-Decyltetradeceth-30, Caprylyl Glycol, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Trideceth-9, Propylene Glycol, Fragrance, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA
Price and availability
The product costs £8 ($9.43) and you can get it from the elf website if you are in the UK or from Walmart if you are based in the US.
My opinion about elf Mint Face Cleanser
About the packaging
The product comes in a pale green plastic bottle with a pump dispenser. This bottle has the information printed in white. This bottle contains 100 mL of product.
The bottle is closed with the screw cap pump dispenser. This pump is the same colour as the bottle. It also comes with a pale green transparent press-on cap to fully lock the pump dispenser. That cap is not very useful and I removed it after a couple of uses.
The pump dispenses a generous amount of product, enough to wash your face and neck with a single pump. It is not hard to press and mine was working fine all the time until I finished the product.
However, the pump dispenser does not allow you to use all the product contained in the bottle. I still have some amount of product that I cannot pump out. As I don’t want to waste the product, I am unscrewing the dispenser and using the remaining product as a liquid cleanser.
elf Mint Face Cleanser Texture and Smell
The product inside the bottle is a liquid but it comes out as a foam thanks to the pump dispenser. As I mentioned, the dispenser delivers the quantity needed for washing your face with a single pump. You get a completely white foam with, obviously, a foamy texture……
It is easy to use over wet skin and lathers well compared with other similar products. With this product, the foam will not disappear after rubbing a few minutes over the skin.
The scent is minty. I cannot feel, however, the vanilla scent mentioned by the brand. I can feel a chocolate scent rather than vanilla, but I prefer it as I hate the vanilla smell. The smell is quite deep but it is not persistent though. You can feel it while you are applying the product but it fully disappears after rinsing it off.
How does elf Mint Face Cleanser feel?
I think due to the foam texture of the product, it feels soft when you apply it. I know that the amount of foam or lather is not related to the cleansing power of a product, but I love the cleansing product which lathers well or foams over my skin. That makes me feel as if my skin is cleaner if the product foams. As a difference from other foaming cleansers, like the Holika Holika Foaming Cleanser (one of my favourite cleansers) which is a cream that foams over the skin, the elf Mint Facial Cleanser is already in a foam texture. That makes this product indicated for people with sensitive skin.
The product rinses off well with warm water and does not leave any residue. Therefore, you don’t need a long time under the tap to eliminate all the product from your face.
You can use this product with a face brush to get a deeper cleansing, but because of the characteristics of this product, I don’t recommend it. I prefer to use face brushes with other types of cleansers, such as cream-textured cleansers.
How does the skin feel after the application?
After using this product, my skin feels clean and fresh. I don’t get, however, the cooling sensation claimed by this product. I think because of the mint scent, the use of this product makes you get an uplifting mood from early morning.
Obviously, I never expect a cleanser to hydrate and moisturise the skin. I can never expect any treatment effect from a product that you keep on your face for a couple of minutes and rinse off. What I expect from a cleanser is that I don’t get a dry or tight feeling on my skin after using it. This product does not leave any of these feelings on my skin.
Despite the brand’s advice to avoid the eye area, I am using it all over my face, including the eyes. And not only that, but when I wash my face, I am already wearing my contact lenses. I should say that I don’t feel any in my eyes. They are not itchy, stinging or getting blurred vision (obviously I keep my eyes closed while washing my face).
About elf Mint Face Wash ingredients
In terms of the ingredient, the first point I would like to mention is that this product does not contain phthalates, parabens, triclosan, sulphates or alcohols, all of them considered polemic ingredients.
The formula contains a couple of humectant and moisturiser ingredients, like glycerin and urea, as well as an anti-oxidant ingredient, tocopheryl acetate, a vitamin E derivative.
We can also find in the composition a few plant extracts such as rosemary, peppermint and melissa, but they don’t mention the concentration of these extracts.
Summarising, this product does not contain harsh ingredients.
Overall product performance
This product is a cleanser so it cleans the skin and does its job. It is not giving you any other extra benefit, but as I say, it is a cleanser and you cannot expect that from this type of product. This cleanser removes dirt and impurity accumulated over my skin overnight (because of the minty smell I have been using as a morning cleanser) without leaving my skin dry or tight.
elf Mint Face Cleanser
Pros
- Affordable
- Gentle texture
- Cleans well
- Does not dry the skin
- It does not irritate my eyes
- Pleasant smell (if you like mint)
Cons
- You cannot pump all the product
- The smell if you don’t like the mint scent
- It may be discontinued
Do I recommend it?
If they don’t discontinue the product, I am sure I will repurchase it. I recommend this product for people with any skin type, but especially I recommend it to people with sensitive skin.
In summary, I like this product. It does its job and it is an affordable cleanser. It is vegan and cruelty-free and does not contain harsh chemicals. I don’t know how long that will be available, as it was part of a limited edition but it is still in stock after a long time. I hope they don’t discontinue it.
Do you like this type of cleanser? Are you going to try or did you already try it? Let me know in the comments.
Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
