Olay Nourishing Cleansing Balm Review

I am always looking for new products to try, I love to discover new MUST-HAVE from a new collection or maybe something which has been in the market for years and it’s a cult product. You never know what you can find. This time I tried the cleanser that I am going to review today. It is from Olay and it is the Olay Nourishing Cleansing Balm for dry skin. Let’s go to the review.

Olay Nourishing Cleansing Balm

Olay Nourishing Cleansing Balm cleanses skin from impurities, dirt and pollution, melts away makeup and deeply nourishes and hydrates skin. Its special formula leaves skin feeling soft and supple.

It’s a face wash designed with a creamy texture that emulsifies in water, for a refreshing yet nourishing cleanse.

Specially designed for dry skins. Enriched with vitamins E and B3, pro-vitamin B5 and caring oils.

From the Olay website.

What the brand claims

• Cleanse skin from impurities, dirt and pollution

• Melts away makeup

• Deeply nourishes and hydrates skin leaving it soft and supple, preventing tightness and discomfort.

• With vitamins E and B3, pro-vitamin B5 and cleansing oils

• No dryness or tightness. Won’t clog pores

How to use

Massage gently onto wet face and neck. Rinse thoroughly. Avoid contact with eyes. If contact occurs, rinse thoroughly with water.

Ingredients

Aqua, Isopropyl Palmitate, Glycerin, Petrolatum, Cetyl Betaine, Tocopheryl Acetate, Panthenol, BHT, Dimethicone, Paraffinum Liquidum, Caprylyl Glycol, Dimethiconol, Niacinamide, Steareth-21, Steareth-2, Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Chloride, Carbomer, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Decyl Glucoside, 1.2-Hexanediol, Alcohol, Pentadecalactone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Parfum, Benzyl Salicylate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone

Price and availability

It is widely available. In the UK, you can buy it from any supermarket, drugstore or online beauty retail. It is affordable, the price is around £4 for 150 mL.

My expereince

The product comes in a squeeze tube with a flip-top cap, which has a nozzle to deliver the right amount of product. The tube’s design is elegant and shows information about the product. The front shows featured ingredients and skin type thought for and in the back, there is a small description of the product, the brand’s claims, how to use and INCI.

The tube contains 150 mL of product. The cap is made on white plastic and the nozzle delivers the precise amount of cream. I was using it once a day, five days a week for three months.

The cleanser is white, with a soft smell and light, runny and creamy consistency. You don’t need a huge amount to wash all your face. You can see how is the product in the video below.

I originally bought it to use as a first step of the double cleanse. I was using another cleansing balm, and the name of this product, “Nourishing Cleansing Balm”, attracted me. My skin is dry and all that is hydrating and nourishing call quickly my attention. It is described as a cleansing balm and I thought it was that, a cleansing balm. However, I tried as the first step of the double cleanser but it didn’t work. I felt it was more a cleansing milk texture than a cleansing balm and, like a balm, it didn’t eliminate my makeup at all.

I decided to give it a second opportunity as the second cleanser. I used a proper cleansing balm to eliminate my makeup and then I used this Olay one. And it worked like that. I dispensed a pound coin size amount of product on my hand, add some water and rub a bit. The product formed an emulsion, which I applied on my face, massage gently and rinsed with water.

There is something I don’t like about this product and it is that it doesn’t lather. That may not be very important or neither an inconvenient for you, but I like foaming products. I love to feel my face full of bubbles and that didn’t happen with this product. My skin was indeed clean, but not as clean as I find it with other cleansers. I didn’t feel my skin tight or dry, but also I didn’t feel it especially nourished. I find this product in the middle way in so many aspects. 

Conclusion

I don’t understand why the product is called cleansing “Balm” when is more like cleansing milk or cream. That leads to confusions as happened with me. I was looking for a balm and I bought cleansing milk, which normally I shouldn’t buy. It is something really disappointed as I felt cheated by Olay.

Independently of that, and judging the product by itself and not by the name, I found it a quite normal product. 

Does it clean the skin? Yes.

Does it leave the skin tight? No

Does it clean better than other products and leave skin nourished? No

What I mean by that is that the product does the job, but there are many other available, affordable and high ends, which are so much better than this one in terms of how they clean and how they nourish the skin.

✅ PROS

• Widely available

• Affordable

• Doesn’t dry the skin

• Cleans the skin

❎ CONS

• It is not a balm

• Doesn’t melt away my makeup

• Doesn’t nourish my skin though it doesn’t leave a dry feeling

• Doesn’t lather

❔ Will I re-purchase again?

Definitely NO. I bought is to see if it was a good alternative to my favourite cleansing balm, which you cannot buy in every shop, but it is miles away from it. Even for less than £4, I will not buy it anymore.