Cleansing Balm Review: Take The Day Off by Clinique

Clinique is a well-known brand with good quality products. I got the Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm as part of one of my subscription boxes and I tried it because I wanted to review and share my opinion with you.

I am a big fan of double cleansing and my favourite type of product for the first step of this process are cleansing balms. What was my experience with Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm? Will I buy it again?

What the brand says about Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm

Cleanse and purify your skin with the Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm. Equipped with a unique and innovative texture, the cleverly designed cleanser turns from a balm to oil when rubbed into your skin, drenching your base in moisture as it purifies.

The potent yet kind-to-skin cleansing balm effortlessly dissolves any trace of makeup, minimising the appearance of enlarged pores and limiting the risk of breakouts and blemishes. A totally clean base is essential when it comes to maintaining brightness and a clear complexion, which is why the cleanser is enriched with Safflower Seed Oil to effectively break down tough, hard-to-remove makeup and excess oil produced by your skin. The rich, velvety texture of the balm creates a protective barrier against harsh external aggressors, locking in moisture and reducing the risk of dryness and tightness. Your skin deserves the best, so never compromise when it comes to cleansing.

Clinique website

Features

• Lightweight makeup remover quickly dissolves tenacious eye and face makeup and sunscreen.
• Transforms from a solid balm into a silky oil upon application.
• Cleans thoroughly, rinses off completely.
• Gently helps remove the stress of pollution so skin looks younger for longer.
• Non-greasy.
• Non-drying.
• Works well with cleansing cloths and muslin cloths.
• All skin types.

How to use Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm

1. Use fingertips to massage balm over dry skin.
2. Rinse well with warm water.
3. Pat dry.

Ingredients

Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Sorbeth-30 Tetraoleate, Polyethylene, Peg-5 Glyceryl Triisostearate, Water\Aqua\Eau, Tocopherol, Phenoxyethanol <ILN30654>

Price and availability

This product is widely available in most drugstores and beauty online retails, like Lookfantastic. It is available in two different sizes, 125 mL and 30 mL. The price is around £25 for the 125 mL and £10 for the 30 mL size.

My experience using Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm

How the product looks like

Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm comes in a pretty pot. This pot is plastic pale violet with a screw cap in silver colour. It is a nice pot to decorate your bathroom. The front part of the pot shows the name of the brand and product printed in silver letters. At the back of the pot is displayed what the product is in different languages, the INCI, the address of the producer and other legal requirements, all in silver letters.

Inside, there is a white butter, solid at room temperature, which becomes an oil when it is in contact with the skin. The balm is almost odourless and has a very soft texture.

There is no spatula included with the product and, therefore, you should take the product with your fingers or with your own spatula. The pot is quite deep so, consequently, when the product is almost finished, it is not easy to reach the bottom with your fingers and, therefore, you end with your hand full of balm, what is a real mess.

How do I use this cleansing balm

The way I use it follows what their use advises. I take a nut-size of the product with my fingers and deposit it on my hands. After rubbing it for a few seconds, I massage my full face, including my eyes, with the formed oil to melt out all my makeup.

How does it feel on my skin

The product does its job pretty well. My makeup is completely melted away, including waterproof mascara, long-lasting lipsticks and eyeliners. I normally rinse it with lukewarm water but sometimes I eliminate the oil with a reusable cloth. I do not have any residue after removing the product.

This balm leaves my skin clean and soft. Most of my makeup is gone and I do not feel my skin dry or tight. However, I do not feel that the product is giving hydration to my skin.

As I already mentioned, I use this balm to remove my eye makeup as well. Sometimes, after using the product on the eye area, I get slight blur vision. That is something I don’t like about this product. I do not normally use eye makeup remover and, therefore, try to use the cleansing balm or oil to remove the eye makeup. However, I cannot do that with this cleansing balm.

I have read some reviews about this cleansing balm where people mention that this product produces break-outs on the skin. In my case that never happened. However, my skin is not sensitive and tolerates most of the products.

Other considerations about this cleansing balm

About how long the product lasts, I should say that I think it is the average time. I had the 30 mL pot and it lasts me for around 3 months using it once a day, five days a week.

The main problem I found with this product is that the brand Clinique is not cruelty-free. Though it is not legal to test products sold in Europe and the UK on animals, Clinique sells its products in China, which is a country where animal tests are required by law.

This product itself is not tested on animals and that is why I used it. However, I will never buy any Clinique product as I do not want to support any brand which tests on animals, even if that is for sale in the Chinese market.

Conclusion

It is a good balm, cleans your skin, does not dry, melts away all the makeup, and does not leave any residue. It sometimes blurs my vision, which is a negative point.

In addition, it is very soft and odourless, so if you don’t like the smell of products, that one may be good for you. Consequently, it is also recommended for dry skins.

However, there are similar products in a similar range of price I like so much more and from brands which are 100% cruelty-free.

Pros

• Cleans well
• Does not dry skin
• Does not leave residues
• Easy to take in a travel
• Odourless

Cons

• Does not come with a spatula
• Blurs my vision
• Clinique is not a cruelty-free brand

Will I buy it again? Do I recommend it?

No. I will not buy this product and I don’t recommend it. Despite the quality of the product, I will not buy it and I cannot recommend it. It is a question of ethics. I do not buy anything which is not cruelty-free, we don’t have the right to torture any animal to get a better cosmetic when products can be tested using many different methods.

Accordingly to my ethics, I will never recommend a product from a brand that tortures animals.

If in the future Clinique stops animal tests, I will reconsider the option of buying the product. Meanwhile, other products are doing a similar job for a similar price which are cruelty-free, for example, The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter.