Review: Balea Cleansing Oil (Reinigungs Öl)

I've already talked about how much I like this Balea Cleansing Oil, but I never wrote a review for it, so here it is. Apparently these are getting discontinued and I'm not sure for how long you'll still be able to find them in stores. If you like it, get it before it's too late. 


It comes in a transparent plastic bottle. Pump is purple and produces small amount of product. I usually need about three to four pumps for my entire face and neck. It works great otherwise and doesn't spill any product.

In it is 100 ml of product and it costs 2.79€



It's a liquid oil that feels very greasy on the skin and it breaks down makeup by massaging it into the skin. I find it pretty thick (but still runny) and you need a lot of it to spread it all over the face. I usually massage it into the skin, especially in between my lashes to break down any traces of makeup and it works great for that. This takes off all the makeup, even waterproof.


Once it gets in contact with water it turns into a white milky formula that slides off your face. You can use it on itself, but I usually remove it with muslin cloth. Afterwards the skin is clear and a bit nourished. It doesn't leave any greasy residue and it doesn't feel dry or tightening either. It didn't break me out either. 

This will cause you some blurry vision, if you use it on your eyes. 

It shouldn't have any scent, because it's not perfumed. I do smell some natural scent which reminds me of sunflower oil scent.


I decided to compare it with my L'Occitane 5% Shea Cleansing Oil. L'Occitane comes in a 200 ml plastic bottle with larger pump that produces more product than Balea does. It costs 19.30€. 

After some inspection of both of these I figured out that they both have similar runny consistency. Balea is in fact thicker oil than L'Occitane, but they're both really runny once you pump it in your hand. L'Occitane has an obvious nutty oriental scent, while Balea technically has none (it does smell like sunflower oil). Balea feels a lot thicker on the skin and greasier. You'll need more than just one pump to spread it all over the face. Actually you'll need about three pumps for the whole face. L'Occitane on the other hand gives you more product with just one pump and because it's a bit more runny it spreads easier, but isn't as greasy so you really need to work it in the skin to break down makeup. Obviously you need to do that with Balea too. 


They both break down makeup with ease, dare I say that Balea gets it done a few seconds quicker. They both blur your vision a bit, if it gets into the eyes and they both have slightly nourished feel to it after you take it off. I also took two cotton pads and tested both sides with toner to see if I really got everything off and the result was yes on both sides.



Let's also compare ingredients list.

Balea:
Helianthus Annuus Hybrid Oil | Isopropyl Palmitate | Isopropyl Myristate | PEG-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate | Ethylhexyl Stearate | Tocopherol | Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil

L'Occitane:
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Isopropyl Isostearate, PEG-40 Sorbitan Peroleate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Adansonia Digitata Seed Oil, Fragrance, Tocopherol.

They both have sunflower seed oil as the main ingredient.That's about how much I know my ingredients. 

There's also a huge difference in the price. Balea costs 2.79€ for 100 ml, which means 0.02€ for 1 ml of product. L'Occitane costs 19.30€ for 200 ml, which means 0.09€ for 1 ml. Clearly L'Occitane is more expensive. You have to take into consideration that you need more of Balea product to get everything off, so you'll probably use twice as much of Balea, but it's till cheaper. 

If you want something that has a lovely gentle scent, is a bit thinner in consistency and you only need one pump for the whole face, then I would go with L'Occitane. But if you're like me and don't stress too much over the products that just take off your makeup and you want something cheaper, but just as effective without the lovely scent and a bit more greasier formula, then I would go with Balea. Since I don't believe in spending a lot of money on my first cleanse products that just wash away down my drain, I will probably just use Balea, when I am out of L'Occitane one. Yes, I already stock up on it. I have about 4 bottles. 

In general I am really impressed by this cleansing oil and am recommending it to everyone who wears a lot of makeup, especially waterproof. This is my go to products for removing stubborn swatches. I use it whenever I wear a full face of makeup. It gets job done in seconds and is so easy to use. I also love that it doesn't strip down my skin or makes it tight and dry. It's effective and cheap, which is all I ask out of a first cleanse product. I usually go in with another cleanser after this to remove any last traces or to just add some more nourishment. 

6 comments

  1. Jaz imam čisto obratne občutke kot ti :). (Vsaj moj) L'Occitanov je bolj gost od Baleinega in ga rabim manj porabit. Baleino se mi skoraj nič ne speni oz. spremeni v emulzijo, čeprav spodobno odstrani ličila. Mene je razočaralo in ga ne bi kupila še enkrat. Ne pravim, da je L'Occitanovo olje najboljše ever, ker je še veliko drugih, ampak od Balee me od vseh olj, ki sem jih preizkusila ni prepričalo. Je pa možno, da sem dobila kakšnega čudnega :).

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    1. Mogoče pa imam jaz drugačnega L'Occitanovega :D. Pri meni sta oba enako milky in noben se ne peni. Me zdaj res zanima, če sva dobili kakšna različna. Sicer imam jaz to zdaj že drugega in je enak. Imam še dva na zalogi. Bom videla :D.

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  2. We don't have dm in my country, but I have been recently in Prague and got this oil. I must say I really like it, I don't know the L'Occitane one, but I had some other ones and Balea is really good :)

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    1. Oh I'm glad you like it. For the price it's amazing. And since I only use it for my first cleanse it's really good for that. I only tried those two oils and The Body Shop one (tester) and that one was nice too. Maybe I'm not that picky :D.

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  3. Jaz sem tega kupila nedolgo nazaj v dmu, ker so ga vse blogerke tako hvalile. Na žalost mi sploh ne odgovarja. Opazila sem, da očesni makeup ne morem z njim očistiti, ker mi tako zamegli vid, da še 3 ure po tem nič ne vidim, čeprav olje zelo dobro sperem z oči. Na koži pa mi naredi akne in maši pore, če z njim očistim tekočo podlago. Skratka katastrofa, res mi je žal, da sem ga kupila :'

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    1. O šment. Ja pri izdelkih za nego kože je res težko upoštevat druga mnenja. Vsaka koža drugače reagira. No res škoda. Mogoče pa ga lahko podariš kakšni sorodnici, če ji bo všeč :).

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