Review and comparison of my current first cleansers: cleansing oils from IOPE and The Face Shop

Today I'd like to talk about my current cleansing oils, IOPE Pore Reset cleansing oil and The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Light cleansing oil. The Face shop (TFS) oil is one of my all-time favorite first cleansers for a few years now, while IOPE oil is a new addition to my routine that I picked almost by accident about four month ago. Both are so-called ester oil-based first cleansers, which makes them suitable for oily skin types, both have no mineral oil added in the formulation, and both are fairly budget-friendly and easy to purchase online. As usual, I purchased all the products myself, and all opinions are my own; YMMV.

While many of popular cleansing oils are formulated with either plant oils (like coconut, avocado etc), or synthetic oils, like mineral oils, some of the new products are using various esters as main emulsifiers. The main function of oil-based first cleanser is the removal of oil-soluble makeup and skincare products and/or extra sebum from the skin; supposedly ester-based cleansers are capable of doing it more efficiently while being less irritating to the skin barrier; they are also lighter in texture and easier to remove than plant-based oils or mineral oil. There are many different esters being used in cleansing oil formulations, and while I'll have to read more research to get comfortable comparing all the fine details of various esters, the whole group of ester-based first cleansers seems to be perfect for oily, sensitive skin (like mine). 

IOPE Pore Reset cleansing oil and The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Light cleansing oil

I've been experimenting with first cleansers quite a lot in last few years (you can read about it here and here), and I've noticed that many of plant-based oils were too heavy for my oily skin; I wasn't able to emulsify and remove them completely with water, so I had to rely heavily on foam cleansers and exfoliating toners. As a result, my skin barrier, which was never the strongest to start with, got weakened even more. I have to avoid mineral oil in my skincare; my skin is sensitive to it, and it clogs my pores. In retrospect, most of my favorite first cleansers are ester-based, like my beloved Cow Brand Makeup cleansing oil (full ingredients list on cosdna), or oldie but goody FANCL Mild cleansing oil (cosdna); some first cleansers that I liked had a mix of esters and plant oils, like DHC Deep cleansing oil (cosdna), which was a bit too heavy for me, but never irritated my skin, or Heimish All Clean balm (cosdna), which was perfect for me, but got reformulated last year. 

The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Light cleansing oil packaging renewal

The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Light cleansing oil is one of the mixed ester- and plant oil-based first cleansers that I've been using on and off last few years. It's a nice and effective cleansing oil that is budget-friendly and fairly easy to find, both online (Amazon with Prime shipping, eBay, YesStyle, etc) and in stores (I never saw it out of stock in The Face Shop stores in Manhattan). It's been around for a while, survived at least one reformulation and repackaging (new bottle on official website here), and got mentioned by quite a few K-beauty bloggers, including Director Pi (of Vogue Korea and Get It Beauty). I have to admit that I liked the original version better than the renewed one; somehow the last version takes longer to emulsify, adding extra minute or two to my evening routine, but other than that, I didn't notice much difference. 

TFS Rice Bright Light oil is lightweight and water-like in texture; it's very easy to spread, and I never needed more than two pumps for the whole face and neck. It's completely transparent and has barely noticeable generic-flower-y scent, despite having quite a bit of added fragrance (full ingredients list on cosdna here). Most of the time I try to avoid added fragrance, since my skin seems to be sensitive to it, but I did not have any adverse reactions to this cleansing oil. It uses rice bran and jojoba oils along with Polyglyceryl-10 diisostearate, an ester that also functions as skin softener (see Paula's Choice). According to Infinity Ingredients, Polyglyceryl-10 "has excellent eye and skin compatibility, pleasant skin feel and outstanding detergence; it can be used for baby care products as face cleansing, as well as an emulsifier for low-viscosity O/W emulsions and roll-on emulsions" (source here).

It cleanses well, taking off most of my sunscreens in less than a minute, and does not leave any oily residue that can't be removed with second cleanser. I don't wear makeup daily, so I can't comment on how reliable TFS Rice Bright Light oil is against it, but in rare cases when I had some eye makeup on (including waterproof eyeliner), I had to spend some extra time working on the eye area to get all the traces of liner off. It should not be a problem if some eye makeup remover were added to a routine, so I'm not going to count it as a negative. Also, it does not irritate my eyes, which is important for me, as I have very sensitive eyes.

Brand's PR for Chinoshio Natural Cleansing oil, a cult-favorite Japanese oil cleanser

While TFS Rice Bright Light oil was a reliable choice for me, despite reformulation, I wanted to explore some new products; in last couple years many brands released new products without known allergens and/or irritants. For a long while I wanted to try Chinoshio Natural Cleansing oil (cosdna here);  it's a cult favorite among Asian beauty bloggers, and it's reported to have unvarying success against clogged pores and blackheads. It's formulated for the oily skin in mind, and it has nice and clean ingredients list, but, unfortunately, it's rather impossible to find here in NYC; I never saw in Mitsuwa (my fav) or any other Japanese store. Online shopping options were limited to some unknown (to me, at least) eBay sellers with less-than-stellar ratings and Amazon sellers that would ship it from China instead of Japan; I didn't want to risk getting a fake product, so I decided to wait and see if one of my favorite K-beauty sellers on eBay will add Chinoshio to their listings.

IOPE Pore Reset Cleansing oil - brand's PR info and swatches

While browsing new products in one of my go-to eBay stores I've noticed a new cleansing oil that looked remarkably similar to Chinoshio - IOPE Pore Reset Cleansing oil. According to the official website (here), it's formulated for pore care, just like Chinoshio, and its ingredients list is rather minimal and sensitive skin-friendly (cosdna here). It has a matching bi-phase toner - Pore Reset Mattifying toner - that is supposed to minimize sebum production by depositing some silica powder on the skin surface (official website description here). Unfortunately, the toner is alcohol-based (cosdna here), so I decided to skip it. I tried some IOPE products before (gel cream, reviewed here, and IOPE Age Corrector 2000, reviewed here), and overall they left a rather good impression.

IOPE Pore Reset Cleansing oil packaging is bilingual, which is a step in right direction for K-beauty brands

It seems that recently IOPE added several lines that are targeting specific skin concerns while using minimal ingredients lists that are 4-free (no mineral oils, synthetic dyes, animal ingredients, and sulfate based surfactants) or even 8-free (no animal ingredient/mineral oil/synthetic coloring/artificial fragrance/silicon oil/imidazolidinyl urea/triethanolamine/sulfate surfactant). I haven't seen many reviews for any of those products, but luckily IOPE website has international mirror in English with all skincare lines listed in full. Pore Reset line consists of just 2 products (the oil and the toner); Derma Trouble line (official website here) has 5 products (foam cleanser, toner, emulsion, cream and spot treatment); and Derma Repair line (official website here), which seems to be IOPE version of ever-popular cica-based skincare, also has 5 products (gel-to-foam cleanser, toner, two different cica creams, and a sheet mask). I'm most curious about Derma Repair line, and I'm planning to try it next year.

IOPE Pore Reset Cleansing oil has an accompanying booklet with product's description and full ingredients list in English

IOPE Pore Reset Cleansing oil is ester-based, like TFS Rice Bright Light and Chinoshio, but it has different esters (cosdna here) compared to those two oils. While both TFS and Chinoshio oils have plant-based oils along with esters as solvents and emulsifiers (rice bran and jojoba oils in TFS; jojoba and bergamot fruit oils in Chinoshio), IOPE oil has none. Overall, IOPE oil has less potential irritants on its ingredients list compared to TFS oil; the only questionable ingredient in IOPE oil is added fragrance, while TFS oil has limonene and linalool along with two added fragrances. As for the plant extracts, TFS oil has rice bran (here) and Saponaria Officinalis (here on EWG) extracts, both generally used for skin conditioning, while IOPE oil has green tea extract, used as anti-oxidant (here).

IOPE Pore Reset Cleansing oil - brand's PR info

I started using IOPE oil in summer, when my skin sebum production is usually so high that regular double cleanse is not enough to unclog my pores, forcing me to follow up with peeling gel or konjac sponge almost every day.  IOPE oil has heavier, more viscous texture than TFS oil, rather closer to DHC oil, so I was a bit concerned when I used it for the first time; however, it's by far the easiest oil to emulsify, compared to both TFS and DHC oils. It's quite possible that plant oils in TFS and DHC affect the emulsification process, while IOPE oil does not have to work around the issue. I've noticed the differences in less that a week - my pores were not as clogged as before, and I had less blackheads overall. IOPE oil leaves my skin feeling cleaner and more refreshed than TFS; I'm not saying that TFS oil is bad, far from it, but IOPE seems to work better for me. I didn't have to add any extra steps in my cleansing routine even when I had multiple layers of various sunscreen on my face (some of those sunscreens were water- and sebum-proof). At the same time my skin didn't feel stripped of all oils and dried out. It has mild, non-lingering scent of green tea; I actually like green tea, so it's a bonus for me. 

I've tried a couple of other cleansing oils recently, and I thought I should mention them here. Both come from well-known brands, but somehow both oils stayed under the radar and didn't get many reviews (not in English, at least).

1. Scinic Coconut cleansing oil

Scinic Coconut cleansing oil, a part of their coconut cleansing line - PR info

I was very happy to receive a tester of this cleansing oil with another Scinic product; I was curious about it for a while, but there is precious little info available. I wasn't able to find its ingredients list, and all PR materials were in Korean and in picture form, which made it impossible to translate with  Chrome. The nearest match I was able to find on cosdna was My Peach cleansing oil (cosdna here), which comes in somewhat similar packaging; unfortunately, it's mineral oil based cleanser.

Scinic Coconut cleansing oil PR info in Korean - I wish I could figure out what 95% and 55.25% values refer to...

This cleansing oil has the most noticeable scent of all products that I'm discussing in this post; it's pure coconut, loud and clear, and I suspect that coconut oil is indeed its main ingredient. Personally, I like the scent. If you dislike coconuts, you might want to stay clear of this product, because the scent lingers for quite a while. It feels considerably heavier and oilier (if you're allowed to use this word to describe an oil) than other cleansing oils, and it's harder to emulsify and wash off; I don't think it's formulated for oily skin. It left my skin feeling clean and moisturized, but it took time and effort to take it off my skin completely; I much prefer IOPE cleansing oil to Scinic Coconut oil in terms of convenience. I'm not interested in full-size product for myself, but it might make a nice present to someone with dry skin.

2. Innisfree Apple Seed Cleansing oil.

Innisfree Apple Seed Cleansing oil - PR pictures

I got a couple testers of it with some random purchases, and I was ready to like it because I liked Innisfree Blueberry foam so much. Unfortunately, it did not work out for me. Like most of Innisfree products, this oil is based on natural plant extracts, in this case - fresh cold-presses apple seed oil (official website here). It also has apple extract that contains vitamin C and anti-oxidants. It has no mineral oil or sulfates, but it does contain fragrance (cosdna here). Ingredient-wise, it's closer to so-called synthetic cleansing oils, like my favorite The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Light cleansing oil (here's its cosdna for comparison), but it has some coconut oil in it. In general, synthetic esters-based cleansing oils tend to be lighter and work better than natural oil-based ones on oily skin; coconut oil is rather heavy and comedogenic, so I'm not sure that it was a wise decision to add it in a cleansing products that seems to be formulated for oily skin.

As for the first impressions, its fragrance was the most noticeable thing for me. It has very prominent smell; a dollop of oil smells like a bowl of freshly cut granny smith apples. After I put it on my skin, however, it started to smell like a cheap dishwasher liquid or hospital hand-wash. It's not a heavy oil; it has about the same viscosity as Rice Water Bright or The Cow Brand Non Additive makeup cleansing oil (my review of it here), but it's much harder to spread. I ended up using more than twice my usual amount just to cover my face. It emulsifies OK, and it's not a bad cleanser, but I was concerned that it wasn't strong enough to get all of my sunscreen off my face. Even though it claims to be one-step cleanser, I can't imagine using it alone; for me, it has to be followed by a foam cleanser to make sure there's no residue left on my skin.

I can't say it's a bad cleanser, but I'm not going to buy a full-size; while I do prefer synthetic cleansing oils, this one has too much fragrance in in, and it's not a kind of fragrance I like anyway. If you don't mind an in-your-face smell of artificial apples, you might like it more than I did. Also, the texture leaves much to be desired.

TL;DR:

- While I still love both TFS Rice Water Bright and The Cow Brand Non Additive cleansing oils, IOPE oil is my new HG first cleanser.

- I really wanted to like both Scinic and Innisfree cleansing oils, but neither impressed me enough to purchase the full size bottle.