I haven’t used a cleansing oil in well over 2 years now. Coming from someone who used to be a strong proponent and user of cleansing oils, it is quite something! But the reason I stopped was not because I no longer double cleanse. On the contrary, it was because I’d switched over to using cleansing balms.
This was after realising that cleansing oil, while far more convenient than balms, were stripping my skin and drying it out, resulting in my breaking out. So, when I was invited to try the Tatcha Camellia Cleansing Oil I felt a little concerned.
I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to go down that route again, because overly dry skin results in me breaking out. But because this was such a highly raved product and brand, I took the plunge.
Tatcha is a luxury skincare brand based in the USA, but built on the backs of Japanese skincare philosophy, and as founder Victoria Tsai will tell you, inspired by the beauty rituals of geisha. I must say that the packaging of their products are beautiful. there is a lot of attention to detail and surprise. For example, the fairly simple looking wood-print box that houses the Camellia Cleansing Oil opens up to reveal a beautifully designed blue tray with a grosgrain ribbon pull-tab. The bottle housed within, is wrapped like a scroll, with lovely washi-type paper, with a message from Victoria printed on it. The product itself is housed in sturdy bottles and tubs, with good heft, and a minimalistic design.
I haven’t seen this sort of aesthetic in a long time from any brand, and suffice to say, my attention was captured from the get go! Yet, how did this cleansing oil fare?
To be honest, very well indeed.
The Tatcha Camellia Cleansing Oil is a typical cleansing oil, which most of us would be familiar with. If you aren’t, a cleansing oil operates as a first step cleanser, or as some people will have it, a one-step cleanser. Oil binds with oil on skin to lift off and remove dirt and grime more easily and more effectively than a regular cleanser, and the best part is that you can use it as a makeup remover as well, thus shortening your skincare routine.
Personally, I remove my makeup first, especially around the eyes (read my reasons here) before using a cleansing oil as my first cleanse, followed up by a second cleanse. However, I can attest to the fact that the Camellia Cleansing Oil is very effective at removing makeup from skin. I’d forgotten how convenient using a cleansing oil can be!
While Tatcha says that you do not need to double cleanse when using this, I still do. It’s force of habit and I think it’s good practice anyway.
But how do you benefit best from this? You use it as you do other cleansing oils – with DRY hands and DRY face. I’ve shared my tips on how to effectively use a cleansing oil here, which basically means you do not attempt to splash it off, but I’ll repeat it below for ease of reference.
- Pump 3-4 pumps of cleansing oil onto dry hands. I find that this gives the best result, as there’s sufficient product to properly move over the skin
- Spread between palms and apply to dry face.
- Massage it into your skin firmly but gently without tugging for a few minutes. You may find that there are gritty bits appearing between your fingertips.
- Take some warm water, wet skin (not splash) and massage to emulsify. The product will turn milky.
- Continue taking little water and emulsifying for a few minutes before splashing off to rinse till clean.
If you do the slow emulsification process, you will find that this and any cleansing oil, will rinse off more easily and more cleanly. If you don’t, you’ll find that your face won’t feel clean, or you might even break out from improper cleansing.
I find that the Tatcha Camellia Cleansing Oil does a very good job at taking off makeup and grime, and cleansing the skin. My skin feels absolutely lovely and soft after and best of all, IT DOES NOT FEEL DRY!
I don’t feel like I have to run for my lotions and creams immediately after cleansing, or that my face is pulled into a taut grimace. I must note here that my skin type is normal-dry and every cleansing oil out there that I used to love (or hate) before, would dry my skin out to a husk. It’s why I switched to cleansing balms which I feel are much kinder to dry skin. But it was gratifying that this wasn’t drying, and was actually very comfortable.
I do think it performs very well and is absolutely worth trying, if you use cleansing oil. However, the key drawback here would be the price (US$48/150ml) and availability. It’s not easily available worldwide, and although the Tatcha site does ship internationally, shipping can be pricey, unless you buy above a certain amount, where they’ll ship for free.
Having experienced again the ease and practicality of a cleansing oil for one step cleansing and best of all, not drying my skin, I’m definitely in the market to replenish this one if the opportunity arises.
IN A NUTSHELL
The Tatcha Camellia Cleansing Oil is a cleansing oil that removes makeup and cleanses skin all at one go. The best thing about this, is that it isn’t drying at all, even for my normal-dry skin! This makes this wonderful for me, despite its rather hefty price tag. The oil is comfortable on skin, and thick enough to massage over skin to remove makeup and impurities, yet emulsifies easily to remove and rinses off clean, leaving skin feeling soft and clean. I enjoyed using it, and even set aside my balms for over a month while trying this. It’ll be hard to give up this ease of cleansing once it’s gone.
PROS: Light yet viscous oil that is easy to massage over skin, Emulsifies easily, Does not leave a greasy residue, Not drying even on dry skin
CONS: Pricey, Hard to get especially outside of the USA
WHO WILL LIKE THIS: Anyone who currently uses cleansing oil, Anyone who wants the ease of a cleansing oil but finds most too drying
PRICE: US$48 / 150ml
AVAILABILITY: Tatcha website (ships worldwide), Sephora US, Barneys New York US
For those interested, here is the ingredient list for the Camellia Cleansing Oil.
Do you use a cleansing oil? Have you tried this by Tatcha or any other Tatcha skincare?
This is the first time in 2 years, at least, that I’ve used a cleansing oil, and I just can’t get over how convenient it is. No need to use face cloths, or to remove my makeup before hand! I can just emulsify and be done. That said, I’m still happy using cleansing balms. It’s just nice to have a more simple alternative! 😛 So, is there any other Tatcha skincare I should consider trying? 😀
Paris B
I have this, and what I don’t like is that you need those 3-4 pumps of it!For my it’s definitely 4 pumps-at LEAST. I think that’s a lot of product compared to other cleansing oils I’ve tried and for that reason, I do not like it and won’t repurchase it. It’s overrated in my opinion and WAY too expensive, especially since I need to use that many pumps every time I use it. Sorry!
Agree with you Tracy! This definitely needs 4 pumps for best effect. Not economical at all! But I liked how it was non drying. Have you used other cleansing oils that don’t dry out the skin?
Oh god.. 4 pumps at least? That’ll be quite costly to use daily :s
Given that we get a lot of stuff for free, I would consider a cheaper thing like the DHC. 1.5 does it for my massive face 😀
I’ve used nearly everything from Tatcha, save for the new Indigo releases. The products felt comfortable but that said, I don’t have sensitive skin so most products feel confortable to me. Haha! I would say however, that if you generally have good skin and have a comprehensive beauty regime, then you won’t feel much of the effects of the products as promised. Don’t get me wrong – the products are not bad. They are nice, but you can get other products which perform better and have more active ingredients than Tatcha for the equivalent price tag. What I do give credit to Tatcha is their attention to detail. Like you pointed out in your post, the packaging is lovely, and I do love that. ??
Thanks for the input Jo 🙂 It’s always useful to hear from a product user. I actually tend to agree with you on the point of effectiveness on skin. That’s what I often tell people. That you won’t really see much improvement, unless you have skin with a problem that needs addressing. If you have decent skin and take good care of it, then you’re not likely to see very drastic improvements with ANY skincare.
Tatcha’s entire range of skincare is absolutely wonderful, you should try the rice powder and the cream as well.
Will do Eezy! Thanks for the recs!
Thank you for this review! I have been wanting to try their products, especially the cleansing oil and rice powder, as I have heard of great reviews on their products. Currently I am using Shu Uemura Ultime8 cleansing oil and with this I also used 3-4 pumps when I have full face makeup on/ 2 pumps when I have light makeup.
Price for Tatcha is a bit higher than Shu’s , but I will give this a try when the brand is accessible to me.
I’ve heard so much about the cleansing oil too! So it was nice to be able to give it a try. Going to try the rice powder next and see how that fares. I can’t seem to get my head around a washing powder for the face! LOL
I tried this before, with the serum, moisturizer and rice powder (the intro kit) and while I like this cleansing oil, I don’t like that I need to use so much of it! Cleansing oils don’t dry out my skin. There are a few I like, and they’re easily accessible locally.
I recently received a few feedbacks from local readers that their packages got detained at customs by the Parmacy Department. A couple of them got their things confiscated while the other one got her thing back with a warning (it was just ONE Burberry lipstick). I don’t trust our local customs for importing cosmetics anymore. They’re just too inconsistent. After my packages got confiscated in June, a few parcels still got through to me. Then, I got these emails. I know you haven’t experienced it yourself, and I sincerely hope you won’t, but it seems to be a gamble, even if you keep things at less than RM500 and using normal mail. LOL!
Yikes, they detained the packages?! That sucks 🙁 But thanks for letting me know. Lucky for me mine came through unscathed! I still buy stuff online though. Hope I’ll remain lucky!
I loved this oil and would love to get my hands on another bottle to get a review going, but it’s so expensive to ship for just that.. I used their brightening serum too and that was amazing, then then brand dozed off as others popped up locally and I’ve been swamped in easier available things. Bummer, I was looking at the polishing powders too.
Yes, their international shipping is astronmonical! As is the minimum for free shipping. I actually find it hard to tell people to buy, because of the whole shipping problem. It would be nice if it was sold on other websites – that way, the shipping usually balances itself out, because we can buy other brands.
How does the Tatcha Cleansing oil compared to the DHC and Fancl ones?
I’ve never tried Fancl but DHC breaks me out so I’d pick Tatcha. I also don’t find it as drying as many others I’ve tried. Others I’ve used can be found in this post.
Hey thanks for sharing =)