Trilogy Make-Up Be Gone Cleansing Balm Review

When the last beauty box was announced, I was hoping this product was in it. It had been released around the same time, and the feedback I had heard made me really excited to try this product. So when I opened the BRBB and found this in there, I was over the moon.

This cleanser comes in a brown tub (very similar packaging to the rest of the trilogy range, with a brown jar and a white and red label). This product also comes with a small face cloth, a nice touch but personally, this doesn't add any value to the product for me... and I also wish the face cloth wasn't a cream colour because it got dirty once, and never looked clean again.

The lid twists off the tub to reveal a solid product, which is a yellow colour, with an organic smell to it. It is a balm in all senses of the word, and it pretty easy to scoop out to use. However... I hate putting my fingers in products. I prefer pumps although this would clearly not work for this product but I would have preferred this product to come with a spoon or spatula instead of a face cloth because once my hands go in (even though they are clean), all I can imagine is the germs in the little tub, and it’s off putting.

This balm melts quickly upon touch, and is easy to smooth over face without the mess of it running down your arms (like oil cleansers can do). I find it is pretty effective at getting off foundation, but it does struggle with eye makeup, especially liquid eyeliner and mascara. After rubbing, rubbing and rubbing some more, it does remove most of it. But it takes a long time, and a lot of product... and when I use it on my eyes, it does seem to irritate them, so it’s just not worth the hassle for me personally.

Overall, this makeup cleanser is nice at removing foundation, but doesn't do a great job at removing long-wearing eye makeup, and can cause irritation for me. I also find I have to use quite a bit of product to get the job done, and find this product leaves a greasy feeling that is heavier than other cleaning balms I have used, so I won't be repurchasing this product again

I almost don't want to write this review because it feels ungrateful... but I genuinely can't warm to this product :(

The Trilogy Make-Up Be Gone Cleansing Balm was the item I was probably the most excited about in the September BRBB - and the one I had been dying to buy and try.

It comes with a neutral coloured facecloth for wiping away the oil post application, which is unremarkable - it promptly became obvious that I could interchange it with any of my face cloths for the same result.

The product comes in a brown plastic screw top jar with a white and red label, in keeping with the theme of most of the brands packaging. It's a classy enough product in terms of aesthetic appeal - though I will add that the concept of a cleansing product you need to dip your fingers into isn't my fave.

The balm is really quite solid - think coconut oil - in it's consistency and so you need to actively scrape out an amount to use. You then melt it in your hands and apply it to your face once it has liquified - making it hard to put the lid back on the jar until after you're done!

The reasons I don't really like this product (and it's totally a personal thing, I'm not for a second trying to imply it's not worth a go, simply that it doesn't suit me) come in with application. I find that compared to liquid oil cleansers this is very heavy, and sits on my skin feeling a bit gluggy no matter how little I use. I find that it doesn't remove my eye makeup well, and I need to go in after with micellar water etc... I *do* wear some pretty intense blacks on my eyes sometimes but this struggles even with my lighter gel liners etc.

It doesn't rinse away as cleanly as the liquid oil cleansers, and when I wipe it away it leaves a film - I find that it definitely needs to be followed with another cleanser, which - when there are products which handle both tasks - seems like a flaw in a comparatively expensive product.

Post application my skin retains a slightly oily feel - not excessive, but it doesn't feel 100% clean, which is disappointing.

The positives are the blend of ingredients = rosehip, mango, coconut, sunflower, olive.... clearly Trilogy have gone out of their way to source and combine the current list of natural 'in-products', which shows an attention to current research and trends, as well as a market awareness that I love seeing from brands. Trilogy are kiwi too, which is always great, and they're natural. The product is a generous size, so if you love it then the steep pricetag becomes more affordable worked out on a cost-per use basis. Also, it smells divine!

Conclusion: this product and my skin (which tends towards oily at times and is much less acne prone lately but broke out like mad using this) don't agree, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying as there are so many positives.

I was very excited to try this product. I don't have any other make up removal products so this was an added bonus to my dressing table. The first time I used it , worked magically! You do need to wash your face with your regular face wash to have it work well I would say. The second time i used it, I put it straight onto my face without trying to wash it first and that wasn't a good idea. left my face oily and the make up ended up all on the cloth and I couldn't wash it off. It works best for that make up you miss when you wash your face. I would use this product again for that exact use.

I received this in the September BRBB and I was super excited to see it since Trilogy is such a great NZ brand. Also it is worth $38.90 which made me even more excited. I thought a makeup remover that costs nearly $40 must be pretty amazing, but I was left with mixed feelings about this product. I finished up the whole pot a few months ago. I got it in September, so I think it lasted me about six months. I used it on average about twice a week, so it does last a decent amount of time.

This product comes with an organic cotton facecloth. I used the cloth when I first tried this balm, but I didn't love it. The cloth is very thin and it felt scratchy against my face. It helped to remove most of my makeup, but not all of it. It would need to go into the washing machine after each use, which just didn't seem practical to me. I never used the cloth again after that first time.

The packaging says that you only need to use 1/4 of a teaspoon for your entire face. There is no way that this is enough product to remove makeup. I measured that amount out with a measuring spoon one time, and it only managed to cover one cheek on my face. I found that I needed to use at least a teaspoon or more to effectively remove my makeup.

I liked how this product felt when I applied it to my face. It feels nice to rub it all over your face at the end of a long day, and watch it 'melt' your makeup away. The balm has a subtle natural smell to it. I preferred to use a baby wipe to wipe away the balm and the old makeup. It's probably not that environmentally friendly to use a baby wipe, but it did the trick for me.

It removed my foundation, lipstick and eyeshadow easily, but it always struggled with removing mascara. I would really have to rub and apply a lot of the balm to get the mascara off. Generally I would end up using Micellar Water on my eyes afterwards to get the last of it off. This is a really gentle product, so it might suit people with dry/sensitive skin.

Overall I found this product to be a bit average. I've used other makeup removers that do a much better job at a much cheaper price, so I probably won't be purchasing this one again.

I received this cleansing balm in the BRBB and wondered, was this the answer to my longwear makeup removal woes? Well, almost!

It comes packaged in a cute little pot and with its own face cloth (which was appreciated, I didn't really want to mess up my other cloths!). The fragrance is lovely, not too strong but still enough to make it feel that extra bit special.

The instructions say to just use a tiny bit, but I found that wasn't really anywhere near enough. Perhaps I have a huge face or something! I tried to get by without adding more the first time (I always follow instructions exactly when using products the first time, then improvise from the second time onwards if needed) but it wasn't melting it as much as needed, and I struggled to remove my mascara with it. I hoped that the cloth would take care of it though and for the most part it did, but when I went back over my skin with makeup remover on a tissue there was still very clearly foundation left on my skin.

Since then, I've been using quite a bit more product and massaging it quite liberally all over my face and into my lashes (be careful, it's not so fun on the eyeball!) which does help to melt it, but even then there is still foundation on the tissue afterwards. And this is regular foundation, not longwear.

I'll keep using it, but at this stage I don't think I'll be repurchasing.

I got this in the vault ages ago since I've never used a balm makeup remover before. My impression of Trilogy has always been pretty high since I absolutely love their rosehip oil. This was a total disappointment and proves that even really great brands can screw up sometimes.

The product comes in a little jar with a cloth that you're supposed to use to wipe the balm off your face. It's a nice simple design but I wish they had a spatula or something to scoop out the balm since I have to try dig it out with my finger and that feels really unhygienic. It's quite solid in the jar but softens really quickly when I rub some between my fingers. It has a faint scent that smells 'natural' and not unpleasant. When I massaged it onto my face as directed I found that it dit somewhat shift around the makeup and lift it off slightly. But my eyemakeup wouldn't budge and I didn't want to risk scrubbing at my eyes too hard with an oily balm. Then came the step where I tried to wipe off the balm with the cloth. It was slightly rough and I feel like it ended up irritating my skin slightly and didn't remove all the balm from my face. I ended up having to use a couple more makeup remover wipes just to really finish the job.

I really tried to love this and gave it a couple more go's but it just really didn't work for me. I found that when I'm wearing only bb cream and no eyemakeup the balm was sufficient. So I'll probably use this when I only need a gentle cleanse. A good thing though is that this agrees with my sensitive skin! Yay!

I’m a little disappointed in this product. It does remove makeup and as only a tiny bit of the balm is needed it will last for a while but I really have to rub hard to get it to work. I’ve switch up between cleansing oil and balms to remove my makeup before cleansing so I’m used to how these products work. Unfortunately this balm does require quite a bit more elbow grease than any others I’ve tried and even when rinsed away (and after I’ve washed with a cleanser) it leaves my skin oily the next day, as I always do this step at night. Like all Trilogy products it smells great and has great packaging but I don’t think that’s enough for me to purchase this balm again. The face cloth it comes with is lovely though. It’s incredibly soft and works well in conjunction with the balm.