Best Cleansing Balm: 4 Picks for Makeup, Sunscreen and Sensitive Skin

The best cleansing balms are Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm, The INKEY List Oat Cleansing Balm and Banila Co Clean It Zero Original. Clinique is best overall because its nine-ingredient formula is fragrance-free, melts makeup and sunscreen quickly and rinses off once you add water. The INKEY List is the budget pick and carries the National Eczema Association seal, while Banila Co is the classic for heavy makeup if fragrance doesn't bother you.

Before you buy, you can scan a balm's barcode or photograph its label with the ingredient scanner in Pori to check its oils, emulsifiers and any fragrance against your skin type.

Quick picks

• Best overall: Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm ($44 for 3.8 oz, Ulta) - nine ingredients, fragrance-free, safflower seed oil base.
• Best budget: The INKEY List Oat Cleansing Balm ($17 for 150 ml, theinkeylist.com) - oat kernel oil, National Eczema Association seal, fragrance-free.
• Best for heavy makeup: Banila Co Clean It Zero Original ($21 for 100 ml, banilausa.com) - the sherbet-texture K-beauty classic, but it contains fragrance.
• Best fragrance-free plant-oil balm: Farmacy Green Clean Fragrance-Free Cleansing Balm ($39 for 100 ml, farmacybeauty.com) - sunflower oil and wax with moringa, holy basil and papaya.

We compared published ingredient lists, brand claims and listed prices; we did not test these products on skin. Prices are US list prices as of November 2026, with the retailer named, and they change often. For two balms we've already covered, CeraVe's budget balm and Elemis Pro-Collagen, see our best cleansing oil and balm guide.

How do the best cleansing balms compare?

What is a cleansing balm, and how is it different from a cleansing oil?

A cleansing balm is a cleansing oil thickened with wax so it's solid in the jar. When you massage it onto dry skin, body heat melts it into an oil that dissolves makeup, sunscreen and sebum. Add water and an emulsifier turns it milky, so it rinses away. The waxes here include synthetic wax (Banila Co), polyethylene (Clinique), sunflower seed wax (Farmacy, The INKEY List) and acacia flower wax (The INKEY List).

Oil or balm is mostly a question of texture and travel. Balms don't spill, feel richer and are easy to control around the eyes. Oils spread faster over the whole face. Both do the same job as the first step of a double cleanse, which Cleveland Clinic describes as washing with an oil-based cleanser and then a water-based one. Our guide to how to double cleanse covers who needs it and who can skip it.

What makes a cleansing balm rinse off cleanly?

The emulsifier. Plain oil dissolves makeup and then sits on your skin. A good balm contains a water-loving emulsifier such as PEG-20 glyceryl triisostearate, sorbeth-30 tetraoleate or a polyglyceryl ester, which lets the oil and dissolved makeup mix with water and wash away. That's why the "emulsify" step matters: wet your fingertips, massage until the balm turns milky, then rinse. Skip it and you'll feel a greasy film. A greasy film after a proper emulsify-and-rinse usually means the balm is heavy for your skin, and a second gentle wash will fix it.

If you break out easily, keep the balm to a minute of massage, emulsify well and follow with a mild water-based cleanser. Watch for new clogged pores over the first few weeks, since oils and esters affect people differently.

Which cleansing balms are worth buying?

Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm: best overall

This is the shortest list of the group. Clinique's balm has nine ingredients: ethylhexyl palmitate, safflower seed oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride, sorbeth-30 tetraoleate, polyethylene, PEG-5 glyceryl triisostearate, water, tocopherol and phenoxyethanol. There's no fragrance or essential oil, in line with Clinique's fragrance-free policy, which we cover in our fragrance-free brands guide. Ulta lists it at $44 for 3.8 oz.

Who it suits: almost any skin type, and people who want a short, fragrance-free list. Who should skip it: anyone on a tight budget, since it costs more than three times as much per ounce as The INKEY List. The catch: it has no skin-care extras, which is a plus for reactive skin and a minus if you want a balm that feels nourishing.

The INKEY List Oat Cleansing Balm: best budget

The INKEY List sells this balm for $17 for 150 ml, less than a third of Clinique's price per ounce. Its current formula is listed in the National Eczema Association's Seal of Acceptance directory, which requires products to be fragrance-free and pass irritation testing. The NEA listing shows sweet almond oil, sunflower seed oil and wax, oat kernel oil, sea buckthorn oil and jojoba esters, with PEG-20 glyceryl triisostearate and polyglyceryl esters to help it rinse. The brand says it turns from balm to milk and works as the first step of a double cleanse.

Who it suits: dry, sensitive or eczema-prone skin, and anyone who wants a large jar for little money. Who should skip it: people who avoid almond oil because of a tree nut allergy. The catch: The INKEY List has reformulated this balm, so ingredient lists from older reviews may not match the jar you buy. It also appears in our best face wash for eczema roundup.

Banila Co Clean It Zero Original: best for heavy makeup

Clean It Zero is the balm many people try first. Banila Co sells the 100 ml jar for $21 and says it melts away even the toughest makeup. The ingredient list is built on ethylhexyl palmitate and cetyl ethylhexanoate, two light esters, with PEG-20 glyceryl triisostearate and PEG-10 isostearate as emulsifiers. It also lists acerola, rooibos, bamboo and angelica root extracts and fragrance.

Who it suits: people who wear full-coverage or waterproof makeup and like a scented product. Who should skip it: anyone with fragrance allergy or very reactive skin; the FDA notes that fragrance ingredients can cause allergic reactions in some people. The catch: Banila Co sells several versions, including a Calming balm with cica, so check which jar you're buying before you rely on any list.

Farmacy Green Clean Fragrance-Free Cleansing Balm: best fragrance-free plant-oil balm

Farmacy makes a scented original Green Clean and a fragrance-free version, sold at $39 for 100 ml. The fragrance-free list starts with cetyl ethylhexanoate, sunflower seed oil, polyglyceryl-6 dicaprate and sunflower seed wax, then adds moringa seed oil, holy basil and arugula extracts, papaya fruit extract, linseed and rapeseed oils, and tocopherol. Farmacy says its clinical testing showed the balm removes over 99% of long-wear foundation, waterproof mascara and SPF; that is the brand's own result.

Who it suits: people who like a richer, plant-oil balm and want to avoid fragrance. Who should skip it: anyone sensitive to plant extracts, or shoppers on a budget. The catch: it costs more per ounce than every other pick except Clinique, and the list has more botanicals than The INKEY List or Clinique.

What about CeraVe, Elemis and cleansing oils?

We left two popular balms off this list because our cleansing oil and balm guide already covers them. CeraVe Makeup Removing Cleanser Balm is a fragrance-free budget option with jojoba oil. Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm is a rich luxury balm that contains lavender, geranium and eucalyptus oils, so it suits dry skin that tolerates scent. If you prefer a liquid, Clinique's Take The Day Off Cleansing Oil follows the same fragrance-free approach as the balm.

How do you use a cleansing balm?

1. Scoop a pea- to almond-sized amount with the spatula, not your fingers, so water and bacteria stay out of the jar.
2. Massage it onto a dry face with dry hands for 30 to 60 seconds, gently over the eyes if the brand says it's safe there.
3. Wet your fingertips and keep massaging until the balm turns milky.
4. Rinse with lukewarm water. Follow with a gentle cleanser if you wore heavy makeup, have oily skin or still feel a film.
5. Close the lid tightly and keep the jar out of the shower so it doesn't melt or take on water.

If you only wear sunscreen and light makeup, a balm may be more than you need; a micellar water can do the first step. Dry skin can follow with one of the picks in our best hydrating cleanser roundup.

How we chose

We started from the cleansing balms in our catalogue and the ones most often recommended in the US, then read each published ingredient list and kept balms with a clear emulsifier, US availability at full size, and a price checked on the brand or retailer site named in November 2026. We favored fragrance-free formulas and flagged fragrance where it appeared. We left out balms already covered in our cleansing oil guide, and balms we couldn't confirm at a current US retailer. We did not wear-test any product. You can browse more in our cleansers catalogue.