Soap, foam, milk, cream, oil now balm~ my latest face cleanser is a balm which sounds really weird, it feels weird and overall I feel weird. Mine is the Jeju Volcanic Head Out Balm from Innisfree. Did this made a convert to balms like many famous youtuber's? The answer is...I wouldn't be like others who would make read till the end to know the answer~ it's a NO.
While this is very friendly to my dry skin as it doesn't strip the moisture and natural oils of my face, this gives me a feeling that I didn't wash my face which is slightly my fault for not using warm water for rinsing or take extra step in using foam cleanser as instructed but hey I thought this is a cleansing balm and it should already be as good as foam cleansers or cleansing oil. But things usually don't work the way I think they should work (universe, please be more lenient to me!).
So how to use a balm? First get an ample amount of the balm slightly crumble it into your fingers. Next massage it into your dry face until it turns into oil. Third wet your hands, massage again and the the balm will turn milky. Then rinse with water or wipe thy face with a washcloth or whatever cleansing cloth you desire or do another of your cleansing routine.
This balm can remove light make-up like lipstick but not those heavy ones, I use a black eyeshadow one time and it didn't do much in removing the shadow in my lids. It makes the skin soft and so are my blackheads but it didn't make them disappear.
In the end I still prefer using a cleansing oil or Cetaphil as cleanser and make-up remover. I wouldn't close my door though for balms, there might be a really good one out there!