“AND DON’T FORGET TO WASH YOUR FACE!!”

This is one of the sentences haunting my childhood memories. Washing my face, pfff… why should I even?

Growing up, I never had any really issues with my skin except a very seldom pimple here or there. Sure, there are things, that I certainly do not like about my my face/skin, for example sometimes clearly visible capillaries in my cheeks, uneven skintone and occasional blackheads in the nose area. Still, I never bothered to get a real face wash – after taking off my eye makeup, hand soap would do the trick just fine!

I know, you will now most probably sit in front of your computer horrified, clutching your mug of tea, whispering “no no no no nooooo“!! And from where I stand now, I can just agree with that, because using hand soap for the face is a really stupid idea.

Asian Skincare has totally changed my cleansing game! Double cleansing, hell yeah!!

I actually even triple cleans, if you count an eye make up remover before that, but more about that later!

For morning time, I only use the COSRX Low pH Good Morning Cleanser, for the evenings I start out by taking off my eye makeup with Micellar Cleansing Water by Garnier, followed by Skinfood Black Sugar Cleaning Oil and finally a cheap but eaily accessible mild Foam Cleanser from German Drugstore brand Rossmann.

Before I review the cleansing oil, let me explain real quick why double cleaning is a very important step in an asian skincare routine and definitely benefits your skin!

double cleansing softens the skin, so that products you use later can sink into the skin easier, especially active ingredients and anti aging products are proven to work better this way

makeup and sunscreen are designed to cling to the face and need to be taken off first to get to the actual surface of the skin

first cleanse removes most of the makeup, bacteria, and grime, the second step then deep cleanses and removes residue from first cleanser

But now to the actual cleanisng oil by Skinfood, which I am using as a second step in my evening routine. I usually like to take off my eye makeup with Micellar Water first, because with all the liner (also on my waterline), I don’t want to get oil in my eyes.

The cleansing oil has a very nice citrusy smell that reminds me of lemon drops candy.

I have to mention that this is my first oil cleanser ever, so I don’t have another product to compare it to yet (because the Tony Moly Peach Cleansing Balm that I ordered ages ago from Ebay is still on its way).

The texture is (of course) oily, but it feels very nice and silky on the face.

The Test

I wanted to show how well the oil takes off all sorts of makeup, so I made a little painting on the back of my hand, using some of my favorite makeup items:

Makeupgeek Eyeshadow

regular khol kajal eyeliner (waterproof)

Kat von D Tattoo Liner (waterproof)

NYX Lipstick

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip (so hard to get off!!!)

Mascara (the big black blob)

Missha BB Cream and Maybelline Fit me Concealer

two more waterproof liquid eyeliner pens

In my routine, after letting the oil sit on my skin for 1-2 minutes I gently massage the face with my fingers to get off sunscreen and makeup. After about one minute of massaging I rinse it off under warm water.

Here I only waited about 30 seconds before massaging the oil into the skin. As you can see, the Kat von D Eyeliner is very hard to get off.

When the oil gets in contact with water it emulsifies and gets milky, taking off the all particles of makeup and dirt.

The result is actually pretty impressive for a quick oil cleanse!

There are only two tiny places where the cleanser did not pick up all the Makeup, some waterproof liquid liner on the top right of my hand and some stains of the bright red Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip on the bottom.

I particularly like that after using the oil my skin feels incredibly baby soft and there is no oily film on the skin (which to me is really important because I don’t like stickiness on my face). But since I’m all about the double cleansing anyways, I use a very mild and gentle foam cleanser right after to make sure my skin is clean (sadly it’s not an Asian brand but a German Drugstore brand that is cheap but works really well).

The first time I used the Skinfood Black Sugar Cleansing Oil I was totally stunned and confused – I touched my face and it felt like heavenly silky smooth clouds! I couldn’t believe it and let my boyfriend touch my face, too, so we both sat there in awe admiring the softness that was my face. Like the softest baby butt. Really!!

If I could pick the top 3 things that made the biggest difference in my new Asian skincare routine after switching from western (erm.. hand soap) routine, using an oil cleanser in the double cleaning step is definitely one of them!

Overall I cannot recommend enough to double cleanse in the evening, but also in particular the Skinfood Black Sugar Cleansing Oil, which works well and is great value for the price!

When I tried to figure out which oil cleanser to choose, I also read that many users of the Asian Beauty Reddit forum really liked this one and it even has a Holy Grail Status to many people!

Rating: 8.7 / 10

Available on Ebay for about 13-16$

(EDIT: Skinfood Renamed this Oil into Black Sugar Perfect Cleansing Oil, the formula should be the same!)

packaging 9

ingredients 8

effect 9

application 9

I hope this was helpful, even though I can never manage to write a SHORT review, haha…

More reviews of products I use in my routines to come soon!