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Style > Beauty

Battle of the Cleansers: High-End vs Drugstore

Adamari Ruelas
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CU Boulder chapter.

If you’re like me and love makeup, I’m sure you’ve already jumped on the makeup cleanser party. Makeup wipes have been known to harm, irritate, and pull on skin, so it’s a no-brainer that cleansers have taken over as the top choice for makeup removal. Many different companies have developed their own cleansers, each promising a clean face through gentle ingredients. But when so many different companies offer the same conclusion at different price points, who are we meant to know which one to go for? Let’s take a look at two cleaners, one on the high-end and one from the drugstore, to finally put an end to this question. 

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I will be judging these cleansers on four different categories: how well they remove my makeup, how effortlessly it removes my makeup, how my skin feels afterwards, and a final overall score.

Elemis Cleansing Balm 

Elemis is known as a “luxury skincare and body wellness” company, as it says on their website. They say their products focus on skin wellness, proven results, feel-good skincare, and transparent innovation. With that being said, Elemis has a large selection of makeup cleansers to choose from, but for this, we will be looking at their most popular and basic one, the Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. 

With some quick research on the Elemis website, they claim that this product will “effortlessly remove long-wear makeup, daily grime, and surface pollutants.” All of that is promised at a price point starting at $68 USD for 100g of product all the way to $115 for 200g. So, it goes without saying that before trying the product, I had very high expectations simply based on the price. 

How well it removes my makeup: I’m going to have to give the Elemis cleanser a 4 out of 5. This is because it did remove my makeup pretty well, but unfortunately, afterwards, while washing my face, I did see some residue of mascara and eyeliner that the cleanser didn’t seem to be able to get off. I only removed one point because it wasn’t a huge amount of leftover makeup, but makeup was still on my face. 

How effortlessly it removes my makeup: For this category, I am going to give Elemis a 2 out of 5. This was not effortless by any means, which I was pretty disappointed by since it was something that they promised on their website. I wear pretty long-lasting, waterproof makeup, and with the Elemis cleanser, I had to rub and rub for quite a bit of time to get most of it removed. By the end, not all of it was even gone, and my eyes got pretty irritated. On top of that, to remove the cleanser from your face, you have to use a warm, damp washcloth — another step that makes it even less effortless. 

How good my skin feels afterwards: I am not going to lie; my skin felt pretty amazing after using the Elemis cleanser, so I will give it a 4 out of 5 for this category. My skin felt soft and hydrated, which was really nice, especially since it felt like a reward after a long day of wearing makeup. This is probably the best part of the Elemis cleansing balm; it does leave your skin feeling refreshed so far that it got a pretty high score for this category. 

Overall: Taking into account the price point as well as the other categories, for the overall score, I am going to give the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm a score of 3 out of 5. It’s a pretty good cleanser; it gets the job done, but when considering everything, especially the price, I just don’t think it’s that worth it. The cleanser took far too long to remove my makeup and really irritated my eyes, which is not good. For that price, I did expect a lot better out of this cleanser. 

e.l.f Cleansing Balm

For our drugstore cleanser, we are going to be looking at e.l.f’s cleansing balm, the Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm. This cleanser was part of e.l.f. ‘s first batch of products in their line of e.l.f Skin, a line of skincare products. Looking at e.l.f. ‘s website the same that we did for Elemis, e.l.f states that they are for everyone. They say that they are “instant access to the best beauty – all the thrills, no velvet ropes.” 

Now, taking a closer look at the cleanser, the e.l.f. website states that this cleanser is “a solid cleansing balm that melts into a luxurious oil to easily melt away makeup,” a very similar promise to Elemis’ cleansing balm. However, this cleanser retails for $11 USD for 2 ounces of product, or roughly 57g, to $19 for 4 ounces or 113g. This is quite the difference compared to the Elemis’ price range, but let’s see how it compares in usage. 

How well it removes my makeup: The e.l.f. Cleansing Balm is going to receive a 5 out of 5 in this category simply because it truly removed my makeup. From my eyebrow wax to my waterproof eyeliner to foundation, this cleanser got all of it. I was very surprised when I wiped it away and saw a completely clean face. Since I know that I wear hard-to-remove makeup, I am a little wary when it comes to cleansers that promise to remove even the most stubborn makeup, but this cleanser followed through. That is why it is receiving a 5 out of 5 in this category. 

How effortlessly it removes my makeup: For this category, I am going to give this product a 4 out of 5. It was pretty effortless, considering that I didn’t have to rub my skin as much as I needed to for the Elemis cleansing balm, and it took half the amount of time to get my makeup off. I also enjoy the fact that it’s easy to remove from the skin, and you only need about a dime-size amount of product to remove an entire face of makeup. I think it does deserve this score for how effortless it is. 

How good my skin feels afterwards: I am going to give this e.l.f. Cleansing Balm a 3 out of 5 in this category. Unfortunately, after washing the product off, my skin felt incredibly dry and tight. I have pretty oily skin, so feeling my face be completely dry is not something I’m used to and it did not feel nice to me. I do think that this might be different based on people’s skin type but for me, it was not a good feeling and I disliked it very much. 

Overall: All in all, I am going to give the e.l.f. Cleansing Balm a 4 out of 5 overall. I think that, especially considering how cheap this product is, it does an amazing job at what it promises to do: remove your makeup. It is easy to use, effortless, and you get a good amount of product for the money you are paying for it. I think that this is one of the best drugstore products I have ever tried, and that is saying something because I have tried a lot. 

In the end, I do believe that a higher price does not equal a better product. Unfortunately, makeup and just beauty products in general have risen a lot in price so I love to find great products that don’t break the bank. However, at the end of the day, I also do believe in using the products that work and feel great for you. If you can afford higher-priced products then have at it, get the high-end products, especially if they work for you. If you can’t afford high-end products that is totally okay, and there are plenty of products out there that are affordable and amazing! Makeup is all about making yourself feel and look your best, and that shouldn’t be gatekept due to price.

Adamari Ruelas

CU Boulder '26

Adamari Ruelas is a contributing writer for the Her Campus chapter at CU Boulder. Her job within Her Campus is to write at least two articles a month, one contributing to a theme week. Outside of Her Campus, Adamari is a first-generation college student who is currently a sophomore at the University of Colorado Boulder, majoring in English Creative Writing. During her spring semester of freshman year, Adamari studied abroad in London, wanting to learn about different cultures while also being able to study in a Literature-rich city. Adamari also interned at the Aurora Public Schools Communications Department during her senior year of High School, where she learned how to write articles, interview subjects, and create social media posts for the department under the guidance of multiple professionals. In her free time, Adamari enjoys reading and writing, at least when she isn’t hanging out with her friends or playing Overwatch with her little siblings. She is a very proud Mexican-American who loves sharing her culture as long as Mexican history with anyone who lends an ear. Adamari is also a massive nerd, especially with Harry Potter (she’s a Ravenclaw btw) and Marvel. In the future, Adamari hopes to become a published author, sharing her works with the world and hoping they help people the way books have helped her.