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Elemis

Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm
Cleansers

About this product

A luxurious cleansing balm designed to remove makeup, sunscreen, and impurities on dry skin. It melts into an oil when warmed, then emulsifies into milk when water is added, and rinses clean without stripping.

Full ingredients

Guru Score

68%

Mixed

14 experts · Strong agreement
14Gurus
9Yay
3Mixed
2Nay

What they liked

  • Leaves skin soft and hydrated, not stripped
  • Fragrance-free option available
  • Small amount lasts a long time

What they flagged

  • Very expensive for a cleanser
  • Greasy texture, melts like pure oil

What the gurus are saying

This balm melts away stubborn makeup, waterproof mascara, and sunscreen completely while leaving skin soft and nourished rather than tight or stripped. Gurus praise how it transforms from balm to oil to milky solution, making it an elegant first step in double cleansing, and note it works particularly well for those with water-resistant products or hooded eyelids. One standout: it is polyethylene-free, avoiding the plastic slip agents found in many balms. The main trade-off is texture and scent; a few found it quite thick, and those sensitive to fragrance will want the fragrance-free Naked version instead. At the higher price point, the generous size means it lasts well, though a second water-based cleanser after is still worth doing.
Synthesized from 14 expert reviews · most recent take August 2026

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored
~Nay
"This is a bit of a greasier cleansing balm. Anecdotally, I don't love it. I have no doubt that it works, but only acceptably, based on how it's kind of melting into my skin, more like a pure oil. To me these balms are just too soft, and in some ways I don't like that experience."
~Mixed
"I cannot stand it when people spend crazy money on cleansers like the Elemis Cleansing Balm, it's $72, $50 right now on Prime Day. I do like that they now made a fragrance-free option, but $50 for a cleanser is out of control."
~Yay
"This is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. If you love a good cleansing balm to remove your makeup and sunscreen at the end of the day, dirt and grime, this is an amazing one to try. This is actually really gentle. There are different fragranced options depending on what you want to use. This is the original one, but they do have a Naked one, which is fragrance-free. This does have a mild, fresh, citrusy scent to it, so if you can't do fragrance, there is a fragrance-free option, which I think is amazing, and the formula is the exact same except there's just no fragrance. This is a true balm that actually helps to soften and nourish the skin while you're using it. Of course it's not going to be left on the skin for too long, as this is meant to remove your makeup and sunscreen, but if you're someone that wears water resistant sunscreens, especially in the summer, waterproof mascara, or stubborn lip stains or lipsticks, this removes everything. When I put this all over, I let it sit for a couple of minutes just to let it marinate and basically melt off everything, and then when you go and rinse your face, your skin is super clean. It doesn't feel stripped, it actually feels really nourished. But I always go in with a second cleanse afterwards with a different cleanser just to make sure my skin is really clean before I start my nighttime routine. This is really lovely."
~Yay
"This cleansing balm is my favorite way to start winding down for the night. It melts on my skin, removes all traces of makeup, SPF, impurities from the day without stripping any of my skin's moisture. This luxurious texture turns my evening cleanse into a self-care ritual. Some of the key ingredients here are things like English Rose oil extract, Elderberry oil, Padina pavonica, these all help give it that nice buttery soft moisturizing texture that does an amazing job of taking makeup off. You're supposed to apply it with clean hands, dry hands to dry face. You take this balm, rub it on your entire face. I love it for the eye makeup. You put it on completely dry skin, rub it in, feel it melt, then add a little bit of water to help it kind of lather."
All 2 takes from Dr. Aleksandra Brown
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"This cleansing balm is my favorite way to start winding down for the night. It melts on my skin, removes all traces of makeup, SPF, impurities from the day without stripping any of my skin's moisture. This luxurious texture turns my evening cleanse into a self-care ritual. Some of the key ingredients here are things like English Rose oil extract, Elderberry oil, Padina pavonica, these all help give it that nice buttery soft moisturizing texture that does an amazing job of taking makeup off. You're supposed to apply it with clean hands, dry hands to dry face. You take this balm, rub it on your entire face. I love it for the eye makeup. You put it on completely dry skin, rub it in, feel it melt, then add a little bit of water to help it kind of lather."
Dermatologist’s 2024 Skincare Empties: Dr. Aleksandra Brown’s Favorites
"I love the cleansing balm. It smells amazing, it is very soft on my skin, does not irritate my eyes, it's amazing at removing eye makeup off, especially if you're like me you have hooded eyelids and you use shadow primer. You're supposed to use the cleansing balm on dry skin so when I get in the shower I will put this on my entire face, massage it in really good, then wash it off with a regular face cleanser."
~Yay
"I do love a good high-end cleansing balm. I had a hard time picking between Eve Lom and Elemis, but in the end I went with Elemis because I like how there are now different scents from them. This cleansing balm just smells so enjoyable, and there's something in the texture and the whole ritual of using it to remove all your makeup and sunscreen. Nobody needs this kind of a fancy product, but if you like it, you're allowed to enjoy it."
All 3 takes from AliceintheRabbitHole
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"I do love a good high-end cleansing balm. I had a hard time picking between Eve Lom and Elemis, but in the end I went with Elemis because I like how there are now different scents from them. This cleansing balm just smells so enjoyable, and there's something in the texture and the whole ritual of using it to remove all your makeup and sunscreen. Nobody needs this kind of a fancy product, but if you like it, you're allowed to enjoy it."
ULTA Love Your Skin Sale: My Picks AND What to Skip!
"I really do like the Elemis cleansing balm. You never have to spend this kind of money on a cleansing balm, but if you want quite a cleansing experience, you get that with the Elemis cleansing balm."
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"This past week I actually broke out my Elemis cleansing balm. It's optional, you don't have to be that fancy in the cleansing process, but if you want to be, it's a nice product."
~Yay
"This is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, the original, so this is the yellow one. I love it because it is so luxurious with a wonderful fragrance. This contains starflower oil, elderberry oil, wheat germ, and oat oils. This is your first step in the double cleansing method -- on days when I wear a lot of makeup, foundation, sticky things like mascara, I will always do a double cleanse: first you use an oil-based cleanser and follow that up with a water-based cleanser, and doing this method will really help to remove all of the sweat, dirt, grime, makeup, oils, all the things that collect on your face as you go about your day. This one starts off as a balm, and then you put it on your face and as it warms, as it dissolves, it dissolves into this really rich, luxe oil, and then after that when you put water on it, it becomes kind of like this milky solution. I really like this one because it is a wonderful first step and a wonderful introduction to my nighttime skincare routine. It also does a really good job of not over-stripping my skin -- I feel like some cleansers leave your skin feeling really tight and dry, which is not what you want. This one really leaves my skin cleansed but also feeling really hydrated and prepared for that second cleanse. I've used it all up -- this one is an empty."
All 2 takes from Tea with MD
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"This is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, the original, so this is the yellow one. I love it because it is so luxurious with a wonderful fragrance. This contains starflower oil, elderberry oil, wheat germ, and oat oils. This is your first step in the double cleansing method -- on days when I wear a lot of makeup, foundation, sticky things like mascara, I will always do a double cleanse: first you use an oil-based cleanser and follow that up with a water-based cleanser, and doing this method will really help to remove all of the sweat, dirt, grime, makeup, oils, all the things that collect on your face as you go about your day. This one starts off as a balm, and then you put it on your face and as it warms, as it dissolves, it dissolves into this really rich, luxe oil, and then after that when you put water on it, it becomes kind of like this milky solution. I really like this one because it is a wonderful first step and a wonderful introduction to my nighttime skincare routine. It also does a really good job of not over-stripping my skin -- I feel like some cleansers leave your skin feeling really tight and dry, which is not what you want. This one really leaves my skin cleansed but also feeling really hydrated and prepared for that second cleanse. I've used it all up -- this one is an empty."
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"I had a full face of makeup on, foundation, lots of eye shadow, eyelash glue, the whole thing, and at the end of the day it really felt so good to go in with my Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, melt it into my hands using the warmth of my hands, and then massage it all over my skin, and it just melts into my skin. What I love about this product is, of course, it does a good job of removing my makeup, dirt, grime, sunscreen, debris, whatever has collected on my face from the day, but it also leaves my skin feeling really really soft and hydrated, and it feels very luxurious as I'm giving myself the massage. There is a smell to it, so if you are sensitive to smells this may not be the product for you, but I personally really like this scent, it's their signature scent. I am not averse to scent, I like fragrance in my products so I enjoy it here. Ingredients-wise, this balm also contains a brown algae called Padina Pavonica, found off the coast of the Mediterranean, which helps to support hydration in the skin, elderberry oil, which also helps with that hydration and with taking off your makeup, and star flower oil. Interestingly, I have never heard of this before, it contains high concentrations of gamma linoleic acid, which is important to your skin health and keeping it supple and soft. This Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm is a pricey product, it's 68 dollars, but it's currently 20 percent off I believe as part of the anniversary sale, so this would be a splurge item or a good item to buy as a gift."
~Nay
"This is a balm cleanser by Elemis and you guys wanted me to try this but unfortunately the scent is too potent for me. I usually gravitate toward unscented products and this is just way too strong, it's super perfumey. So I gave it a few tries but I'm not going to finish it up just because my skin in the cooler dryer months gets a little bit irritated and dried out and I don't want to run into a problem with the fragrance from this formula. So this won't be a repurchase for me. It's completely individual for me whether we like a scent in our skincare products or whether we don't. For me this worked great and emulsified great, it got the makeup off but it just was a little bit too scented for my personal preference."
~Yay
"I will say this about Elemis, a lot of people love their makeup removing balm. It's probably in terms of the Beauty Box I've subscribed, it's probably the single product I've gotten the most of. I think I have like 12 or 13 of them."
~Yay
"This was one of the only cleansing balms I could find that was polyethylene free. Polyethylene is essentially plastic that a lot of cleansing balm products use to add slip to the skin, but there's conflicting data as to whether or not it can impact marine wildlife and coral systems, so I would always avoid it. Back then it was really hard to find any cleansing balms that didn't have it, and this was one of the only ones I could find. Nowadays there are so many more good options out there, but I've continued to use this one over the years just because of how elegant, luxurious, moisturizing, softening of an experience it is. It just looks beautiful and feels like a beautiful experience, and with the size of the packaging it does last a long time, and that's important to me when it comes to luxury skincare, I need the products to last a while if I'm going to be spending that much money. This is one of those products where I'm like, I definitely do not need to be spending this much money on a cleansing balm that I'm going to inevitably end up rinsing off, but what can I say, I discovered it back in the day and just fell in love with the formula, and when I'm feeling in the mood for a luxurious nighttime skincare routine, I love using this one. I do want to say though that my definition of luxury is not everyone's definition. This is probably the most expensive product in my collection that I use. I am not a La Mer girly, you will never catch me spending like two or three hundred dollars on a skincare product, that is absolutely insane, and that's pretty much been my opinion throughout the years. There are very few formulas that I would justify spending more than a hundred dollars on."
All 2 takes from Hyram
My ✨Luxury✨ Skin Care Routine (Worth The Price!)
"This was one of the only cleansing balms I could find that was polyethylene free. Polyethylene is essentially plastic that a lot of cleansing balm products use to add slip to the skin, but there's conflicting data as to whether or not it can impact marine wildlife and coral systems, so I would always avoid it. Back then it was really hard to find any cleansing balms that didn't have it, and this was one of the only ones I could find. Nowadays there are so many more good options out there, but I've continued to use this one over the years just because of how elegant, luxurious, moisturizing, softening of an experience it is. It just looks beautiful and feels like a beautiful experience, and with the size of the packaging it does last a long time, and that's important to me when it comes to luxury skincare, I need the products to last a while if I'm going to be spending that much money. This is one of those products where I'm like, I definitely do not need to be spending this much money on a cleansing balm that I'm going to inevitably end up rinsing off, but what can I say, I discovered it back in the day and just fell in love with the formula, and when I'm feeling in the mood for a luxurious nighttime skincare routine, I love using this one. I do want to say though that my definition of luxury is not everyone's definition. This is probably the most expensive product in my collection that I use. I am not a La Mer girly, you will never catch me spending like two or three hundred dollars on a skincare product, that is absolutely insane, and that's pretty much been my opinion throughout the years. There are very few formulas that I would justify spending more than a hundred dollars on."
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"For so long I resisted liking this product because I just wanted to hate it, but I could not help myself, it is so good, it is the very famous Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. I remember this was recommended to me and I thought that is so expensive for a cleansing balm, but I really like to think about ingredients, and I liked that it was free of polyethylene. Once I started using it I was blown away at how well it performs on the skin and how long it lasts, a little bit goes a very long way with this product, and with the amount of time it takes to get through one of these it kind of equates to what the price of an average cleansing balm would be. It just feels amazing on the skin, it's so rich and nourishing, but it doesn't leave behind a film or residue, it really washes off well and feels like a very nice luxurious experience."
~Yay
"The one I love is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. It's expensive, but it's my favorite. Whatever fits into your budget, get a cleansing balm, but get one at night."
All 2 takes from Nipun Kapur
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"If there's any faith that you guys have, trust me on this, invest in a cleansing balm. Now, cleansing balms can be very, very expensive. It is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, supremely expensive. You've seen it in several videos if you've been following me for a while. I keep testing out affordable ones, but this is really, really good."
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"The one I love is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. It's expensive, but it's my favorite. Whatever fits into your budget, get a cleansing balm, but get one at night."
~Mixed
"I really like one of their cleansing balms. Their products are nice, they're nice. But am I racing out to re-buy them? No, not really. I understand why people like this brand and why I'm asked pretty much on a daily basis to review them. I think it's one of those brands I knew growing up, so I'm kind of over it. I'm not in a rush to buy them because I feel like they've been around for so long. For me personally, there are other brands I want to review before Elemis, so they're always going to come after other brands because they're just not in my priority list."
~Mixed
"I am obsessed with this, it's the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm and it smells like freaking heaven. Based on the ingredients, I kind of feel like this is overpriced for $64 - this is not what I would spend my money on if I were to buy an Elemis product. But it's nice that she's using it."
~Yay
"This one smells like you walked into a spa. It is a very thick and waxy balm, super soft in texture, and probably the richest one right off the bat. It's not hard to break, it's a great one for the tips I mentioned along the hands, especially at night or if you have very cracked cuticles, and you can let it sit on your face for five to ten minutes as a mask before you wash it off. It has nine different essential oils, which is not ideal if you're sensitive skin, and it has very thick waxes like rose wax and mimosa wax. This one nourishes as a balm, it removes makeup as an oil, and it becomes a cleansing milk once you mix it with water, so it transforms into more of a white milky cleanser. I would probably put this in the bath, take a little scoop and mix it with water, and allow your body to soak in it."
~Yay
"I'm going to start with the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, old but a goodie, I've been loving it. It melts all this makeup down, and I try to give myself some time to do this. I think the longer you get it nice and oily, the better. This is the Rose one, and it's nice, but I actually do prefer the normal scent. I really get it in everywhere, make sure I get everything, then add a bit of water and it turns into a bit of a milk. If I'm wearing makeup, I'll always melt it down first."
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All 2 takes from Jamie Genevieve
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"I'm going to start with the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, old but a goodie, I've been loving it. It melts all this makeup down, and I try to give myself some time to do this. I think the longer you get it nice and oily, the better. This is the Rose one, and it's nice, but I actually do prefer the normal scent. I really get it in everywhere, make sure I get everything, then add a bit of water and it turns into a bit of a milk. If I'm wearing makeup, I'll always melt it down first."
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"The Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm is the hero product. It's a really gorgeous rich balm that turns into an oil on the skin and then when you emulsify it with water it turns into milk and that really just lifts all the product. It's incredible for a first cleanse and if you've got really dry skin you could even cleanse with it in the morning and it would give you a really nice hydrated start to the day. It smells like a spa every time I use it."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, and it is often in a formula to keep the other ingredients stable rather than as the active itself. It pairs well with vitamin C, though on its own the evidence for visible change is limited.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Frequently asked.

What is Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm?

A luxurious cleansing balm designed to remove makeup, sunscreen, and impurities on dry skin. It melts into an oil when warmed, then emulsifies into milk when water is added, and rinses clean without stripping.

Is Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm worth it?

The gurus are split. 9 of the 14 gurus give it their stamp of approval while 2 would skip it, which lands it in the middle at a Guru Score of 68%.

What is Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm's Guru Score?

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm holds a Guru Score of 68%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 14 expert reviewers we have collected.

Who is Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm best for?

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm is generally suited to dry skin and mature skin.

Cheaper alternatives the gurus rate.

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