How to Use Cleansing Balm to Melt Away Makeup

What’s capable of removing your makeup while making your skin feel soft, fresh, and bouncy? Easy: cleansing balm. If you want to learn how to use cleansing balm to melt away all of your makeup (including, yes, even waterproof mascara) without irritating your skin, you’ve come to the right place. 

Cleansing balms use natural oils to dissolve makeup, dirt, and sebum and leave your skin feeling soft and refreshed. Here at Milk HQ, we finally created our own version, and we already know you’re going to be obsessed. Meet our best cleansing balm: Milk Makeup Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm. 

Read on for all the details on how it works—and how it’s about to transform your evening skincare routine.

What is cleansing balm?

Cleansing balms are oil-based makeup removers that dissolve heavy makeup without stripping your skin. This makes them especially effective for removing a full face of makeup and stubborn formulas like waterproof mascara and sunscreen. As you massage the balm into a milky lather, the oils in the formula effectively melt away makeup and dirt to leave your skin feeling soft and bouncy.

“With heavy makeup, you want to really remove it very well and still be gentle with your skin,” says Sara Wren, our Global Director of Artistry. We designed our cleansing balm to work with all skin types, targeting makeup and dirt without irritating your skin or drying it out. Even if you have oily skin, you can still get in on the makeup-melting action.

“I think most people have misconceptions about cleansing balms; if you are slightly oily, you might think ‘that's not for me,’” says our Co-Founder and COO, Dianna Ruth. The good news is that cleansing balms play well with all skin types: dry skin, normal skin, oily skin, and sensitive skin. Our Product Development team carefully selected oils that won’t clog your pores or leave behind a greasy residue on your skin. 

“The majority of cleansing balms use coconut oil, which can sometimes clog your skin,” says Dianna. “And when it comes to lower temperatures, it can also clog your sink.” Our solution was to look to lighter plant-based oils like soybean and sunflower seed oils, which comprise the core of our Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm. 

How does Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm work?

The secret to our Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm originates from a surprising place: our bestselling, award-winning Hydro Grip Primer. The same blue agave extract that gives our makeup primer its gripping powers can also be reverse-engineered to ungrip your makeup. And that’s exactly what we did. “Blue agave extract can grip your makeup, and it can also pull it off if you just reverse the technology and use it in a different base,” says Dianna.

When combined with soybean and sunflower oils, it lifts away your makeup without leaving any residue behind. Our cleansing balm also treats your face to a combination of hemp-derived cannabis seed extract, hyaluronic acid, and aloe to help hydrate and soothe your skin for a healthy-looking dewy glow. It’s tough on makeup, but gentle on skin—exactly what you want out of your most effective makeup remover.

How to Use Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm

If you wear makeup during the day, you should definitely take it off before going to bed. Our whole team has been keeping a tub of this cleansing balm in their showers for an end-of-day treat that couldn’t be easier to use. All you have to do is scoop out a small amount of balm and gently massage it over your face. Let it all sink in for a minute, and then add water to emulsify the formula before rinsing it off with warm water. We designed the formula to be strong enough to break down even waterproof makeup without stressing out your skin, so be patient and don’t rub it in too hard (this can cause irritation).

If you’re wearing especially heavy makeup like lipstick or eyeliner and mascara, spend extra time on those areas of your face. You can also try a spa-inspired hack Sara showed us for maximizing the powers of our cleansing balm. “After applying my cleansing balm, I’ll take a warm washcloth, put it on my face, and let it sit,” she says. Then, she gently presses (not rubs!) the cloth into her skin to remove her makeup and the balm with an extra-soothing technique.

Our Hydro Ungrip Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm can definitely be used alone, but if you’re a fan of double cleansing, you can finish off with a second round of our Vegan Milk Cleanser. Either way, your skin will thank you when your makeup goes from gripped to gone in minutes.

Meet the Experts

Dianna Ruth is the Co-Founder and COO at Milk Makeup. She’s launched thousands of makeup and skincare products, overseeing them from concept to development, garnering over 30 industry awards from institutions such as CEW, Allure, Self, and Cosmopolitan. With her extensive background in product development and her busy lifestyle as a mom of two, Dianna wields her extensive industry knowledge and ability to seek out the new, useful, and functional to create our revolutionary and highly innovative Milk Makeup products.

Sara Wren is the Director of Artistry at Milk Makeup. In her role, she does all the makeup artistry and direction for our Milk Makeup global campaigns, educates the staff and field team on application methods, stars in the brand’s social media videos, and travels to different markets spreading Milk Makeup’s good vibes. When she’s not on set, Sara loves experimenting with DIY hair colors, eating tacos, watching basketball, and scouring for vintage cosmetics to add to her impressive collection.