I don’t often do one product reviews, as it’s not the most exciting of genres, plus I usually don’t test things systematically enough to talk about them in depth. But occasionally, I do get sufficiently excited about something and this has recently happened with Caudalie cleansing oil.

Of all the French pharmacy brands, Caudalie is my favourite. When I need a moisturizer or face mist or micellar water that does its job well, suits my skin and smells lovely, I very often turn to Caudalie. They also do convenient starter/travel sets that I highly recommend. Another plus, at least where I live, is that I can pick the products up at almost any pharmacy or beauty store.

The cleansing oil is a new release and I bought it about a week ago. Since then, I’ve been using it daily and considering my cleanser stash, this is quite a compliment. It’s a lightweight oil that emulsifies when you add a little water – standard procedure for most cleansing oils. It removes make-up effectively, although I need two cleanses to completely remove heavy eye make-up. Then again, I find this to be the case with all cleansers and I double cleanse anyway. (When I see people raving about things that remove all make-up in a flash, I’m instantly suspicious: either they have never worn serious eye make-up, are lying or their face is somehow made differently from mine.)

Where the Caudalie really excels, is the texture and smell and feel on the skin. The mixture of sunflower, castor seed, almond and grape seed oils is just lovely to use, I would not hesitate to recommend it to people who generally don’t like oils. It also leaves the skin clean, but not stripped – another thing people often say, but my personal experience very rarely confirms. The product is lightly scented with an almond-y fragrance and it’s absolutely wonderful.

To sum up, I’ve been using this oil non-stop for days now, even in the morning – a testament to the lightness and freshness of the experience. My favourite cleansing oil so far has been Tacha’s amazing One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil, but Caudalie comes very close. And it’s half the price and can be bought around the corner.