My obsession with cleansers is well documented, but I haven’t really found anything to add to my Hall of Fame for a while. Omorovicza Hydra Melting Cleanser is beautiful, but doesn’t remove makeup as well as I’d like and is ridiculously expensive. Kat Burki’s Vitamin C Cleansing Balm has similar issues, but if you prefer your cleansing balm to be very, very light (the texture is gorgeous), this could very well be HoF material for you. Frankly, I’m nit-picking with these – I assume most sane people would not use these products for the first cleanse anyway -, but for that kind of money, I do expect the products to be exactly right for me.

Enter the much-awaited Drunk Elephant cleansing balm. I am not the biggest fan of their Beste jelly cleanser – it is fine, but can leave the skin a bit dry and the packaging is prone to leaking. The Slaai balm, however, is pretty perfectly formulated. It has a sumptuous, rich texture, but isn’t too greasy. It removes makeup effortlessly. It emulsifies like a dream. It leaves the skin feeling great. It has no scent. You didn’t need much. It’s vegan and cruelty free. It ticks all the boxes a modern cleansing balm should tick.

There are also two little innovations. The spatula that comes with the balm (so that you don’t use your grubby fingers and introduce all kinds of unhelpful germs to the tub) is magnetic and sticks to the lid. As a person who has lost countless tiny spatulas in my lifetime, I wholly approve. The balm is also accompanied by a small bottle of physical exfoliant (very fine bamboo and charcoal particles) that you can add to the balm for some enhanced action. A nifty addition, if you’re into that sort of thing (I’m mostly not).

The only issue I can think of – and it isn’t really a criticism – is that it’s so perfectly middle-of-the-road that it may not be a perfect 10 for you if your preferences are less mainstream. If you, for example, love a very oily balm, there will be better ones for you. Or if, like me, you actually prefer your balms to have a scent, Slaai might seem a little boring. But there is no denying it gets the job done and is a wonderful non-irritating, non-fussy essential. Compared to many others in the category, it’s also not expensive. I’m not saying it’s cheap, but considering the popularity of the brand, they could have easily pushed the price higher*.

You can get your face clean in less costly ways, but if Drunk Elephant is in your price range and you have been considering giving it a go, I encourage you to do so.

*I always think of Sunday Riley and and Drunk Elephant as comparable brands and SR Blue Moon balm is £46 vs £29 for Slaai.