Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser is a pH balanced gentle cleanser that dissolves excess oil, dirt and debris from the skin. Suitable for all skin types.
Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser
AVERAGE RATINGS
Lovely simple cleanser
This is fantastic basic cleanser for morning or night. It's a perfect mix between a cream and a gel. It foams up a little to thoroughly remove makeup and clean skin but never so much as to strip or dehydrate my skin. No matter what condition my skin is in, I can always rely on this cleanser to clean my skin without causing any irritation. This cleanser has no discernible fragrance which I really appreciate in my skin care routine. You can use this to double cleanse but I find one thorough cleanse to be enough. It rinses cleanly away to reveal comfortable, clean skin. This cleanser is great value as it is quite a large bottle. Highly recommend.
I always love a Kiehl's skincare product and their Ultra Facial Cleanser is no exception. One of my favourites! It cleanses very thoroughly but gently, and never leaves my fairly dry skin with any tautness or discomfort, and I find it removes most impurities and light makeup with one cleanse. Only after a full makeup would I need a first cleanse with facial oil or micellar water. Some micellar waters can be a little drying, so to follow with Ultra Facial Cleanser is a good protection, with its blend of moisturizing squalane, Apricot kernel, Vitamin E and Avocado Oil. Kiehl's are well-known for their natural, plant -based ingredients which is why I love them! This cleansing gel has almost no scent, so I know I am not putting chemicals or synthetic perfumes on my face, just a gently foaming gel that leaves my skin nicely clean and prepared for the rest of my skincare. At $30 for a 150 ml tube this is not budget beauty, but it foams and spreads so well, I really need only a small amount. That is good news for my skin AND for my budget.
I have used this cleanser when I had sensitive skin and it is very gentle on my skin where it did not cause any breakouts. It does a good job cleaning out any impurities without drying out my skin. Given that it is a gentle cleanser, I do not recommend to use it as makeup remover. Recommend it to all skin type.
I've been using this for over 6 years now and haven't touched another cleanser since. It's very tough when it comes to removing makeup and dirt off your skin but also very gentle on the skin. I have combination skin [it gets super dry in winter] but this cleanser does a fantastic job at not stripping my skin any further. I use it twice, once to remove makeup and the second to cleanse my skin. Only a small amount is needed as it's very easy to distribute the creamy product
I purchased a small bottle of this while travelling overseas. Long haul travel played havoc on my skin and I found this was great at keeping my skin feeling clean without over drying. A great addition to my skin care routine
Trying to get a skincare routine started can be tough if you don’t know where to start. It takes a lot of trial and error to find out what works best for your skin and what doesn’t. In high school, the first brand that I had ever tried for skincare was Biotherm! After awhile, Biotherm didn’t work as well for me so I wanted to switch to a new brand and that’s when I tried Kiehl’s. The sales associate recommended their entire “Ultra Facial” line [not the oil-free one]. The only gem out of the cleanser, toner and cream that I was recommended to try was the Ultra Facial Cleanser.
Disclaimer: I am not a beauty guru nor expert, and all sorts that fall under that category. This product was purchased with my own money and I am not being paid to write this. My review, photos, impressions and thoughts are all my own, unless stated otherwise. While this product may or may not have worked for my skin, it may or may not work for yours – remember, your mileage may vary [YMMV]! Links: Affiliate links to WISHTREND are in this post and will be marked with **. Using these links to make a purchase will give me a small commission which goes back into the blog. If you do not feel comfortable using these links that is completely fine! I will try to put non-affiliate links down at the end of my post.
Specs
Brand Kiehl’s Size/weight 150mL Lifespan when opened 1 year Best Before N/A [a lot of Western products tend to not include a “best before” date] Fragrance Mild, it has that no-scent scent Purchased from Hudson’s BayPrice
$27.00 for 150mL | $16.00 for 75mL from Hudson’s Bay
Price per mL wise, it would be cheaper to purchase the 150mL as oppose to the 75mL bottle. However, 75mL is more versatile since it can be taken aboard on planes for short trips.
Quickie
The Good
- Gentle, does not make skin feel “stripped”
- Fragrance-free, good for sensitive skin
- Removes makeup
- Reasonably priced
The Bad
- If you’re trying to avoid parabens, then this may not be the product for you
Will I buy this again?
Yes, highly likely. When I’ve cleared out the rest of the products that I am planning on trying out. But this is on the top of my “will repurchase” list.
Evaluation
PACKAGING /5 INGREDIENTS /5 APPLICATION /10 TEXTURE /5 EFFECTIVENESS /20 PRICE /5 5 4 10 5 15 4
Overall: 4.3/5
Claims/Description
A mild cleanser that helps cleanse skin thoroughly and remove makeup without over-drying or stripping skin.
Packaging
Comes in a tube, which makes it sanitary to a certain extent!
Ingredients
Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Decyl Glucoside, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Acrylates Copolymer, Peg-200 Hydrogenated Glyceryl Palmate, Lauryl Glucoside, Sodium Chloride, Pentylene Glycol, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Peg-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Distearyl Ether, Behenyl Alcohol, Methylparaben, Laureth-2, Propylparaben, Sodium Methylparaben, Squalane, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil/Sweet Almond Oil, Prunus Armeniaca Kernel Oil/Apricot Kernel Oil, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Persea Gratissima Oil/Avocado Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid – Extracted from Nordstrom
CosDNA Analysis
I’ve marked all the ingredients that were flagged by CosDNA in red. Make sure that you’re not allergic/sensitive to any of these before trying this product out!
Texture
Sticky gel-texture that is slightly translucent with a yellow-y tint [the tint is not super noticeable]. This is not a foam cleanser, although you can lather it and make bubbles, the bubbling is minimal. See below for what the cleanser looks like after water is applied.
Application
After using this product for around a year or so, I found that the application method that worked the best for me was to:
- Wet face with water
- Apply a pea-sized amount to fingertips and sprinkle a bit of water onto the product
- “Lather” the product to get it to a more easily spreadable state
- Apply and massage cleanser onto the face
- Rinse with cold/warm water
It’s a lot easier to apply the product onto the face when it’s more watery [see picture under effectiveness]! This cleanser doesn’t foam up too much, but if you get the chance to try this product you’ll understand what I mean.
Effectiveness
Can’t test a cleanser’s cleansing abilities without doing a makeup test, am I right? The makeup products that I applied on my arm are [from left to right]:
- BECCA Mineral Blush Hyacinth
- CANMAKE Shading Powder No.1 Danish Brown
- ETUDE HOUSE Big Cover Tip Concealer Sand
- NATURE REPUBLIC Snail Solution BB Cream No.02
After around 20-30 seconds of massaging the cleanser into my skin in circular motion, I started to see the makeup that I had applied earlier come off.
I massaged it for another 15-20 seconds, applying a bit of extra water when it started to feel like it was drying up, and rinsed it off with water.
I’m sure there’s probably bit of makeup leftover on my skin [which is why we always go in with a double cleanse at night y’all!]. It’s pretty evident that this cleanser works incredibly well at removing a good amount of face makeup.
The best part is that my skin never feels like it’s been stripped of anything. No squeakiness, nothing.
In Summary
Overall, if you’re having difficulty finding a good cleanser to start building a routine with, I would give this one a go. What I would be careful of is the ingredients – always make sure that you patch test before using any products, even if they say that it’s good for all skin types including sensitive ones. This cleanser is one that I constantly reach for in the shower or whenever I just want to use something simple and quick.
Is Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cleanser good for OILY skin?
Efficacious Facial Cleansers For All Skin Types Our collection of cleansers uses powerful formulas to help you target your skin concerns. For oily skin, we recommend the Ultra Facial Oil-Free Cleanser which uses a gentle foaming formula to cleanse away excess oil and impurities.
Is Kiehl's good or bad?
Kiehl's is appreciated for its high quality products, especially praised for its musk scent, ultra facial moisturiser and midnight recovery oil. However, customers are not satisfied with the customer service and high price.
Is Kiehl's cleanser good for dry skin?
If you have normal-dry skin—that is, skin that occasionally gets dry—we recommend reaching for a moisturizing cleanser, like our cult-classic Ultra Facial Cleanser. This creamy formula contains olive-derived squalane and avocado oil to cleanse and soften the skin.
How often should you wash your face with Kiehl's?
A good rule to follow is to wash your face twice a day, once in the morning and once at night.