Review: The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter

Purchased by Me 

For a while now, I've been hearing lots of talk about this cleansing butter from The Body Shop. I've heard raves, with some comparisons to the extremely popular Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm ($28.50 at Sephora, 3.8 oz.), but I've also heard some not-so-great things about it.

Needless to say, I was really curious and wanted to try it for myself. I picked this up during one of The Body Shop's 40% off + free shipping events a few months ago (they run those quite often, and I always post about them here), and I've been using it off and on ever since. So let's take a closer look...

The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter

(retail: $16, 2.7 oz.)

I know that $16 is a bit pricey, but you can wait for the next 40% off + free shipping event, which is always right around the corner. I paid $9.60 (plus free shipping) for this on The Body Shop website, which I think is quite reasonable when compared to cleansers at the drugstores these days.

Keep reading for my full review...

Made in the UK

From The Body Shop website:

This cleanser is an indulgent make-up remover for the whole face. It gently and efficiently melts away make-up and impurities, leaving skin feeling clean, refreshed and pampered.

• Gently melts away make-up
• Leaves skin feeling clean and petal-soft
• Removes all types of make-up
• Suitable for sensitive skin and contact lens wearers

Chamomile extract (aka: Anthemis nobilis flower extract) is indeed in this formula--it's the second-to-last ingredient above.

Side-note: Paula's Choice (among other experts) really loves this ingredient for skincare. According to several online sources, chamomile extract has both antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, yet it is still gentle enough for sensitive skin. But I also want to point out that, even though there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of chamomile extract in this formula, if you have allergies to members of the daisy family this may not be a good fit for you personally (if you are extremely sensitive to those plants). Just something to consider since you are probably going to get this product very close to your eyes.

Looking at the pics above and below, this small amount of product is all you need for your entire face. In other words, one tin should last you a very long time.

I do not own Clinique Take the Day Off Balm, however it appears that the texture/consistency of both products is similar. According to the Sephora website, the Clinique product "goes on as a solid balm and transforms into a silky oil," and that is exactly how I would describe The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter. You can see that it's pretty solid in my swatch above, but the moment you start to work it in and it comes in contact with the heat of your skin, it quickly melts into a "silky oil."

The fragrance of this butter is exactly like The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil (see my review HERE). It smells very natural (not synthetic) and I do detect chamomile. Overall, it's a soft floral scent, and I would consider it mild-to-medium in strength.

As for how this product works for me, first let me tell you how The Body Shop suggests you use it:

Apply to dry face and massage into skin. Rinse off with warm water or remove with a wet muslin cloth for a more thorough cleanse.

So just like with the cleansing oil (and cleansing oils and balms in general), you apply to your dry face and massage into your skin. This is very easy to do since the product breaks down almost instantly once you start working it in, and it truly becomes a silky oil that is very easy to spread across the skin. Just like a cleansing oil, you can feel this butter break down your makeup, including mascara, right as you start work it into your skin (very minimal effort required).

I apologize if you were wanting to know how this product removes with a cloth, but I cannot tell you that. I'm not a fan of using cloths, hand towels, etc. for removing my makeup, since I don't have a washer/dryer in my condo (I don't want to add a stack of extra towels to the already ridiculous amount of laundry I haul to the laundry room every week!). So I cannot tell you how that method works for removing this butter. I can only tell you how it works when you rinse with water and, quite frankly, that's exactly how I WANTED to use this product when I purchased it. I love products that I can apply, rinse, and bam, I'm done.

I find that this product rinses more easily than I thought it would, considering that it's an oil-based product. However, I do find that there's a thin film that stays behind on the skin and, surprisingly, it's almost the same type of residue that I get with the Camomile Cleansing Oil. It's not so heavy that I feel super greasy after rinsing, but it's definitely not something I can leave on my face before applying my regular moisturizer. I find that, for my oily skin, a second cleansing (with traditional facial wash) is a must, or at the very least, I find that I need to use my Simple Micellar Water after I rinse this butter.  But if you have dry skin, you may enjoy the film that's left behind--I've heard that some people just feel that their face is "very soft" after rinsing, so it's definitely one of those "your mileage may vary" things. Of course this might not be an issue at all if you use a cloth (as suggested "for a more thorough cleanse") but I just can't confirm that that's the case.

I find that this product is quite effective at removing my face makeup (primer, foundation, powder, blush), but I'm not 100% happy with how it removes my mascara. I've tried this product with my most stubborn mascaras (I don't use waterproof mascaras but Benefit They're Real Mascara is probably the most stubborn of all my non-waterproof mascaras) and I had varying results. With certain mascara formulas that are on the thin side, I can remove every last trace with this butter. But with stubborn mascaras (like Benefit They're Real), I can never seem to remove every last trace. No matter what I do, or how long I massage this butter into my eye area, there are always traces remaining under my lower lash line.

One more thing: This product has not caused any irritation to my skin or eyes, and I have not experienced any foggy vision while using this product. But I do want you to know that this is not the case for everyone. I've seen some online reviews that mention some temporary stinging and foggy vision after using this product and, in fact, some of you on Instagram mentioned the same thing to me the other day when I posted a sneak-peek of this product review (to be fair, many of you also commented on that pic about how much you loved this product). I asked those of you who said you had some irritation/foggy vision if you opened your eyes at all during makeup removal, and you all said that you kept your eyes shut and still experienced temporary foggy vision and/or irritation. After a bit of online research, I found this article that states that the very first ingredient in this butter, ethylhexyl palmitate, may be an eye irritant for some people. This article also states that it may cause "mild irritation" for some people (although it seems to be a generally safe ingredient that is widely used  in cosmetics and skincare). Again, I did not experience any irritation/foggy vision with this product, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

FINAL VERDICT: I love cleansers that remove everything, all in one shot, with no need for a secondary product. Sadly, this is not one of them for me. But if you are already accustomed to (or prefer) a two-step cleansing routine, then you may enjoy this product. I find that I'm always reaching for my micellar water or facial cleanser after I use this butter, since it does not always remove every last trace of my eye makeup. I have not experienced any irritation or foggy vision though so, moving forward, I can see myself using this as an eye makeup remover on days when I'm wearing a lot of makeup and need to break it down before I use my regular facial cleanser. But as a stand-alone facial cleanser, this was not a love-match for me.

Do you own The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter? I would absolutely love to know how it's been working for you!

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.