Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel cleanser review

I was recently lucky enough to be sent some small sample sachets for a brand new product to Hong Kong – Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel.

I love the concept of this ‘dual-phase’ product. It starts life as a thick luxurious translucent gel, which glides silkily smooth onto the face. Next, massage it into your skin with wet fingertips, thus melting it into a milky creamy emulsion. Finally, wipe or rinse it off and you’re left with deeply-cleansed, super-soft and ultra-radiant skin.

The Melting Cleansing Gel also contains one of the current ‘It ingredients’ for cosmetics, Argan oil, which comes stuffed with naturally-occurring minerals and is renowned for its restorative and nutritive properties. Other high-achieving ingredients include rice silk (to mattify and eliminate shine), assai fruit (an antioxidant that prevents the skin from drying out) and rosemary leaf (a purifying antioxidant).

Even though I only had enough of the stuff to last around four days, I was bowled over. Elemis, much like one of my favourite skincare brands Bliss, originated from spa treatments and therapies and the Melting Cleansing Gel has a similarly amazing luxurious feel to it. I’m used to cleansers feeling very workaday so it was a lovely way to inject a little bit of luxury to my daily routine. The texture really is meltingly beautiful, gooey gliding goodness – as if someone made the softest cashmere, silk and velvet into gel form.

The results are instantly noticeable. My skin felt deeply cleansed without any of those familiar feelings of tightness or dryness and I was instead left feeling refreshed, relaxed and with supremely soft skin to boot. My complexion definitely seemed brighter and lighter too. Other reviews have commented on a pleasant citrus scent but oops, I was clearly enjoying the gel to cream transition to notice!

Because the Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel offers such a deep clean that feels more moisturising rather than stripping, I think it would be ideal for sensitive skin. Despite the whole melting dual-phase technology, it’s not especially time-consuming and can easily fit into your everyday skincare routine.

With just enough sample for four uses, I can’t really comment on the product’s long-term effects or how long it lasts for and it might be a little bit pricey to make it into everyone’s daily regime. However, what I can say is that I was so impressed by the Melting Cleansing Gel that I would definitely recommend it to others and would even give it a full-time trial myself!

Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel, $380 for 125ml, available from Elemis Day Spa in Central and Elemis counters at Lane Crawford and Joyce Beauty.