Tatcha The Indigo Cleansing Balm Review & Swatches

Time for report of my review of the new Tatcha The Indigo Cleansing Balm Moisturizing Makeup Remover that launched earlier this Summer. Yes, there is a Tatcha Cleansing Balm now and I couldn’t be more excited because it’s fragrance-free! Wahoo! It’s on sale this week with code THANKYOU23 if you have it on your wish list!

Tatcha The Indigo Cleansing Balm ($38) is a new, permanent release to the Tatcha Family that removes dirt, makeup, and oily easily and improves the skin’s barrier function with Japanese Indigo Extract while hydrating. When this launched the first thing that grabbed me was the fact it was fragrance-free. Tatcha’s products are quite lovely and the scent of their products is beautiful but for some odd reason, I don’t like their fragrance. It’s beautiful, very soothing, and spa-like but my nose and my skin don’t really love it. I’m normally one that embraces scented skincare and feels like it adds to the experience of using it but in my older age I’ve really begun to appreciate fragrance-free options more and more.

And when they say fragrance-free they REALLY mean fragrance-free. This smells like nothing at all. You know how sometimes you get a skincare product that says fragrance-free but there’s still some weird scent to it. Not necessarily a fragrance but sometimes you get an odd fragrance from it. This has absolutely no scent. It smells like absolutely nothing and I appreciate that fully.

I happen to be a very big fan of Farmacy’s Cleansing Balm and consider it my holy grail cleansing balm of choice but I’m setting it aside and I absolutely will repurchase Tatcha The Indigo Cleansing Balm going forward. I love this formula. Tatcha did an excellent job formulating this one.

This is 1.9 oz in size for $38. If you’re comparing it to my Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm it’s considerably smaller as I pay $36 for 3.4 oz of product. Or even comparing it to more popular cleansing balm picks like Clinique Take the Day Away which’s the same price as Tatcha but contains 3.8 oz. I can do comparisons all day on price versus size but the fact of the matter is Tatcha may be smaller but the formula is fantastic and worth the $38.

This arrives in a small circular pot and has a small circular disc that acts as a spatula to remove the balm! It’s pretty much the same style of applicator as Tatcha’s The Silk Canvas Protective Primer. You can scoop a small amount out using it without ever having to touch the balm. I think the joy of this product is I noticed I had to use a lot less balm than I normally would to remove my makeup. A little scoop did my entire face!

This is a denser balm so not as soft as Farmacy’s version but pretty much the standard formula that you’d find in balm cleansing balms such as Clinique’s formula. As soon as it touches your face it instantly melts down into a slicker oil-like consistency. It removes makeup like a dream. It’s very gentle yet very mighty. I used it on waterproof mascara (I normally use an eye makeup remover pre-cleanse but for review purposes used this to remove my eye makeup) and eyeshadow and it didn’t struggle at all to remove every single drop. It did great with my SPF and foundation as well. Not to mention it rinses away very, very, very easily.

As with all cleansing balms it’s meant to be used on dry skin. Simply scoop a small amount out, apply it to your dry face, and use a little water to break it down, After that rinse it off and you’re good. It didn’t leave my skin tight, or stripped, and I felt like it added a little moisture. And it did it all without fragrance!

I’ll happily purchase this again. I really, really liked it. I was able to get it at 20% off as Tatcha had sent me a random e-mail with a coupon which was lovely but I’d totally pay full for it.

Muse Approval for Tatcha The Indigo Cleansing Balm. Don’t hesitate to indulge in this one!

Where to buy

Tatcha Sephora