I had some sample packets of the Tatcha One Step Pure Camelia Cleansing Oil, and liked the samples enough to buy the full size! I had wanted to try the Tatcha gold lip balm as well and decided to finally order both. I couldn't stand the smell of the lip balm, so that was a bust - sorry I can't really remark about anything other than the smell because I didn't use it long enough to form much of an opinion. But!! Onto the cleansing oil!!
***All items purchased by me. Affiliate links included.***
Tatcha One Step Pure Camellia Cleansing Oil, $48/5.1oz @ Tatcha.com (Tatcha site is currently running FF - 20% off w/ code FF2013 through December 11) and Barneys
When you order from the Tatcha site, your items come immaculately packaged. The first time I ordered (see post HERE) I was so impressed, and this second time was just as beautiful!! I didn't take pictures of the outside packaging this time (you can check the linked post), but the actual product I thought was definitely worthy of taking a closer peek...
You pull the little black tag...
Out pops your beautiful purple box (sorry my camera shows the color more blue!)...
The box is lined with this note about Tatcha...
The cleansing oil bottle is engulfed with this beautiful paper that tells more about the story of Tatcha.
The paper is textured - lovely!!
A raised Tatcha emblem on the bottle. It's details like this that I really appreciate and it shows how much care and thoughtfulness went into design. I don't know about you, but when I'm paying $$$ for a product I like to feel as though I'm getting my money's worth, and part of that for me is nice packaging :-)
This comes in a lockable pump bottle!! You pump, apply to dry skin and massage it all around in order to remove all of your makeup!! When you are ready to remove it, simply start splashing with warm water - it will turn milky and is then easily removed.
This gets everything off except for my tubing mascara. It even removes stubborn physical sunscreen. Then again, out of the 3 cleansing oils I've tried, they all remove makeup this well.
You don't have to necessarily follow with another cleanser, but I don't find that this particular cleansing oil rinses as clean as I would like. It rinses mostly clean, but I don't like any feeling of leftover residue. You might be ok with this residue, and might even find it helps with hydration. However I am super prone to clogged pores and prefer to start with a clean slate. That way it's easier to identify the pore clogging product/culprit!
Remember the scent I talked about with the Tatcha gold lip balm?? This has that scent too, though not nearly as strong. I don't care for it, but I find it at least at a tolerable level in the cleansing oil. I don't even know how to describe the fragrance…maybe a bit like licorice???
In terms of performance and effectiveness, I don't think this is so different than the Boscia Makeup Breakup Cool Cleansing Oil, nor the Bobbi Brown Soothing Cleansing Oil that I've also tried. They all remove makeup like champs.
I think what it comes down to is perhaps consistency preference, fragrance, particular oils used in formulation and any added ingredients (ex. the Boscia has eucalyptus in it that bothers some). After going through several bottles of the Boscia I'm now pretty certain it contributed to clogged pores - I never used a second cleanser with that. The Bobbi Brown I wasn't so crazy about the scent either, though I found it less bothersome than Tatcha. But the Bobbi Brown I also thought had a drier feel to it that I didn't like. I suppose in those respects the Tatcha is the better of the 3. However, I don't know that it's supremely better than any of them to validate the higher price tag and to make me want to buy again??? I think I'd like to explore Shu Uemura and other cleansing oils before making that decision!!!
Tatcha One Step Pure Camellia Cleansing Oil ingredients: