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With the increasing interest in ingredient lists, a new debate has entered the skincare community: What is better – more or less ingredients? As always the answer is: „It depends!“

It depends on the formula, it depends on the ingredients, it depends on what you want your product to do, it depends on a lot of things basically.

 

 

It also depends on what you think are many or few ingredients – the Junoskin Clean 10 Cleansing Balm claims to only use 10 ingredients. Now is that many ingredients? Or do you think that is less than average? (For more tips on how to read an ingredient list, click here.)
I personally don’t really care, what I care about is how the product performs on my skin, so that is what this review is going to be about.

 

 

What the Juno & Co Clean 10 Cleansing Balm claims

Clean 10 Cleansing Balm is a unique oil-based cleanser curated for all skin types to effortlessly dissolve makeup. It’s developed to remove even waterproof makeup and perform multiple tasks. Our cleansing balm only has 10 ingredients but heavily depends on our star ingredient, Japanese Barley Magic. This particular ingredient is a source of vitamins and antioxidants in order to help regulate the skin’s melanin production. This includes brightening the skin’s complexion and reducing dark spots. The implemented technology deeply cleanses skin without stripping natural oils.

 

Facts about the Juno & Co Clean 10 Cleansing Balm

Prize and size

One pot contains 85 g and retails for 10$ on the website here. The product is vegan and comes with a spatula.

 

Texture and scent

When you open the pot for the first time, the balm is solid, but easy to remove. Should you use your fingers, it immediately starts to melt, and after being open for a while kept at room temperature you have solid parts alongside small puddles of oil, which looks different, but does not alter the performance.
The scent is what I would describe as lemon ice cream – I am really not good at describing scents, which is why I usually fall back on food analogies. I have read complaints online that the scent is overpowering and makes people hesitant to use the product around the eyes, but I disagree. The scent is present, but not too strong and did not irritate my eyes in the slightest. Quite on the contrary, I was looking forward to using it at night, like a calorie-free sweet treat right before bed time.

 

 

How to use the Juno & Co Clean 10 Cleansing Balm

As most balm cleansers this is designed to take off makeup and sunscreen, which is why it lends itself to be used in the evenings. If you want to, you can of course use it in the mornings as well, I just tend to prefer different textures for my morning cleanse. You take some out, massage it onto dry skin, wet your fingers, emulsify the cleanser on your face and then wash it off. It rinses clean without residue, no need for a flannel or a second cleanse if you don’t want to.
Just like claimed, waterproof mascara does not stand a chance against the balm, so even if I wear a full face, it is perfectly clean after using the balm once.

 

Juno & Co Clean 10 Cleansing Balm Ingredients

Hover the mouse over an ingredient for short explanation. Read more on INCIDecoder.

Now to the 10 ingredients – most of them are emollients or mild surfactants, then you have Vitamin E as antioxidant as well as saccharomyces/ coix-lacryma jobi-ma yuen seed ferment filtrate and the scent-giving essential oil, which is Sweet Orange Oil (the brand says it is at a concentration of 0,99%). The Japanese Barley mentioned in the claims is the ferment filtrate and does, according to the brand, brighten the skin and reduce Transepidermal Water Loss. I can’t say much in regards to these claims, but do have a post on fermented ingredients here.
What makes me personally a little wary is that I don’t see dedicated preservatives on that list, only things that might stabilize the formula, and that is where I think more ingredients would have been preferable.
I talked about the problem with not using established preservative systems like parabens a little here, and would always prefer it if a brand puts an emphasis on keeping the product germ-free. And yes, it does contain water as one of the 10 ingredients, albeit not as much as your average skincare product.

 

Does it live up to its claims?

Yes.

It dissolves even waterproof makeup, cleanses without stripping and only contains 10 ingredients. The claimed benefits of Japanese Barley are not something I can comment on – I have not seen any data regarding that.

 

How does it compare to…

the Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm

Well, first of all the Clinique version only contains nine ingredients, and one of them is Phenoxyethanol, a preservative. Both share some of their emollients and cleansing agents as well as Vitamin E. Clinique does not contain any fragrance or essential oils and also does not contain Japanese Barley, but has Safflower Seed oil as an extra antioxidant.
When it comes to removing makeup, the Juno Cleansing Balm has a slight advantage for waterproof mascara and also is a little cheaper, so it probably comes down to your stand on essential oils and preservatives if you choose between the two.

Read my full review of the Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm here

 

 

Would I repurchase?

No.

Mainly because I don’t want to risk any contamination in my products and the „clean“ marketing annoys me. The product does perform lovely though, so if you are someone that wears a lot of heavy duty makeup and loves lemon ice cream, it might be perfect for you.
Just make sure to use it up fast.

 

Whom do I recommend it to?

As far as different skin types are concerned, I think it would work for everyone except those sensitive to essential oils.

 

 

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