Way back sometime last year, I reviewed the Laneige Fresh Calming Toner which is still a product I love to this day. When I went to reorder the toner from YesStyle, I noticed that Laneige had more products in the Fresh Calming range than I realised so I thought I’d grab myself the gel cleanser and test it out. At this point in time, I’ve been using the cleanser for almost 6 months and I’m excited to share my results and findings with you. Let’s start by reminding you all that I have combination skin with cystic acne. At the moment my skin is super dry and going through a bit of a phase which has been difficult to calm. I am prone to redness and have large pores.

Ingredients
Water, Glycerin, Sorbitol, Lauryl Glucoside, Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Lauryl Hydroxysultaine, Acrylates/Beheneth-25 Methacrylate Copolymer, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Sodium Chloride, Sea Water, Dipropylene Glycol, Fragrance, Polyquaternium-7, Sodium Sulfite, Butylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Disodium Edt , Litchi Chinensis Pericarp Extract.

Claims
The Laneige Fresh Calming line restores your skin’s attractiveness. For ladies aged 20-25 and has oily skin that lacks moisture, this moisture soothing line soothes skin and restores skin’s balance with refreshing moisture.
This gentle, cleanser in gel texture soothes skin with natural rich ingredients and moisturizes skin with deep seawater whilst gently cleansing skin without irritation. It penetrates deeply into skin to remove waste and sebum, hydrating, cleansing, soothing and purifying skin. Experience moisturized, non-taut feeling even after washing your face! Sulfate-free. Mineral oil-free. Synthetic coloring-free. Animal-based ingredient-free. 

How to Use
After wetting the face with clean water, apply two pumps to the hand and lather. Then apply to face and in gentle circular motions, clean the skin. Rinse with cool water, pat face dry with soft towel. Continue with skincare routine.

Price
$32.86 for 230ml on YesStyle
Use code MONMON8 for discount at checkout.

Thoughts
I am surprised by the size of the cleanser and it’s simple packaging. I don’t often see cleansers that hold 230ml of product so I think it’s a pretty good bang for your buck. The bottle is a chubby semi-opaque bottle with a pump top and no cap. I found the pump to be very stiff and slow but it could just be because the product is quite thick and gel-like.
The product is clear with a very slight sheen that can only be seen in certain lights. I was not able to photograph it clearly so my apologies. The gel has a very soft and delightful scent which is the same as the toner. It’s very soft, fruity (I’m guessing lychee) and it fades pretty quickly and doesn’t linger.
When applied to the skin, the gel doesn’t foam up very much but some bubbles are formed. The gel does need to be worked into the skin a little bit or else it feels like it just sits on the surface. I would recommend using a face washing brush or a cotton pad to help cleanse. I found that the cleanser was super soft and gentle on the skin and I didn’t feel as though my skin was tight after washing. The cleanser did a good job of removing dirt from the skin but it does struggle with some thicker makeup. Also, don’t get it in your eye, it hurts (owch!). The cleanser would work best if it were used after an oil cleanser when double cleansing or in the mornings.
Personally I used the cleanser in the morning to remove old skincare and prep my skin for the rest of the day. I liked how gentle it was and it always made me feel clean especially on days where I wore no makeup.
The main issue I ended up having with the product came from the packaging. Around the 5th month of use, I noticed an odd brown goo forming around the pump mechanism. Somehow, the product had leaked into the pump which had reacted with the metal inside the pump mechanism and rusted (could have oxidised or something similar) and that caused the cleanser to turn brown around the pump. I didn’t notice any brown inside the bottle or when I pumped out the product but it wasn’t a nice thought knowing somehow my product had been contaminated. I’m not sure if this happens to all the bottles or if it was just mine. I did decanter my cleanser into another bottle just incase.

I think I will definitely repurchase this product once it runs out and I will keep a close eye on the pump mechanism. It was disappointing that such a great cleanser was let down by it’s packaging but as I said, I could have just received a faulty bottle.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. This page contains affiliate links/codes which aids in funding future reviews.