Living Cleansing Balm

Charlotte Cho spent more than a decade building Soko Glam into the most influential English-language K-beauty platform on the internet before she ever launched her own brand. By the time Then I Met You debuted in 2018, she had read more cleansing balm ingredient lists than almost anyone in the industry, and she knew exactly what frustrated her about the category. K-beauty cleansing balms were almost universally fragranced. The fragrance was usually pleasant — light florals, soft citrus, the kind of soft-focus aromas that defined Korean beauty in the 2010s — but it was also a quiet exclusion of every customer with sensitive skin, fragrance allergies, or rosacea. Cho wanted to make a cleansing balm that didn't ask anyone to make that compromise. The Living Cleansing Balm is what she came up with, and the formulation choice that defined it isn't an exotic ingredient or a proprietary delivery system. It's the absence of fragrance.

What she put in instead is the second thing that makes this balm interesting. The lipid base is built around five plant oils — olive, avocado, grape seed, sea buckthorn, and pomegranate seed — alongside the standard caprylic/capric triglyceride and ethylhexyl palmitate that give cleansing balms their melt-on-skin texture. That's a deliberate ingredient choice. Most cleansing balms in this price range use one or two plant oils for marketing copy and rely mostly on synthetic esters for the heavy lifting. This balm uses the plant oils as substantial structural ingredients, and the choice of oils tells you the formulator was thinking about more than just dissolving makeup. Sea buckthorn brings carotenoids and omega-7 fatty acids and is responsible for the balm's golden-orange color. Pomegranate seed oil contributes punicic acid, a rare omega-5 fatty acid with documented antioxidant properties. Avocado and grape seed bring linoleic acid to balance the heavier oleic content of the olive oil base. The result is a cleansing balm that feels like it's actually doing something for your skin during the brief contact window, not just lifting makeup.

In use, the balm has a thick, almost waxy texture in the jar that melts into a silky oil within seconds of contact with warm skin. You scoop a half-teaspoon with the included metal spatula, warm it between your palms, and massage it into dry skin for at least sixty seconds — the longer the better, within reason. Sunscreen, foundation, and waterproof mascara dissolve as you go. The cushioning feel of the massage is one of the underrated pleasures of cleansing balms generally and this one specifically, and it's part of why people who try this balm tend to become evangelists for the format. After enough massage, you wet your hands and continue working the balm until it emulsifies into a milky liquid, then rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water. Skin is left soft, slightly glowy, and never tight. Following up with a water-based cleanser produces a complete double cleanse, but the after-feel from the balm alone is good enough that some users skip the second step on no-makeup days.

The complications are minor and mostly come down to category limits. Olive oil sits relatively high in the ingredient list, and while olive oil's reputation as comedogenic is overstated for brief-contact cleansers, some acne-prone users do find that this balm doesn't agree with them. The plant oil content also makes it unsuitable for fungal acne sufferers, who should choose synthetic ester-based cleansers instead. The jar packaging means you have to use the spatula to keep the formula hygienic, and the wide mouth of the jar means the balm can look messy after a few uses if you're not careful with the spatula technique. None of these are dealbreakers, but they're worth knowing.

The price is the most subjective thing about this product. Thirty-eight dollars is meaningfully more than a Banila Co or Heimish cleansing balm, both of which are perfectly competent at their cheaper price points. What you're paying for here is the depth of the plant oil profile, the absence of fragrance, the founder's personal track record in K-beauty curation, and the quality-control reputation of a brand that has stayed deliberately small and focused. For people with sensitive skin or fragrance reactivity, the price is justified by the simple fact that most competitors aren't options. For people with normal, resilient skin who could use any cleansing balm without trouble, the value math is closer — but the formulation is good enough that the upgrade still feels reasonable to most people who try it.

This balm belongs in the routine of anyone who wears daily sunscreen or makeup, has normal-to-dry or combination skin, prefers fragrance-free formulations, and appreciates a slow, ritualistic evening cleanse. It's particularly well-suited to people who've tried fragranced K-beauty balms and reacted to them, or who want to invest in one really good cleanser instead of cycling through cheaper options. The 95ml jar lasts four to six months with nightly use, which softens the per-use cost considerably. Within its category and price tier, it's one of the easier recommendations to make.

Formula

The Science

Cleansing balms function on the same lipid-dissolves-lipid principle as cleansing oils, but the solid-to-liquid texture transition gives them a different application feel and often allows for a more concentrated lipid base. The plant oils used here are chosen for both their cleansing efficacy and their secondary skin-conditioning properties. Olive oil is high in oleic acid and natural squalene, both of which dissolve sebum and makeup effectively but can be barrier-disrupting in long-term leave-on use — which is why olive oil is well-suited for brief-contact cleansing applications and less ideal for facial moisturizers. Avocado oil and grape seed oil provide higher proportions of linoleic acid, the omega-6 fatty acid that supports barrier function and is often deficient in the sebum of acne-prone skin. Sea buckthorn fruit oil is unusual in containing significant amounts of palmitoleic acid (omega-7), which has been studied for its skin-conditioning properties, and beta-carotene, which gives the oil its distinctive orange color and contributes antioxidant activity. Pomegranate seed oil contains punicic acid, a conjugated linolenic acid isomer that has been studied in laboratory settings for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The emulsification system here uses PEG-20 glyceryl triisostearate and sorbitan sesquioleate, both well-established non-ionic surfactants that allow oil-water mixing under mild agitation. The polyethylene component is what gives the balm its solid texture in the jar — it's an inert structural ingredient that contributes to the melt-on-skin feel without affecting cleansing performance.

Dermatologist Perspective

Dermatologists generally recommend cleansing balms for patients who wear daily sunscreen or makeup and need an effective first-step cleanser that won't disrupt the skin barrier. Fragrance-free formulations like this one are particularly well-regarded for patients with rosacea, eczema, or contact dermatitis history. The plant oil profile here is appropriate for most skin types, though board-certified dermatologists routinely note that patients with active acne or fungal folliculitis may need to avoid olive-oil-based formulations and choose synthetic ester alternatives instead. The double-cleanse approach this balm is designed for is widely supported in the dermatologic literature for makeup and sunscreen wearers, with the caveat that single cleansing with a well-formulated water-based cleanser is sufficient for those who don't wear daily SPF or makeup.

Guidance

Charlotte Cho founded Then I Met You in 2018 after years running Soko Glam, the K-beauty editorial and retail platform that helped introduce American consumers to Korean skincare. The Living Cleansing Balm was the brand's debut product, designed as Cho's personal answer to the question of what a perfect cleansing balm should look like — fragrance-free, plant-oil rich, and unapologetically slow in its application ritual.

About Then I Met You Established Brand (5–20 years)

Then I Met You launched in 2018, founded by Soko Glam co-founder Charlotte Cho. The brand brought a curated K-beauty sensibility to the U.S. market and earned credibility through Cho's longstanding reputation in the K-beauty editorial space and the brand's focus on a small, well-formulated lineup.

Brand founded: 2018 · Product launched: 2018

Myth vs. Reality

Myth

Cleansing balms are too heavy for warm climates.

Reality

A cleansing balm is rinsed off, not worn on the skin. The lipid content matters for cleansing efficacy, not for what's left behind. This balm rinses cleanly in any climate as long as you emulsify properly.

Myth

Olive oil is bad for skin.

Reality

Olive oil's reputation as comedogenic is overstated for cleansing applications, where contact time is brief. The longer-term concern about olive oil's oleic acid disrupting the barrier applies more to leave-on products than to balms that are massaged on and rinsed off within a minute or two.

FAQ

Common Praise

"melts away waterproof makeup"

"leaves skin soft and glowy"

"no fragrance"

"feels luxurious"

"small amount goes a long way"

Common Complaints

"expensive compared to drugstore balms"

"olive oil base may not suit all acne-prone users"

"container can get messy"

Notable Endorsements

Allure Best of BeautyCharlotte Cho founder credentials

Appears In

best fragrance free cleansing balm best k beauty cleansing balm best cleansing balm for sensitive skin best cleansing balm for double cleanse

Related Conditions

dryness dullness dehydration

Related Ingredients

olive oil sea buckthorn pomegranate oil avocado oil