Even minimalists know that finding the best cleanser is one of those non-negotiable steps of a simple skincare routine. Even if you don’t wear make-up or go out into a polluted city often, you still need it to rinse off the day’s grime, sunscreen, sweat, excess oil and dead skin cells. A lovely thought that will either reinforce the importance of or encourage you to start washing your face twice daily. On that note, one of my personal favourite kinds for the job are the best cream cleansers.
Up there with the best facial sunscreens in terms of daily importance, cleansers come in various formulas and textures, from oils and balm cleansers to gels and creams. What makes cream cleansers a great choice? While they may need help from a dedicated make-up remover or first cleanse as part of your evening skincare routine on heavier make-up days, cream cleansers thoroughly clean with lovely, comfortable textures—leaving skin soft, not stripped—without the nourishing residue of balms and oils.
As a beauty editor who’s tried many of the cleansers currently on the market and whose everyday preference is for a cream formula, I’ve taken it upon myself to give you a rundown of the very best cream cleansers you can shop now. Without further ado…
Best Cream Cleansers: Skin Rocks The Cream Cleanser
At the risk of hyperbolising, when I got my hands on the Cream Cleanser by Skin Rocks, the skincare brand from bumper beauty brain Caroline Hirons, it really was love at first face wash. This silky, pink-tinged cleanser has the dreamiest texture and a subtle strawberry-like scent (don’t panic if you hate fragrance in skincare, because there’s a fragrance-free version, too), massaging into the your face comfortably without a load of strippy foam, then emulsifying and rinsing away without leaving behind that tacky or sticky residue I despise. Squalane, amino acids and jojoba seed oil are all at play in this moisturising formula for a “skin-conditioning” cleanse, to quote the brand directly. It is creamy skincare consistency goals and just... a treat. I can’t put it much better than that. (FWIW, Caroline’s flannels are also mega.)
Best Cream Cleansers: The INKEY List Cream-to-Milk Hydrating Cleanser
When I tell you that beauty editors have gone mad for this new cleanser, I’m not exaggerating. I see it popping up everywhere. Dispensing via an easy pump, The INKEY List’s Hydrating Cream-to-Milk Cleanser is another lightweight, silky-textured formula that comes with one of the brand’s signature reasonable price tags. Formula-wise there’s a 5% concentration of softening rice milk alongside skincare’s most famous hydrating ingredient, hyaluronic acid. A great choice if you’re working with a more limited budget.
Best Cream Cleansers: La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermo-Cleanser
A repeat feature in my skincare routine, particularly if it’s in a p*ssed off phase, this ultra-gentle cleanser from dermatologist-loved brand La Roche-Posay has a lovely creamy, fluid consistency but still manages to dissolve make-up nicely. A solid, plain choice for skin that’s sensitive or sensitivity-prone (it has Allergy UK’s official seal of approval and was the first skincare range to gain this recognition), it’s rich in glycerin and formulated with thermal spring water. Though it says it’s rinse-free, I still like to wipe it off with a warm flannel—probably a mixture of personal preference and habit—but it leaves skin feeling comfortable and soft.
Best Cream Cleansers: Kate Somerville Goat Milk Cleanser
This range is famous because, your instincts are correct, it is formulated with actual goat milk. Somerville herself grew up with serious eczema and her mother used to bathe her in goat's milk to help soothe her angry skin. Today, that same soothing ingredient, alongside soothing manuka honey, goes into both the Goat Milk Moisturising Cream and this beautifully creamy cleanser. It’s quite thick and nourishing, making it ideal for similarly dry and/or sensitive skin types, but I can vouch for it working fine on my oilier skin as an evening cleanse, too. If you (or your skin) dislike fragrance, the DeliKate Cleanser is an even simpler, fragrance-free formula designed for reactive skin, and another creamy-textured cleanser I love.
Best Cream Cleansers: CeraVe Cream-to-Foam Cleanser
Another dermatologist favourite, CeraVe is famous for reasonably-priced products and its patented three-ceramide blend. Hydrating Cream to Foam Cleanser is one of their more recent additions to their cleanser portfolio (now seven-strong in the UK), ideal for balanced-to-dry skin. Now I personally don’t usually love a foaming cleanser, but I know lots of other people do, and the good news is that the foam here is neither excessive nor stripping. It massages into the skin in that gorgeous way that creamy textures too, before bubbling a bit and rinsing completely off—again, no tackiness or squeaky feeling left behind. If you want to level up the experience of the hero Hydrating Cleanser and like bubbles, you’ll get on well.
Best Cream Cleansers: The Ordinary Glycolipid Cream Cleanser
Another crowd-pleasing affordable brand, it makes sense that there’s a cream cleanser among the ingredient-led best The Ordinary products. That said, texture-wise the Glycolipid Cleanser is a kind of cream–gel hybrid, making it ideal if you want a lightweight cleanser with a bit of a creamy consistency over something super duper nourishing. Glycolipids, said spotlighted ingredient, are a type of emollient, meaning this cleanser is gentle on the precious skin barrier. It comes in a nice, squeezy tube and doesn’t foam, rather emulsifies nicely before rinsing away.
