Shu Uemura Anti-oxi Skin Refining Cleansing Oil

Back in September, Shu Uemura launched a giant sample giveaway campaign that saw the company mail out thousands of packets of its cleansing oil to participants. While I think that giving away samples is one of the smartest things that a beauty product company can do (assuming, of course, the product is good), I think it’s a particularly smart move in Shu Uemura’s case since its cleansing oil retail as much as $90 US. At that price, no one’s picking this product off the shelf, just to try it out.

As well, we North Americans are still weary of using oils on our face. We seem to be comfortable, finally, with using oils in our hair and I do think that in a few years, facial oils will been seen as normal beauty products but right now, they’re kind of scary. But a free sample of a very expensive oil that also happens to have a lot of buzz about it? Well, that’s not so scary.

I’m not scared of facial oils, but I can’t really afford to spend over $90 on something that might not work for my skin so I happily jumped at the chance to try this product out. The product I (and maybe everyone) was sent was the Anti-oxi Skin Refining Cleansing Oil. It’s summarized as an “anti-dullness” oil and, since I don’t have dull skin, it wouldn’t be my choice of Shu Uemura cleansing oils but hey, it’s a free sample so I can’t complain.

This oil’s longer description tells me that it uses moringa and green tea extracts to create “a result of glowing clarity and refined smoothness” as well as one that “ blows away dull, yellow look.” Oh, and it also “instantly captures and clears pollutants that accelerate aging stress.” I think that’s just a fancy of way saying that it washes your face sneaky-clean.

The last time I used a cleansing oil, I had to use the double-cleansing method of facial washing. That’s not necessary with this oil, which yes, does feel like an oil. You just rub it on your face for a bit, then add a bit of water and rub some more and then wash it all off. This product washed off cleanly and easily and left my face feeling soft and smooth, with no sign of any shine. Actually, compared to your typical face wash, the whole process felt a bit fancy and luxurious.

This oil did a great job at washing makeup, including mascara off. I only needed to pull out the eye makeup remover once, when I was were a particularly shimmery eye shadow. However, I wasn’t impressed at all by its pore-cleaning powers as it did absolutely nothing to clean out my pores. If anything, I think I gained more blackheads while using this product because it just wasn’t getting in there and getting the dirt out.

To be fair, this product isn’t marketed as a deep cleanser; maybe one of the other oils would have done a better job. And maybe I would have seen difference results if I’d used this oil for longer than the five days that I was able to get out of my packet.

While using this oil, I didn’t notice any difference in my skin’s radiance levels but then dullness, and yellowness, has never really been an issue for it. Blemishes are though an issue for my skin and during the five days I was using this wash, and the one since I stopped, my skin has been smooth and spot-free.

Using this product reminded me that I should take a seriously look at facial oils once I’m done my no-buy period. While the blackheads on my nose are telling me that this isn’t the right product for me, I do think that a nice cleansing oil might be my first big beauty purchase of 2014.

Will I buy this product: I definitely won’t be buying the Anti-oxi Skin Refining Cleansing Oil but I see that there is a pore-clarifying version that might better meet my needs (and it’s cheaper!).

Should you buy this product: I do recommend trying this Shu Uemura cleansing oil line. The oil really does feel great on and generally eliminates the need for a separate makeup remover.  Because of the price, get a sample first.