FANCL Mild Cleansing Oil and Facial Washing Powder

When FANCL first debuted in Singapore several years ago, it quickly became well-known for its groundbreaking preservative-free skincare. FANCL is best known for its Facial Washing Powder and Mild Cleansing Oil (popularly known as "maru kure" in Japanese). Currently, you can find the limited edition "Ballet Dance" MCO in the FANCL stores in Singapore. The illustration is by Japanese fashion illustrator, Licaco. FANCL recently sent me the Dance series for me to review.

The MCO (in the pink pump bottles) is formulated with meadow foam oil which helps to dissolve keratin plugs and absorbs the dirt in pores, green tea catechin oil to fight free radicals, and rosehip oil for countering skin inflammation and stress. It retails at S$33 for 120ml. It is recommended that you use 2 pumps each time. (The pic below shows 1 pump's worth.) Simply massage it all over dry skin, emulsify with a bit of water at a time and then rinse off.

As its name suggests, the MCO feels quite mild and yet effectively removes all traces of makeup, including all of my mascara and eyeshadow. The oil is not overly watery but it's also not so viscous that it takes forever to rinse off. After emulsifying, it rinses off easily with just a few splashes and leaves my skin feeling clean. There was no need for me to use a separate eye makeup remover as the MCO took off everything. Some overly rich cleansing oils leave a film on my skin but MCO did not. It also did not sting my eyes. I've been a regular user of cleansing oils for many years now as they are the most effective and efficient at melting off all traces of makeup without tugging at the skin.

For ladies who would like to try out the line without committing to the full size, there is the Perfect Washing Set (S$28) which includes a MCO (60ml), Facial Washing Powder (25g) and a foaming ball.

After rinsing off the MCO, I followed it with the Facial Washing Powder. The Washing Powder has a polyamino acid formulation that helps to remove dirt and sebum while helping skin to retain moisture.

To foam it up, simply wet the ball, pour half to one teaspoon of powder onto the small indent and then squeeze the ball repeatedly while cupping it in both hands. Using both hands helps to catch all the foam and prevent it from dripping down.

Et voila! Then just transfer the foam onto wet skin, massage it in and then rinse off. The foam is creamy and dense, so it doesn't drip all over the place. It rinses off very easily and left my skin clean and supple without any dry patches. The Washing Powder retails at S$26 for a 50g bottle. Or you can save a few dollars by buying two bottles at S$48.50. The limited edition "Samba Dance" Facial Washing Powder (in the regular and "light" versions) with the yellow packaging will be available in local stores from 26 November.

Alternatively, you can also use the Facial Puff R to foam up the Washing Powder and then massage it onto the skin.

It is recommended that you do the massaging motion from the centre of the face in an outward direction for one to two minutes (step 5 in the diagram below). This helps to improve blood circulation and revitalize the skin.

Here are the ingredients lists for the MCO and Facial Washing Powder (click to view in full size). Both the MCO and Facial Washing Powder are good for one year after the manufacturing date BUT after the bottles have been opened, the MCO should be used up within 120 days while the Washing Powder should be used up within 60 days.

To help you keep track of the expiry date, each bottle comes with a small sticker for noting the opening date and the expiry date.

You can view FANCL Singapore's website here.