Erno Laszlo Firmarine Cleansing Duo

Erno Laszlo Firmarine Cleansing Duo

A good few months ago over summer I received a cleansing duo from a brand in my Tili box which I hadn’t heard of before – Erno Laszlo. I’ve been making my way through my part used cleansers over the past few months to the point where I’ve been mostly cleared out and I felt justified in being able to use these to see how well these performed, and popped the Erno Laszlo Firmarine Cleansing Duo next to my sink.

Erno Laszlo as a brand has been around for quite some time, the celebrity heritage of the brand sees an impressive list of beauty icons – with Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, Jackie O – and potentially Audrey Hepburn all fans of the skincare brand.

“I OWE 50% OF MY BEAUTY TO MY MOTHER AND THE OTHER 50% TO ERNO LASZLO,” – AUDREY HEPBURN

High praise indeed. With a Celebrity clientelle list so prestigious, so is the price tag of this brand – the Erno Laszlo Firmarine Cleansing Duo contained the Firmarine Face Bar and the Firmarine Cleansing Oil, the full sizes of which are $38 & $58 respectively. But with high price-tags come high expectations so I was curious to see whether these could deliver.

Both of these products contains a mixture of thirteen essential oils (although finding them all listed out is near on impossible, it seems like a secret that’s as guarded as the KFC herbs and spices), and alongside the essential oils there’s green tea extract, cucumber and vitamin E – with the firmarine coming from the algae and seawater. All of which give the scent a lovely fresh and calming fragrance.

FirmMarine Face Bar

The first I wanted to try was the face bar. It’s been a long time since I used proper soap to clean my face as a child and young teen. But at $38 it had to do something more than be a soap right? There had to be something revolutionary about it.

First off, whilst no reflection on the product the size of the soap was incredibly irritating to use – if I had a proper soap bar this size for washing my hands I would throw it away when it got to this size as it’s the kind that pops out of your hand so easily when it gets wet. Despite that, I decided to persevere.

This removes makeup pretty well, this suds and foams slightly, but not so much that it’s difficult or uncomfortable to use around the eyes. They describe this as a product that gently removes oil – personally I find it a little too stripping on my skin if used regularly, and that’s coming from someone who is usually pretty oily. This is to be used day and night and contains a ‘unique time release’ that works through the day to lift, smooth and firm. I was pretty sceptical, I’ll admit – but weirdly I do think this does this, although it’s very very slightly. Would I say it’s worth the price? No probably not, the fact it’s so stripping. I will say this bar has lasted me the best part of two months using it 2-3 times a week, so a little product goes a long way.

Firmarine Cleansing Oil

So the second product is the Firmarine Cleansing Oil, now in the past I’ve not really had a good relationship with cleansing oils. I’ve tried to love them, but just haven’t. For a cleansing oil, this one certainly looked different to the rest, it’s a split formula similar to a bi-phase eye makeup remover. The top half settles as a creamy milk, whist the bottom half is a more transparent blue. Shaking this little bottle well before use the first thing I found was that this was extremely runny. Most cleansing oils are a pretty viscose liquid, but this one is pretty much like a water.

Trying to even get this onto my face is hard – especially with such a small bottle to work with I was trying to maximise uses to make sure I’d give this a good test, but even with a full sized bottle I think you could easily be wasteful. Which is annoying when something is a matter of £s, but at this pricetag you could easily watch the pennies dripping away. So much so I wondered whether in fact you should use this more like a micellar water, but alas, nope massaging into the skin is correct.

Whilst this does remove makeup quite well and leaves the skin feeling clean, it’s a little bit more stubborn on eye makeup, but does eventually break it down, for me the watery consistency of this is just too difficult to work with. For that price I’d need to love every aspect of a product.


Ultimately this was a range that didn’t deliver enough on results for me for their price tag. The Cleansing Oil in particular felt like a product that would just have so much waste attached to it. Every drop would be pennies gone at it’s price.

Have you heard of Erno Laszlo? I’d be curious to hear if you’ve tried anything too – particularly the Erno Laszlo Firmarine Cleansing Duo! He was a total new kid on the block for me, despite his heritage!

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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6 Comments

  1. January 21, 2018 / 6:39 am

    Great review! I haven’t heard of this brand before, but it sounds really interesting. I wonder if its been used by so many famous people why it’s not mentioned much.

  2. January 22, 2018 / 3:31 pm

    That sure is an odd looking cleansing oil! More like a bi-phasic makeup remover, if you ask me. Too bad it doesn’t work well. I haven’t heard the best reviews on Erno Laszlo skincare… I’ve seen the line randomly pop up at Winners (our TKmaxx) but haven’t been compelled to try them.

    • January 22, 2018 / 4:21 pm

      No to be honest it would have to be super cheap for me to try them again! Isn’t it – it had me so puzzled thanks to how watery it was and it being so much like bi-phase!

  3. January 22, 2018 / 8:07 pm

    I got the detox bar & cleanser last year from Influenster. I hated the cleanser. It irritated my face. I didn’t like the bar soap at first but I figured out how to use it. I wash my face with it in the shower in the morning and it works fine that way. Once this bar is used up though I’ll just go back to my usual Dove bar soap for my face.

  4. January 22, 2018 / 11:15 pm

    I’ve heard of the brand but didn’t know much. I have a Erno Laszlo face mask to try so it’ll be interesting to see if it’s any good x

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