Is Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser Really As Gentle As It Claims?

Last Updated on December 22, 2025 by Giorgia Guazzarotti

Can a foaming cleanser be gentle? I know some of you won’t touch them with a 10 foot pole. I hear ya. Foaming cleansers have a bad rep for drying out your skin worse than the Sahara. I can’t say it’s totally undeserved. Back when I was a teen, foaming cleansers were harsh. They had to be. We were all lusting after the squeaky clean feel. Who knew back then how bad that was for skin?

Fast forward 10 years, and foaming cleansers have become a lot more gentle on the skin. Now they do what they were always supposed to: clean without disrupting the skin’s protective barrier. Case in point: Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser. In this review, I’ll share what makes it so gentle and whether it’s worth a place into your skincare routine. Let’s get started:

What’s In Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser?

GENTLE SURFACTANTS TO CLEANSE SKIN

Surfactants is a fancy way of calling ingredients that help water mix with oil and dirt so they can be rinsed away. In the past, foaming cleansers used high concentrations of one or two powerful surfactants, like sodium lauryl sulphate or sodium laureth sulphate. They got the cleansing job done… but not without side effects. They made the skin’s pH skyrocket and disrupted its protective barrier. Next thing you know, your skin’s all dry and sensitive. Ugh.

These days, foaming cleansers take a different approach. They use a combination of 4 or 5 mild surfactants. Used alone, they wouldn’t remove much grime. Together, they’re a cleansing powerhouse that removes all traces of impurities and makeup WITHOUT drying out your skin. Here are the surfactants in Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser:

• Sodium Cocoamphoacetate
• Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate
• Lauryl Glucoside
• Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate
• Sodium Lauryl Glucose Carboxylate

P.S. It’s the surfactants that make a foaming cleanser foam. The gentler the surfactants, the less foam they produce.

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The Rest Of The Formula & Ingredients

• Water (Aqua): This is what makes up most of the product and turns all those powdery ingredients into something you can actually slap on your face and wash off.
• Glycerin: This ingredient is basically a moisture magnet that stops the washing agents from sucking every bit of hydration out of your face.
• Glycol Distearate: They threw this in to make the formula look pretty and white instead of see-through, which sounds pointless until you realize it also makes everything thicker and creamier so the experience of washing your face feels a bit more expensive than it probably is.
• PEG-150 Distearate: This thickener stops your cleanser from being a watery mess that slides off your hands before you even get it to your face, keeps all the ingredients playing nice together, and contributes to that fancy pearl-like appearance that makes you think you bought something high-end.
• Althaea Officinalis Root Extract: Marshmallow root comes loaded with this gooey mucilage stuff that basically hugs your face while you’re washing it, calming down any redness or freakouts your skin might be having.
• Butylene Glycol: This multitasker brings moisture to the party and opens the door for other ingredients to get into your skin better, doubles as a dissolving agent and makes preservatives more effective at their job.
• Caprylyl Glycol: They added this to help fight off bacteria and mold so your cleanser doesn’t turn into a science experiment.
• Citric Acid: Makes sure the pH in this formula stays around 5.5 where your face naturally lives.
• Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil: Orange essential oil makes an appearance here for smell and some bacteria-fighting action, but here’s the catch, that limonene content can irritate the hell out of your face and make you more sensitive to sun damage.
• Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Oil: Lemon essential oil joins the fragrance party with its own limonene baggage that can bug sensitive faces and increase sun sensitivity.
• Coco-Glucoside: Anothermild surfactant born from coconut and sugar that teams up with everything else to lift away the day’s dirt without drying out your face.
• Cymbopogon Citratus Leaf Oil: Lemongrass oil brings fragrance and kills some bacteria which sounds great until you realize it’s packing citral that loves to sensitize people, so anyone prone to contact dermatitis or already dealing with reactive skin might find this whole essential oil situation really doesn’t agree with them.
• Ethylene Brassylate: This synthetic musk exists purely to make the product smell clean and fresh in that “I just washed my face” way.
• Ethylhexylglycerin: This helper makes other preservatives punch above their weight so the formula doesn’t need as much of them, throws in some skin conditioning and odor control while it’s at it.
• Glyceryl Oleate: This emollient softens your skin while making sure all the ingredients stay mixed together properly.
• Hexylene Glycol: This solvent dissolves stuff and keeps the formula from getting ridiculously thick, backs up the preservative team too.
• Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate: Palm-derived emollient that softens while protecting the whole formula from going rancid through oxidation, and that citrate modification makes it better at the antioxidant job and more stable overall.
• Lavandula Hybrida Oil: Lavandin oil shows up for that lavender vibe even though it’s technically a hybrid variety, sounds relaxing until you remember it’s loaded with linalool and linalyl acetate that can piss off reactive skin types even in products you rinse off.
• Limonene: This fragrance molecule from all those citrus oils gets its own callout because regulators know it’s an allergen, most faces handle it without drama but some people develop contact dermatitis from it, and the longer it sits around oxidizing the more irritating it becomes.
• Linalool: Another fragrance component that earned its own listing as a potential troublemaker, works a lot like limonene where sensitization can happen and gets worse as the ingredient ages and oxidizes into something more aggressive.
• Linalyl Acetate: This is linalool’s ester cousin also getting flagged as a potential allergen, generally causes fewer problems than straight linalool but anyone who’s sensitive to fragrances or essential oils might still catch grief from it.
• Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil: May Chang essential oil delivers lemony fragrance and bacteria-fighting powers but it’s absolutely packed with citral that’s known for sensitizing people, just adding to the mountain of essential oils in here that could spell trouble for sensitive or already compromised faces.
• Octanal: Synthetic fragrance molecule contributing to the overall citrus smell situation, regulators generally consider it safe but some folks would rather dodge all synthetic fragrance especially if they’ve got a track record of reacting to scented products.
• Phenoxyethanol: This preservative keeps bacteria and fungus from setting up shop in your cleanser.
• Phoenix Dactylifera (Date) Fruit Extract: Date fruit extract brings antioxidants and moisture from its natural sugars and minerals, helps condition your skin a bit.
• Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract: White willow bark carries natural salicylates that give it some gentle anti-inflammatory muscle.
• Tetrasodium EDTA: Chelating agent that handcuffs metal ions floating around in the water and formula so they can’t wreck the product or make it less effective, helps preservatives work better and stops everything from falling apart over time.
• Tocopherol: Vitamin E playing antioxidant bodyguard to stop the formula from oxidizing into rancid grossness, brings some skin conditioning to the table too.

Texture

The texture is creamy and thick enough that it doesn’t just slide off your hands before you get it to your face, spreads easily across your skin without any tugging or resistance, and rinses off quickly without leaving behind that filmy residue some cleansers leave that makes your face feel like it’s coated in something you can’t quite wash away.

Fragrance

They’re calling this fragrance-free which is technically true since there’s no added fragrance in the formula. But they did load it with lots of essential oils and fragrant extracts that make it smell good (think herbal without being overwhelming). If you sensitive skin, I wouldn’t recommend it. I don’t know why you’d go to all the trouble to create a gentle cleanser only to load it up with irritants. Go figure.

How To Use It

This is your first step morning and evening before anything else goes on your face, wet your skin, pump out the cleanser, massage it around to get all the dirt and oil and whatever else accumulated throughout the day or night, then rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water and pat dry before moving on to the rest of your routine.

Packaging

White bottle with a pump applicator that’s sleek and minimal looking, sits nicely on your counter without being an eyesore. The pump actually works properly which is more than you can say for some cleansers where you’re fighting with the damn thing every time you need product. It’s a practical design that gets the job done without any unnecessary complications.

Performance & Personal Opinion

You’ve guessed it: Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser doesn’t foam much. And that’s a good thing. Too much foam is a sign the cleanser could be too drying. It does a great job at removing all traces of dirt, sunscreen and makeup from my skin – keep in mind, I don’t wear long-lasting foundations or waterproof makeup. If you’re wearing as much makeup as a Kardashian, you may want to use this as the second step in your cleansing routine.

Afterwards, my skin doesn’t feel tight or dry. It just feels clean. Only if your skin is dry, the cleanser may be too much for you. But then again, it wasn’t made with you in mind. Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser is for combo, oily skin. For them, it works like a charm. The only thing I’d do without all the essential oils. My skin doesn’t have a problem with them, but if yours is sensitive there’s a slight chance they could irritate it.

What I Like About Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser

• The low foam situation is actually a feature not a bug. It means it’s not stripping your skin dry like those cleansers that foam up into a cloud and leave your face feeling like the Sahara desert afterwards.
• Gets rid of daily sunscreen, dirt, and regular makeup.
• Leaves your skin feeling actually clean without that tight uncomfortable feeling that makes you want to slather on moisturizer immediately.
• The creamy texture makes it easy to work with, spreads nicely without fighting you, and rinses away fast.
• Pump packaging that actually functions properly.

What I DON’T Like About Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser

• Loaded with essential oils that make it smell good, but could irritate sensitive skin types.
• If you’re wearing heavy makeup or waterproof formulas this won’t cut it as your only cleanser.

Who Should Use This?

• People with combination or oily skin who want a cleanser that actually gets their face clean without destroying their barrier in the process, this is your product.
• If you wear light to moderate makeup and regular sunscreen daily, this’ll handle it without needing a separate makeup remover first.
• Works great if you want something effective that doesn’t leave you tight and stripped but also doesn’t leave residue behind.
• Skip it if you’ve got dry skin since it wasn’t made for you and will probably be too much.
• If you wear heavy makeup or waterproof formulas you’ll need to add an oil cleanser or balm before this one.
• Sensitive skin types might want to patch test first because it’s loaded with essential oils that could irritate it.

Does Epionce Gentle Foaming Cleanser Live Up To Its Claims?

Price & Availability

$36.00 at Dermstore

Do You Need It?

If you have oily or combination skin, this is a good option to consider.