Product Comparison: MAC Cleanse Off Oil vs Muji Cleansing Oil

Today, I wanted to do a comparison between the MAC Cleanse Off Oil and the Muji Cleansing Oil. I’m a long-time loyalist to the Cleanse Off Oil, and it has been my HG makeup remover for over 6 years. However, at $38 a bottle, it’s quite expensive, so there is always an opportunity to find a less expensive product. I’ve tried a few oil cleansers from other brands in the past and they did not work for me. Enter the Muji Cleansing Oil!

I purchased a travel size (50mL) of the Muji Sensitive Skin Cleansing Oil for $7.50 while on my trip to Toronto back in May. This is a recommendation from Stashy, who is also a MAC Cleanse Off Oil lover. However, it wasn’t until the beginning of November that I took it out for the first time to try. Now that I’ve been using it for a month, I wanted to share my thoughts on how the two compare.

In terms of fragrance, the MAC Cleanse Off Oil has a very light scent that is not offensive. The scent is not particularly discernible to me, but I’m not very good at recognizing fragrances! On the other hand, the Muji Cleansing Oil smells like olive oil – personally not a scent that I like, but it doesn’t linger, so I’m okay with that. The texture of the Muji also reminds me of olive oil; it’s thicker and more viscous than the MAC.

I wanted to test each oil on how well it removed makeup, and decided to test it on a product in my collection that I find hard to remove. For this experiment, I pulled out my beloved Kat Von D Tattoo Liner.

I swiped both of the oil cleansers with a Q-tip over the eyeliner five times each, then wiped away the oil with a Kleenex, and this is what was left. As you can see, both cleansers did a good job of getting the eyeliner off, but the MAC Cleanse Off Oil wipes away the eyeliner a little cleaner – there is still a bit of liner left where I had applied the Muji oil. This is consistent with what I find when I use on my eyes. While both oils remove my makeup thoroughly, it does take a little longer and does require slightly more effort to wipe away my makeup using the Muji Cleansing Oil.

Another thing to consider is that MAC is much more easy to access in person for most people compared to Muji. For myself, I would have to buy Muji online, where they only sell the travel size. I don’t want to pay for shipping!

I’m always very hesitant about trying new skincare, because I’m worried that my skin will react badly to the new product. Luckily, my skin did not get any negative reaction to the Muji Cleansing Oil. Both products are made in Japan (I was surprised that the MAC oil was made in Japan!)

All in all, I find the performance of the MAC Cleanse Off Oil to be slightly better than the Muji cleansing oil. However, at $14.5 for the 200mL bottle, it is a much less expensive than the MAC Cleanse Off Oil – in fact, it’s a third of the price of MAC, which retails for $38 for 150mL. Personally, while I loved the Muji Cleansing Oil and would purchase again (if I had the chance) because it’s such a good price, the fact that it doesn’t remove my makeup quite as easily means that it hasn’t quite surpassed my holy grail. I give it an 8/10 – it’s now my second favourite oil cleanser that I’ve tried!