Kazunosuke Breaks Down "Dove Pearl Shine Cleansing Oil": A Roughly ¥1,000 Oil That Uses a Synthetic Triglyceride to Approach a Natural-Oil Cleanser

The speaker begins with Dove's history. Dove was born in the United States in 1957, and its Beauty Bar, groundbreaking at the time, is still the brand's signature product. Kazunosuke rates the Beauty Bar highly. It looks like soap but isn't soap; it's a solid cleanser based on sodium lauroyl isethionate, a mild cleansing agent. The speaker explains that this ingredient is a good one, with cleansing properties similar to the taurate-based surfactants often used in recent shampoos. The speaker calls it "truly impressive" that Dove put a milder cleansing agent into practical use at a time when soap was essentially the only option. Dove now offers many products, but the speaker's overall impression is of an affordable brand that excels at cleansers.

The Pearl Shine line is Dove's newest line, launched on April 6, and consists of a face wash, a foaming face wash, and a cleansing oil (a 3-in-1 makeup remover). According to the official website description the speaker cited, the line was inspired by the lustrous glow of pearls. Focusing on the commonality that both pearls and skin are made up of components containing amino acids, it adopts a "Pearl Shine formula" that includes 12 amino acids, the same types as those that make up pearls, as moisturizing ingredients.

The cleansing oil is Dove's first in seven years and is said to be the standout of the line. In the June issue of the beauty magazine LDK the Beauty, it reportedly received an A rating, with experts also praising its combination of base cleansing ingredients. The speaker shares that view and says the rating makes sense given Dove's price range. Because it is still not widely known, the speaker calls it a "hidden gem."

The cleansing oil comes in two types: the pink "Clear Glow Skin" and the green "Smooth Pore Skin." Since the cleansing ingredients, basic formula, and cleansing power are the same, differing only in some moisturizing ingredients, the speaker covers both together.

In the full ingredient list, the base ingredient is caprylic/capric triglyceride. The speaker says this is unusual as a base for a cleansing oil and is the ingredient they find most noteworthy in this product. Next comes isopropyl myristate, an ester oil with a light, silky feel.

PEG-20 glyceryl triisostearate and sorbeth-30 tetraoleate are nonionic surfactants that act as emulsifiers. The speaker rates these two ingredients as "unglamorous, but quite good." Both have a mild feel, and the speaker uses them in their own original cleansing oil; they were also used as the base in cleansing oils the speaker has recommended in the past. Emulsification is important in a cleansing oil, and this combination gives the product very high emulsifying power, reportedly allowing it to rinse off quickly enough for "3-second emulsification."

For moisturizing, it contains 12 plant-derived amino acids of the same types as those that make up pearls: aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, glycine, alanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, histidine, and arginine. The speaker explains that the formula aims to deliver skincare benefits while cleansing mildly.

This base ingredient is the main reason the speaker decided to feature the product. Caprylic/capric triglyceride is an oil ingredient used mainly in skincare creams and the like, and recently it was also the main ingredient in a sunscreen the speaker recommended. However, it has rarely been used as the base of a cleansing oil until now.

It is classified as a synthetic ester made through chemical synthesis, but its properties differ somewhat from typical ester oils. As the name "tri…glyceride" indicates, this ingredient has a triglyceride structure in which three higher fatty acids are bonded to glycerin. Naturally occurring ingredients with the same structure are called "fats and oils." For that reason, the speaker explains, this ingredient is also called a "synthetic oil," meaning a fat or oil made through chemical synthesis. Since the triglyceride structure is also the main component of sebum, it has mainly been used in skincare cosmetics. The speaker believes it is highly likely to function as a base ingredient that softens and conditions the skin and has strong moisturizing power.

By contrast, isopropyl myristate, also in this product, is an ester oil that has long been widely used; it has only one higher fatty acid in its structure, making it very different from a triglyceride. According to the speaker, ester-based cleansers feel refreshing and have high cleansing power. Oil-based ones feel moisturizing and hydrate well, but their cleansing power is milder. For this reason, the speaker has long recommended oil-based "natural-oil cleansers" for dry and sensitive skin.

The speaker says the natural-oil cleansers they have recommended have one major weakness: price. Natural plant oils such as sunflower seed oil, which is also in Pearl Shine, are very expensive as raw materials. Products called natural-oil cleansers generally contain these plant oils at quite high concentrations. Many high-end cleansers are based on expensive oils, but achieving that at a drugstore price is extremely difficult. To the speaker's knowledge, there are almost no oil-based cleansers priced at or below ¥2,000. The speaker also estimates that trying to make one at such a price could mean the cost of the base oil alone exceeds the retail price.

Instead of expensive natural plant oils, Pearl Shine uses caprylic/capric triglyceride, which can be made cheaply through chemical synthesis and has a feel close to natural oils. The speaker's assessment is that this allows it to achieve a feel close to a natural-oil cleanser while maintaining cleansing power, at a price of about ¥1,000.

The speaker does add a caveat, however. The feel of a natural-oil cleanser also depends heavily on the fatty acid composition of the base oil, so this ingredient alone can't fully replicate it. Even so, the speaker says it "stands apart" from the cheap cleansing oils that have been sold for around ¥1,000 until now. Having actually tried it, the speaker found the feel to be somewhere between a light ester-based oil and a moisturizing, skin-softening natural oil.

The speaker acknowledges that some will argue "if you want that feel, you shouldn't compromise and should use plant oils." That said, with cosmetic costs rising and the economy not doing well, the speaker notes that not many people can keep spending thousands of yen on a cleanser, and says that "pseudo-natural-oil cleansers" using synthetic oils are a reassuring option. While ester-based in terms of ingredients, it also has the characteristics of a natural-oil cleanser and is suited for everyday use. In this sense, the speaker concludes, it's fair to call it a "next-generation ester cleanser."

The speaker also explains things from a pore-care perspective. Conventional ester cleansers blend easily with makeup and are good at removing makeup residue clogged in pores. On the other hand, research has shown that the sebum plugs that form in pores are made mainly of solid matter consisting of protein and sebum, and it is triglyceride-type oils, such as natural oils, whose composition is closer to sebum.

According to the manufacturer, Pearl Shine is designed to blend well with sebum and leave little residue in pores. Since Kazunosuke has long recommended natural-oil cleansers as effective for pore care, they say it "wouldn't be surprising" if this product, with its similar feel, also proved highly effective for pore care. This is strictly the speaker's own assessment. As for how to use it, the speaker suggests that gently massaging areas prone to clogged pores while removing makeup would soften the sebum plugs and make them easier to remove. The speaker added that it might also work with the natural-oil-cleanser pore-care method introduced in another video.

It was the pink Clear Glow Skin that reportedly received the A rating from LDK. The two types are basically the same in base ingredients, feel, and cleansing power; the difference lies in the moisturizing ingredients. Clear Glow Skin contains a relatively large amount of ascorbyl palmitate, a vitamin C derivative, while Smooth Pore Skin contains retinol as a moisturizing ingredient.

The speaker notes that since both are rinse-off cleansing oils, the concentrations are probably not high, but recommends Clear Glow Skin if choosing by ingredients. The reason is that, compared with retinol, ascorbyl palmitate is useful as an antioxidant that improves the stability of the oil. In addition, Smooth Pore Skin contains ethanol, but according to the manufacturer it is a trace amount of 0.001% or less of the total product and does not affect the feel. Even so, the speaker says Clear Glow Skin is the better choice in terms of its simpler formula as well.

For the cleansing test, three foundations were applied to a white skin model and each dried with a hair dryer for one minute: a mild liquid type, a cream type, and a long-wear liquid type. Since both versions have the same cleansing power, Clear Glow Skin was used here, with about one pump dripped onto each.

The mild liquid and the cream began to come off with just a light touch, and the speaker praised it as gentle on the skin since little friction is needed, making it just right for everyday use. Even the hard-to-remove long-wear type came off easily with a bit of rubbing. When rinsed with lukewarm water, it emulsified immediately and rinsed away cleanly, with no makeup residue visible afterward.

On the other hand, the speaker points out that the oil has a light, water-like texture, so opinions will likely be divided. Personally, the speaker felt that something a bit thicker might be easier to use.

Next came two eyeliners. On the left was a waterproof type that can be removed with warm water, a "film type" based on film-forming ingredients such as polymers. On the right was a super-waterproof type made long-wearing with oily ingredients such as isododecane and hydrogenated polyisobutene. Both were dried with a hair dryer for about 30 seconds, and this time one pump of Smooth Pore Skin was used on each.

The warm-water-removable type came off easily in flakes with just a light swipe of a cotton swab. According to the speaker, this eyeliner can be quite hard to remove with some cleansers, so this was a very good result. The super-waterproof type also appeared to come off when swiped. However, after rinsing with water, a slight amount of color remained where it had only been lightly traced with a finger.

From this, the speaker said the product seems to struggle somewhat with eyeliners that form a strong film using ingredients like isododecane and hydrogenated polyisobutene, and advised caution with that combination. However, the speaker also said it would probably come off cleanly with a bit more rubbing. The speaker added that since many of the eyeliners selling well recently are warm-water-removable film types, most products should be fine to use with it.

Both versions are distinctly scented: Clear Glow Skin has a floral-fruity scent, and Smooth Pore Skin has a citrus-fruit scent. The speaker felt that Clear Glow Skin is quite sweet, so personally found the simpler citrus scent of Smooth Pore Skin easier to use. Since the speaker considers the differences in trace ingredients negligible, choosing by preferred scent is also fine.

The price is open pricing and varies by retailer. Based on the speaker's research, both versions were selling for around ¥1,000 on Amazon.

Finally, the speaker reflected that, having thought of Dove as an affordable drugstore body-care brand, they didn't expect a product like this and were very surprised when they checked the ingredients. There may be other ester-based cleansing oils using triglyceride-type synthetic oils if you look for them. Even so, as far as the speaker can remember, this is the first one available at a price anyone can easily afford.

Dove has been developing new forms of cleansers since the 1950s. The speaker sees this as proof of the brand's long-standing reputation for developing cleansing products. Saying it's welcome news that highly effective cosmetics are becoming available at lower prices, the speaker closed the video by expressing hope that more products like this will appear in the future.