I bought this two years ago because I thought the ingredients seemed pretty good. However, I realized too late that this cleanser has a 8.5 pH level. You should aim at a cleanser with 5.5-6.5 pH level, this is just too high. It left my skin VERY dry because of the soapy formula, I already have pretty dry skin so this was a disaster for my skin.

I bought this product because fragrance was not listed in the ingredient list but I made the mistake of not checking the reviews. This does have a very strong smell and I do find it drying. The worst part for me is that my skin still smells like soap even after I rinsed it off my skin. I stared using it on my body because I don't want to just throw it away. The foaming agent doesn't seem to go away after rinsing my skin. I don't know how to explain it but I moisturize when my skin is still damp and my lotion kind of foams up? lol anyway, my skin also smells like soap after drying so I don't think I'll buy it again.

Creamy and thick, has a strong and unpleasant scent, foams up well.
Very drying, when washing it off I can feel how I'm pulling on my skin because it's so stripped of moisture. I think it removes absolutely everything from your skin and actually damages the barrier of the skin. I had to use double the amount of my hydrating serum because my skin was so dry. It also made my skin red and irritated, however I think that wasn't an allergic reaction but rather the skin's response to the dryness.

this leaves my skin dry to my dry skin each time after wash.
even my oily-skin friend said that this facial wash is so drying for her.
but I personally think this doesn't give that 'tightness' unlike the facial wash with sulfate.

Right of the bat, I love the simple clean design and value for money price point. Fresh out of the tube, it is slightly tacky but add water and it lathers up beautifully and produces a fine rich foam. If you are not a fan of classic bar soaps, you will not like the scent of this. However I don't mind the scent and it reminds me a lot of my childhood. After cleansing it left my skin feeling refreshed, clean and hydrated without that squeaky clean feeling despite having a p.h of 8.5. A higher p.h cleanser is usually necessary to breakdown dirt and sebum better especially when you had a long "greasy" day. I appreciate that benton was able to bring us a cleanser that does an effective job at removing dirt and that iffy feeling off the face yet does not strip the skin’s natural lipids. So ladies and gentlemen please don't dismiss this honest cleanser just because of it's ph level. It is all about finding the right balance between different cleanser with varying ph lvls.

My thoughts on Benton Honest Cleansing Foam
I received an 8 gr sample size and had the opportunity to test it out, but I haven’t been able to test it enough for a full review. I usually want at least a month to be able to truly know if I like it or not.

According to others the pH level is quite high, around 8 or 9 which is not very good if you have dry or sensitive skin. I really had too small amount to see how it acted over time on my skin. According to Benton themselves they claim that the pH is between 5-7. But I really can’t say since I don’t have any pH testers myself… Yet.

The packaging is nice and simple and is the most common type of packaging for a foam cleanser.
If you are using a full face (that is foundation, mascara, eyeliner etc.) I don’t think this will be enough as an only cleanser. I do feel that it cleans my skin but it doesn’t feel squeaky clean. But for a morning cleanser it will work fine. Or if you are a non-foundation user.

I am not a fan of the scent of it, to me it smells like bar soap and bring back memories from the time when I was young and that was what I used to clean my face with. Then I mean a normal hand soap bar and not the cleansing bars that you can buy today.

This really is a cleanser that doesn’t say much, it doesn’t wow me and I don’t dislike it.
Still it is not a cleanser that makes me curious either so I will not buy the full version of it.