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My morning routine involves almost no effort. A few splashes of water, maybe a toner if I remember, and I’m out. So when a cleansing oil starts making an appearance before my matcha, it’s doing something right.
The Plum Cleanse is Le Prunier’s first cleanser, which is a logical move for a brand built around one ingredient: Plum. The backstory is worth knowing: sisters Jacqueline, Allison, and Elaine Taylor grew up on a fourth-generation plum farm in Sutter County, California — the world’s largest grower of organic plums — and noticed that the seeds were simply being discarded as a byproduct of drying. Two and a half years of R&D later, they had cold-pressed an oil from those kernels and launched Le Prunier in 2018. The sustainability argument isn’t grafted on for marketing; the oil literally came from what the farm was throwing away. That origin shapes everything about how the brand formulates, and it’s apparent in the Plum Cleanse, where the ingredient list is concise and the choices feel deliberate.
Prunus Domestica Seed Oil is cold-pressed from plum kernels — seeds that were, until Le Prunier repurposed them, a discarded byproduct of the drying process on the Taylor family farm. The oil runs roughly 65–75% oleic acid (omega-9), which gives it its emollient, skin-softening character, alongside a meaningful share of linoleic acid (omega-6), the fatty acid associated with sebum balance and barrier integrity. It also carries provitamin A in the form of beta-carotene, vitamin E, and polyphenols — the antioxidant compounds that the brand has built its efficacy story around. Despite being genuinely nourishing, it's non-comedogenic, which is what makes it viable across skin types without the caveats most face oils come with. The scent — the brand calls it marzipan, which is right — comes entirely from the oil itself. Nothing is added.
That plum oil, Prunus Domestica Seed Oil, is the first ingredient here, as it is in everything Le Prunier makes. It’s predominantly oleic acid, with a meaningful share of linoleic acid — the fatty acid composition that makes it skin-compatible without being occlusive, and non-comedogenic despite being genuinely nourishing. There’s also provitamin A in the form of beta-carotene, and vitamin E, which together give the oil its antioxidant profile. The brand describes the natural scent as marzipan, which is accurate — it reads as almond-adjacent on skin, derived from the oil itself rather than anything added.
Ingredients: Prunus Domestica Seed Oil, Polyglyceryl-2 Sesquioleate, Polyglyceryl-2 Caprate, Coconut Alkanes, Hydrogenated Castor Oil/Sebacic Acid Copolymer, Glycolipids, Water (AQUA), Hydrolyzed Prunus Domestica Fruit Extract, Betaine Salicylate, Bacillus Ferment, Medicago Sativa (Alfafa) Extract, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Squalene, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Oil, Tocopherol
What makes the formula more interesting than a straight cleansing oil is the water phase: Bacillus Ferment, a postbiotic ingredient with a reasonable basis for supporting the skin microbiome, sits alongside Betaine Salicylate, a gentler form of salicylic acid bound to betaine that brings mild clarifying activity without the dryness conventional BHAs can cause. These aren’t the headline ingredients, but they account for the slight gel-like structure out of the pump and suggest the formula is doing more than passive dissolution.
Because a book is often judged by its cover, let’s start with the bottle. It’s a heavy opaque black glass with a pump that dispenses with the right amount of heft. It has the kind of weight that speaks to quality in material. The matte black finish and minimal design feels almost like a tool than a skincare product. All this to say: it looks like what it costs, which at this price point is exactly the reassurance you want before you’ve even used it.
Out of the pump it behaves slightly differently than you’d expect — there’s a gel-like resistance to it, enough structure that it holds its shape for a moment before you work it in. On skin that impression dissolves quickly into something cushioned and distinctly oily in the best sense. Makeup and sunscreen come off the way you want them to, without negotiation. What surprised me is how often I reached for it when there was nothing to remove. It lifts overnight sebum cleanly and rinses without leaving anything behind, which sent me back to it on mornings when I’d otherwise just splash water and move on. That’s where it earns more than its category.
This is for someone who already double-cleanses and wants to upgrade the first step, or for someone whose morning routine is as minimal as mine and wants something that warrants the extra thirty seconds. But the more natural home for it is probably the evening, where it earns its keep regardless of how involved your routine is — whether that’s stripping off SPF and getting to bed, or setting up a proper second cleanse with something water-based. Either way it handles the job without making you feel like you’re doing maintenance. The formula and botanical focus will resonate with a discerning buyer who cares about what’s in the bottle as much as what it does. Anyone newer to cleansing oils might find a less expensive starting point, but anyone who already knows what they’re looking for will find this delivers it.
A farm-to-face skincare brand built on multi-generational plum farming, known for its minimalist lineup and antioxidant-rich plum actives that support glow, barrier health, and skin nourishment.
