



Make Prem Safe Me Relief Moisture low pH foam cleanser





In this post:

  • Product details
  • Ingredients
  • Does it foam, though?
  • Cleansing demo
  • Overall thoughts



The most basic question out of the way first: is it low pH? Indeed it is.

Make Prem Safe Me Relief Moisture foaming cleanser pH test
Low pH is a lot like good bathing habits; it's not enough to impress me, but if it's absent I'm not even agreeing to the first date.

Mmmm, that's a mighty fine pH you've got there, Make P:rem.

Product details

Full product name: Make P:rem Safe Me Relief Moisture Cleansing Foam
Purpose: A foaming cleanser, specifically "low-irritant" and low pH.
Scent: Pleasant but noticeable. Herbal with a bit of florals thrown in and a hint of something lemony, nothing that makes my nose hairs recoil in horror.
Texture: A thick cream/paste that lathers into a soft, loose, small-bubble foam when agitated with water.
pH result: Right where it should be, pH 5.5, tested both neat and foamed with water.
Quantity: 150g, which is plenty when you consider how little raw product you need.
Rating:  4.5/5; it doesn't whisk me away to a sexy Hanbang forest and overwhelm my senses until my toes curl up in the rich loam of the earth (say, the way the original Sulwhasoo Snowise EX Cleansing Foam did) but I like it a lot.
Where to get it: Amazon | eBay | TesterKorea
Repurchase:  For sure, it's a bit pricey at $15-$18 USD, but I use so little of it at a time that it lasts ages. I bought mine in a combo pack with a sunscreen, iirc, so it worked out to about $15.

My daily go-to combo of konjac sponge and cleanser.

Damp konjac sponge + tiny amount of product + minimal wakefulness = fresh-faced cleanliness that only goes skin deep. #🍆jokes4lyfe


You can find the Cosdna entry here. A quick skim of the ingredients showed me nothing crazy, a few plant extracts, some citrus oil (ah, there's the lemon-ish scent) of bergamot, which gave me only a brief pause. Bergamot is one of those essential oils on the "may cause photosensitivity" hit list, but since 1. it's likely being used in trace amounts for fragrance, and 2. this is a cleanser that you immediately rinse off, I'm not at all worried about it.

I've also read that bergamot oil can be processed in a way that avoids the phototoxicity element, but of course there's no way to know if that's the case here.

Make Prem Safe Me Relief Moisture low pH foam cleanser ingredients
That's a surprisingly clean ingredients list for a cleanser.

Noticeably absent are SLS and SLES, which is great news for those of you out there who are trying to dodge those common trigger culprits. (Low pH and SLS/SLES free is a pretty sweet combo.)

Does it foam, though?

Living the low pH life can be really dull. Skincare needs to be exciting for me to stay metaphorically erect enough to do it, especially when I'm tired, depressed, or there's a tiny four-footed demon looking for something destroy during any momentary lapse of vigilance.

Low pH cleansers tend to be particularly flaccid in the skincaretainment department, partly because it's reportedly difficult to formulate sexy foaming action at a low pH, resulting in underperforming foam action in your bathroom.

It won't create giant springy clouds of foam that you can literally shove your face into (R.I.P my beloved Perfect Whip, you beautiful acid-mantle destroyer) but the Make P:rem Safe Me Relief Moisture foam cleanser has a bit more confidence in the foam department than some of its low-pH brethern.

Konjac sponge method

Let's face it, squishing up some foam with a konjac is almost fun.

This is the method I actually use, because it's 1. the fastest, 2. the least messy, and 3. the laziest, giving me decent foam in a matter of seconds with a few squishes of the sponge.

Hand lather method

 Not pictured: the drips all over the floor as I worked up even this minimal amount of foam.

I also use this method, but I have to use a lot more product or a lot more effort to get this level of foam. For this review, I was careful to use the same amount of product for each demo (pictured above) to make it a fair comparison, and it was a messy sudstorm to get this properly foamed up. I had to add small amounts of water at a time, vigorously lather, scoop the lather back into my palm, and repeat until it foamed.

That's not to say that I would normally go to this length; once it's mixed with water and semi-foamy, onto my face it goes. Who has time to do otherwise? I ain't spending 2-odd minutes rubbing my hands together like a B-movie villain.

Foaming net method

Handy-dandy comparison shot.

So, foaming nets. Yes, they create amazing amounts of Instagram-worthy foam, and they are almost totally impractical. Not only do you have something else you have to rinse out and hang to dry between uses, it takes a lot of time and effort to foam up without flinging bits of lather all over your sink, yourself, your mirror, the walls, and the floor.

Still, I'm amazed that the Make P:rem was actually capable of this studly foam output, even with a foaming net. (I usually just buy mine on Amazon.) I'm not going to deny that's some sexy foam, though. Rawr!

Clockwise from the tube: hand lather, konjac sponge, foaming net.

As you can see, you need a pretty minimal amount of product to get washed-face-friendly levels of foam, which means this 150g of product is probably going to outlast my next pair of socks. Actually scratch that, I have a puppy so I know it's going to outlast my next pair of socks. And underwear. And towels. And sheets ...

Cleansing demo

Right, so cleansers should clean, obviously. That being said, I'm happy to die on Double Cleansing Hill, because any foaming cleanser that can break down makeup and sunscreen and still have the mojo to get down and dirt-cleaning in my pores is going to be strong enough to strip my skin like the clothes off a hypothermia victim fished out of a frozen lake.

So this test is a bit unfair, because I don't expect (or want) my second cleanser to take off my makeup. Still a shot of bare skin followed by another shot of ... still bare skin isn't going to be much of a demonstration of its cleaning power.

I feel like this 'lip' is a pretty accurate testament to how my actual lips fare in an attempt to do a filled-in lip.

This is my usual "full face of makeup for testing" featuring mineral (aka 'inorganic') sunscreen, cushion, concealer, brow mascara, liquid eyeliner, blush, and lipstick. Note: any day that I roll out in anything more than sunscreen + a cushion + a lip tint is already topping out my effort level with makeup.

I didn't use the konjac sponge, because I didn't want to give it an unfair advantage in the scrubbing department.

Surprisingly, this cleanser did better than I expected, taking off pretty much everything but the liquid eyeliner and the sunscreen. Realistically, it's not a makeup remover and it shouldn't be treated as such. I use it as an AM cleanser, and as a second cleanser to remove the residue of the oil cleanser I used to clean off my sunscreen and makeup.

Overall thoughts

If you're looking for something to make you tingle with anticipation of cleansing your face, this isn't it, and frankly if you're looking for a low pH cleanser that does, that unicorn may always elude you.

However, this is a rock-solid low pH cleansing option, beating out other contenders hampered by an aggressive scent (Cosrx Low pH Good Morning), irritating triggers (Su:m37 Miracle Rose Stick), messy application (powder cleansers), and sky-high price tag (Sulwhasoo Snowise).

Make Prem Safe Me Relief Moisture low pH foam cleanser sample
You should be able to get 2-3 uses out of a sample size, if you can find one. I saved the last of mine for this review.

With a name like "Safe Me Relief Moisture Cleansing Foam" that slaps "pH 5.5" and "Low Irritant" right on the tube, you'd expect it to be low pH, gentle, and not contain irritating ingredients. It lives up to all those promises, and it smells pleasant besides. That's a win in my book.

Where to get it: Amazon | eBay | TesterKorea

Have you fallen for a low pH cleanser that doesn't get enough love? Hit me up on Facebook or Twitter and let me know!


All the best,

**Disclaimer: All products I review on my blog are 100% purchased with my own money, with a single exception of a press sample I tested & reviewed in 2015 which swore me off of them forever. Personal gifts from friends & family will also be identified.  This blog contains both affiliate and non-affiliate links, and clicking the former before you shop means that this blog may receive a small commission to assist in this blog supporting itself.  Please see my Contact Info & Disclaimer policy for more information.


  1. It's so good to see you back! I was starting to worry from the way you disappeared so suddenly. I'm also glad to see that make p:rem isn't as gimmicky a brand as I'd first feared. Looks like I have something to try once my cotsco-sized cream cleanser is used up.

    1. Thank you! ^_^ While things were not great there for a while, things are much better now.

      I feel you on the Make P:rem impressions; the first product I heard about from them was that cleansing pack shower thing, which was reportedly a hot mess. Their black cleansing water was also meh, but their sunscreens have been blowing me out of the water, and now this cleanser. I hope they keep it up in the formulation department, because they are slaying.

  2. Congratulations on your puppy! I have a pet bunny who only recently left the "puppy" phase and oh thank goodness that is over! When your pup graduates to dog, things will be so much easier. My buns has finally stopped peeing on everything. Now she only poops on everything :p

    I've got lots of pictures and videos of her on my instagram: skincarebymoonlight

    Glad to see you back by the way. I suffer from depression and anxiety too so I totally get the desire to pull back from the world during times of change. *hugs*

    1. Eee, buns! Instagram, and the world, needs more buns! And *hugs* to you too, depression and anxiety can eat a bag of dicks.

    2. I know right! Depression should eat all the sucks. Thankfully I've been able to manage both my depression and anxiety for the last two years ish. I will always carry depression and anxiety around inside of me for the rest of my life. But! It's okay, I have lovely people in my life who support and care about me, I have done lots of helpful (and unhelpful) counselling/therapy, and my meds are the right kind at the right dose.
      I'm confident that you'll find (and lose and re-find) your balance in dealing with the shit sack life deals to people like us.
      Skincare + dick jokes are pretty good in the mean time.

  3. In regards to the Make Pr:em Blue Ray Sunscreens that you mentioned in your last impressions post, how are they going for you?

    Here are some recommendations for two all mineral sunscreens.

    Chulala UV Milk SPF 50 (A Japanese all mineral sunscreen that is water resistant and apparently very cosmetically elegant as far as mineral sunscreens are concerned. @jollyhatgirl from Instagram raved about this sunscreen and she mentioned that it was one of her favorite sunscreens of 2017. Her only cons were that it was pricey and extremely hard to aquire. I made the effort recently, to ask a store for them to stock it.) Here is a link -

    Etude House Sunprise Airy Mild Finish SPF 50 (I believe that you have already heard of this classic k-beauty sunscreen. It does have alcohol but I wanted to recommend it to you, incase you wanted to buy it anyway) Here's a link -

    Hope that this helps 😊

    1. I'm sorry about the links that I provided, they're not active 😬 It must be the formatting of the website. If you copy and paste the links into your Internet browser's search bar, they may work then.

    2. The orange cap sunscreen has turned into my daily sunscreen, which has left the blue cap version a bit sorely neglected. It's still one of the best mineral sunscreens I've tried, but it's hard to stray from the orange cap make p:rem (chemical filters and all) because its just so, so good! ;)

  4. It's so nice to see you back! Really glad that things are better for you. (:

    And great review! Just recently I was looking into low pH foam cleansers that are cream type, because I feel like gel types clean more strongly (?? is this a thing? or maybe it's just the cleansers I've tried hmm) and I prefer a gentler cleanse. I do have the Innisfree 5.5 blueberry cleanser that fits the bill for me except... that elusive Fun Factor... so always up for something new :')
    Discovered this product, and even though it's only maaarginally more exciting, I just wanted a change LOL. The only thing was that there were no reviews at all on this and I usually never buy stuff blind so I was like welp ok back to searching for other cleansers then. But then this pops up like YOU CALLED??? HELLO!!! So you returning + with this product especially made me unnecessarily excited HAHAHA sorry for such a long yet lame story. Been a silent follower / reader for a while now but idk this just made me want to comment haha.

    Anyway, always appreciate and love reading your posts. Take care! (:

    1. YAY!


      You know, that's pretty much the reason that bloggers do what they do (at least for me) because this is what it's all about. That, and sharing knowledge that we learn, whether it's through research or just the hard way on our faces. :)

      You have me feeling all warm and fuzzy on this chilly winter day. <3 I hope it works for you, keep me posted!

  5. so glad ur back! i was reminiscing through your ig the other day and wondered how you were 😊

  6. A gentle cleanser like P:rem would be ideal for the winter. My skin already takes a beating when I go outside. I would love to see more products from this brand, maybe in their press kit examples. If a product smells nice, it definitely has my attention.

    1. Their sunscreens are absolutely rocking, if you're looking for other stand-out products.

  7. As I said on Insta, I'm glad you're back! My go-to cleanser is actually one you found boring (Hada Labo Gokyujun whatsits) because your review made it sound like exactly what I wanted, but hey.... welcome back! Yay!

    1. LOL! I'm so glad to hear that it helped you find what fit you best. It's a solid, dependable cleanser for sure. And thank you!

  8. Ahh I'm so happy to see you posting again! I read your blog RELIGIOUSLY and have read so many of your posts several times over lol. Like I seriously credit you for my whole skincare routine -- every time I consider buying a new product, I first come to check if you've written anything about it haha.

    But anyway this is a great review! I always appreciate a good analysis of a cleanser's foaming capabilities so the pictures were very much appreciated. I actually JUST bought the Cosrx low ph good morning cleanser so I'm not in the market for a cleanser right now but I'll keep this one in the back of my mind!

    Again, I'm so glad to see you back :) Sending you lots of love~

    1. Oh my, I'm so glad to hear that you've got a skincare routine that works for you! <3

      The Cosrx low pH cleanser is absolutely solid, it was my go-to cleanser before this one, so I don't think you can go wrong with it!

  9. I'm new to your blog and if you vanished because of the puppy...I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND.

    Question - if you use a low pH cleanser or one with a proper pH of 5.5, do you still need a pH balancing toner? Or should you just use a pH balancing toner regardless? Why do moisturizing toners exist, then? WHICH ONE DO I USE D:

    1. It really depends on your skin ;) There's no real need for a low pH toner after a low pH cleanser, unless you want to use it to boost the effectiveness of a weak active. Moisturizing toners are just another type of hydrator to nourish your skin, so feel free to add, layer, or skip them!