K-beauty loves a product that does two jobs, and Eqqualberry's Purple Rice Pore Purifying Pack Cleanser is a tidy example: it is a face wash and a clay mask folded into one tube. The pitch is convenience — why apply a separate clay mask when your cleanser can do the deep-cleaning work as you wash, or with a one-minute pause turn into a purifying pack? It is a genuinely useful idea for the right skin, and a slightly risky one for the wrong skin, and sorting out which you are is the whole point of this review.
The engine is the clay. This cleanser is loaded with absorbent minerals — kaolin and bentonite sit high on the list, joined by sea silt, illite, and a couple of specialty mineral clays. Together they draw excess sebum and impurities out of pores with the oil-absorbing punch you would expect from a dedicated clay mask, which is exactly what lets the product moonlight as one. For skin that gets shiny by midday and battles congestion, that degreasing power is the appeal: it leaves skin genuinely clean and matte in a way a gentle cream cleanser never will.
The clays do not work alone. Salicylic acid, the oil-soluble beta-hydroxy acid, penetrates into pores to dissolve the sebum and debris clogging them — though in a rinse-off product its short contact time makes it more of an ongoing maintenance decongestant than a treatment-level peel. Bromelain, a pineapple-derived enzyme, adds a gentle proteolytic exfoliation that smooths texture without scrubbing. And the signature purple rice — powder for a mild polish, extract and bran water for antioxidants and the lavender tint — softens the whole experience and lends a brightening note. That is three complementary modes of pore care layered into a wash: absorption, follicular exfoliation, and enzymatic polish.
Where Eqqualberry deserves credit is the attempt to civilize an inherently harsh format. Clay-and-soap cleansers are notorious for leaving skin tight and stripped, so the formula folds in ceramide NP and glycosphingolipids, centella, panthenol, allantoin, and licorice to soothe and buffer. Now, honesty requires a caveat: a rinse-off product limits how much ceramide actually deposits on the skin, so these are a mitigation, not a transformation. But the intent is real, and it does make this less brutally stripping than a bare clay-and-soap wash.
Which brings us to the central limitation, stated plainly: this is a soap-based cleanser. Read the top of the ingredient list and you find stearic, lauric, and myristic acids saponified with potassium hydroxide — a classic soap system — sitting alongside the clays. Soap plus clay plus salicylic acid is an effective degreasing trio, but it is also, unavoidably, on the drying end of the cleanser spectrum. That is fine, even desirable, for oily skin. It is a problem for dry, sensitive, or barrier-compromised skin, which will likely find it tight and over-cleansed no matter how much centella is in the mix. This product knows its audience, and that audience is oily and combination skin.
There is also a worthwhile myth to puncture, because it leads people astray with exactly this kind of cleanser. The squeaky-tight feeling that makes a deep cleanser feel like it is 'working' is actually a warning sign — it means the cleanser has stripped too much natural oil and disrupted the barrier, which can trigger rebound oiliness and irritation. A good purifying cleanser leaves skin clean but comfortable, not tight. The fix with this product is simple discipline: rehydrate immediately after rinsing with a hydrating toner and moisturizer, and reserve the leave-on pack use for a few times a week rather than daily. Used that way, you get the clays' benefits without the stripping downside.
In use, it is a satisfying experience for the skin it suits. The thick, faintly purple paste emulsifies into a light, low-foam lather that feels purifying without harsh grit, rinses clean, and leaves oily skin notably fresh and matte. As a brief pack, it gives the familiar clay tightening as it draws out congestion. It is fragrance-free, with only an earthy-mineral note. Over two to four weeks of regular use, oily and congested skin tends to see less shine, fewer blackheads, and more refined-looking pores — provided, again, that the skin is rehydrated afterward.
The value is reasonable. Twenty-three dollars for 150ml of a two-in-one cleanser-and-pack is fair, and because it replaces a separate clay mask, there is a small economy to the format. A tube lasts two to three months at daily use. You should also be realistic about scope: clay and salicylic acid in a wash help with acne and congestion but do not clear breakouts on their own — persistent acne still needs a dedicated leave-on treatment, and this is a supporting step, not a cure.
The bottom line is that this is a well-made, effective purifying cleanser with a genuinely useful two-in-one trick, aimed squarely at oily and combination skin that wants a deep clean and pore decongestion in one step. For that skin, used with the discipline of rehydrating afterward, it is an easy recommendation. For dry, sensitive, or barrier-stressed skin, the soap-and-clay base is simply the wrong tool, and a gentler cleanser with a separate occasional clay mask is the smarter path. Know your skin type, and this purple paste earns its place.
