I have been searching for a long time and I think I have finally found my Holy Grail (HG) eye makeup remover and it is WATER. Let’s back up to the beginning of my makeup removal routine… as soon as I get home from work most days I run to my bathroom to grab a Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Quick Thinking Wipe and take off all of my face makeup. I just hate that feeling of it half melted sitting on top of my skin at the end of the day- ew. And although these wipes say they remove even waterproof mascara that’s a LIE! Sure maybe if I held one on each eye for 90 seconds and then rubbed at my lashes until half of them fell out I might get some mascara off, but that’s not how I’m trying to live my life. The wipes are, however, wonderful at taking off face makeup and are non-irritating and always stay wet until I use the very last one and are affordable. These were in my August 2014 favorites post and they are the only wipes I’ve used for a year now!
While we’re on makeup wipes I need to let you all know to stay the hell away from these eye and face-stinging monsters. I tried one of my friend’s, regretted it, then tried them again at my sister’s…. like what was I thinking? I’m talking about the Neutrogena Oil-Free Cleansing Wipes:
I’m reading reviews of the Neutrogena wipes on Target’s website and the Neutrogena peeps are claiming that the burning is not typical on like 10 different reviews that said they burn!! Bish please. When I exclaimed that my face was burning both my friend and my sister were like “oh yeah they do that”.
I then tried DHC Cleansing Oil and while I like it to break up my face makeup and I can use it to get my eye makeup off (with some effort) I just hate how it feels when it inevitably gets in my eyes. It just gives me a little blurry vision which does not seem like something I should voluntarily be doing to myself on a daily basis.
Then I wanted to go the natural route. I am constantly seeing on YouTube comments that Coconut Oil is the best makeup remover EVER! It’s multipurpose, all natural, organic, and good for your skin. Yeah well it also takes me forever to get my mascara off, is messy, and again makes my vision blurry for a few minutes. I wish coconut oil was as amazing as everyone says, but it does not take your mascara off quickly or easily like people claim. Maybe this works for people who don’t put on 20 coats of mascara everyday, but I say go big or go home.
So what is my big secret you ask? Simple Micellar Cleansing Water! How does this miracle product work you ask? I don’t know, science? But it’s amazing it feels exactly like putting a cotton pad with water on your eye except it removes all of your mascara and also has no pain, no stinging, no residue, etc.
Here’s how they recommend using it:
Reading the website now is reminding me that I should try to use this as my face cleanser in the morning to see if it works well. Like I already mentioned I first use the Boots No7 wipe because it’s bigger and I wear a lot of makeup then I go in with the Micellar water to remove my mascara. Even though there’s no residue and it gets everything off I generally wash my face with Dove bar soap afterwards to get my skin extra clean since it has been breaking out lately and I feel like that helps me get every last bit of makeup off. One of the best parts about this stuff is that it’s affordable ($6.99 at Target)!
The only product that I’ve used that removes makeup a tiny bit faster than the Micellar water with zero eye pain (but some blurriness after) is good old fashioned Pond’s cold cream which I talked about in my How to Gently Remove Makeup and Stop Ruining Your Towels. The other difference is that the Pond’s does need to be rinsed off.
And yes I know I need to get my vision checked 8)