[All purchased by me!]
Every once in a while, the blogosphere gets obsessed with one kind of makeup removal product and I feel the need to try everything. With the totally unnecessary amounts of makeup removers I have in my rotation currently, I thought it would be a good idea to sift through the noise to what I use each product for, and to hopefully come to a conclusion as to what is actually worth using.
Cleansing Mousse/Water:
I am using the Napoleon Perdis Marshmallow Foam Makeup Remover after getting over the whole cleansing water thing. I felt like they didn't really do a great job at getting rid of eye makeup and became intrigued after using this at Ulta. It does a better job than cleansing waters like Bioderma, but is not ideal for long wearing makeup. It comes out as a foam and you can tissue off or rinse off. I always follow up makeup removal with a second cleanser, which for this, would be imperative to get rid of the remaining makeup since this isn't heavy duty.
I use this when I am wearing light makeup. It removes concealer (Glominerals), non-waterproof mascara (Rimmel Extra Pop Lash - awesome product), lip gloss (NYX Mega Shine) and khol liner (Lancome) easily with little residue. Great for people who wear natural makeup and have no need for intense, long-wearing formulas.
Cleansing Mousse/Water + Eye Makeup Remover:
To get better removal of waterproof eye makeup, I incorporate a dual-phase eye makeup remover like this Clinique Take the Day Off version. I really like this one because it's so heavy duty. However, it does leave an oily layer on the skin afterwards. This doesn't bother me since I follow up with a cleanser afterwards. While it takes off most long-wear products, I don't like irritating my eyes with a cotton pad and pulling on my lashes to get all the product off. If I am just wearing concealer and powder, the Napoleon mousse goes on the rest of my face and the two create a nice combo.
The kind of products this duo removes well are waterproof mascara (L'oreal), long-wearing cream shadow (Smashbox), liquid liner (Physician's Formula) and a light balmy lipstick (YSL).
Cleansing Balm:
Lots of people are on the cleansing balm bandwagon and I think it's a great option for most people who wear a full face of makeup, or for someone with dry skin. The Clinique Take the Day Off cleansing balm is the only one I've tried, but it ticks off all the boxes of a good makeup remover so I don't feel the need to branch out to others. It takes mostly any makeup easily, but does take some time to work into your skin. You have to massage lightly for a little while to get the balm to dissolve and then it emulsifies to rinse easily.
Here I pair this balm with a BB cream (Skin 79) and a lip/cheek stain (The Face Shop). I like using this balm with a full face of makeup because it just feels cleaner than other products I've tried. This is also great at dissolving long wear eye makeup, but where it stands out from a dual-phase makeup remover is that it can remove long wearing face makeup with no issues as well.
Cleansing Oil:
Some people may think cleansing balms remove more heavy duty makeup than an oil, but I think cleansing oils remove the same amount of makeup in a shorter amount of time. You don't need to massage it into your face for as long before it removes everything. The one above is the Garnier Nourishing Cleansing Oil. Buying this violated a couple of my skincare rules: it contains mineral oil and fragrance. I was just so darn curious about an US drugstore cleansing oil that I couldn't help it. I also figured that since it's a cleanser it really doesn't stay on my face long enough to be too harmful (but that's just my guilty justification). This is an effective product, but you get very little and the bottle leaks. Just taking that one photo leaked product which is very frustrating. If I can find a better alternative for a relatively low price, I would switch over.
For this product, a long wearing foundation (Lancome - discontinued sadly), super long-lasting lip (Makeup Forever) and a trusty extreme wear liner (Stila) are no match for its makeup dissolving capabilities. It doesn't take as long to work into the skin as a balm, and is a great lazy option for those who don't want to have to buy two products to get a full face of makeup off.
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