Stimuli

It’s late at night after a long, long day.  You are tired and want nothing more than to crawl into your bed and fall instantly asleep.  But you know you need to take your makeup off because if you don’t you will wake looking like a zombie with your mascara half way down your face.  And let’s not even consider what will happen to your skin if you make a habit out of leaving your makeup on overnight.  *shudder*  

But I get it, I have been there too, and you know when it comes right down to it, sometimes you just want to go to bed right now...

Ever heard of Micellar cleansing products?  More and more companies are introducing Micellar products into their lines.  These products are in a liquid form and you simply put some on a cotton pad and swipe it across your face to remove all makeup and impurities.  There is some fancy science behind all of this (things like molecular structure and other such beauty nerd details) that I won’t get into here, but at a very basic level, the micellar solution binds to anything on your face that isn’t water.  So it doesn’t dry out your skin, but it does allow you to wipe off everything that shouldn’t naturally be there.

Besides trimming your beauty routine down, Micellar products do have other advantages.  They are great for sensitive or dry skin that cannot handle a soap based cleanser, or that typically have reactions to skin care products.  I can definitely see how those with sensitive skin would love micellar cleansing.

And many people really do love micellar products.  Personally, I would love to know how women are actually getting this stuff to remove waterproof eye makeup.  I understand the science behind why it should work, but I am telling you, I have spent countless nights the last few weeks trying all of these products and I can’t get my eye makeup off unless I rub so hard my eyelashes start coming out.  Yeah, not pretty.  I realize not everyone wears waterproof makeup, so if you don’t give these a try, but if you are part of the waterproof gang, sorry ladies, don’t dispose of your eye makeup remover quite yet.

Marcelle Essentials Soothing Cleaning Water - This is a nice light product that did help me wipe away foundation, but it took multiple passes over my skin to get it truly clean.  I call this my “3 cotton pad” cleanser, because I have to use, on average, 3 pads a night before makeup finally stops coming off my face and I can assume I am clean and makeup free.  This would be good for a light makeup user, maybe someone who doesn’t wear a foundation, rather a tinted moisturizer type of girl.  One very positive note on this one, it didn’t sting my eyes at all.

Dermaglow Micellar Water-Based Cleanser - This one had better cleansing power, it felt like my skin was clean after using it, but, I also found I am using it up much faster compared to standard cleansers.  There is no skin tightness after, there is no residue left behind, it just feels like water.  But, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT do what I did and assume this product is for your eyes.  It calls itself a makeup remover, and to me, that means you can use it on your eyes.  I even read the packaging and nothing said “keep away from eyes” so I dove right in.  Holy burning eyeballs!  You know that feeling when your shampoo accidentally drips in your eyes?  Yeah, multiply that by a thousand and you have the pain that you will experience if you try to use this product on eye makeup.

Once my vision was restored I looked online and their website says you should use it on your “eye contour” area.  Um, no.  Oh heck no.  

La Roche-Posay Physiological Micellar Solution - This cleanser did remove all makeup and oil from my skin and left it feeling fresh and natural.  It did not sting my eyes (yay!) but it was another that just didn’t budge my mascara without some serious rubbing.  This one seems like it will last longer than the Dermaglow, my guess is because the Dermaglow is a pump and this is a bottle.

So after all of my experimentation, if I am honest, I am not a huge fan of micellar products.  Maybe it is my skin type (combination), maybe it is my love of waterproof eye makeup, maybe it is psychological and washing away makeup with a standard cleanser and water at the end of the day just feels cleaner to me, but the micellar products I tried just didn’t thrill me.  Not something I would put on my must have list unless you have very sensitive skin and need to try something very mild.

Sweet dreams beauty junkies, and don’t forget to wash your face!