Before I started doing a winged liner for my everyday look, I didn’t really need to use makeup remover. But, once I switched to mainly using waterproof gel liner, only using my cleansing oil didn’t seem to cut it. I looked like a racoon with insomnia. Cue rummaging around under my sink trying to find makeup remover.
I’d found a deluxe sample bottle of [Mary Kay]. I will qualify the following with: the bottle was probably at least 6 months to a year old, and possibly expired. But I wanted to get to sleep and there was no way I was going to run to Winco in the middle of the night just for this. So I shook up the bottle and poured a little on a cotton square. It didn’t remove my makeup so much as it just moved around the dark mass of goo. And it stung. Oh boy did it sting. I now looked like an insomniac racoon with rabies. Cue my throwing away said bottle in the trash with conviction.
Which brings me to acquiring the following in my quest of finding a makeup remover that: didn’t make my eyes feel like they were being melted via acid, didn’t leave an oily residue, and you know – actually removed my mascara and liner.
The L’Oreal Refreashing Eye Makeup Remover was surprisingly gentle, but left a little bit of a filmy feeling despite it being oil-free. It also was pretty mediocre at removing product, it worked eventually but I had to use a couple different cotton squares to get the job done.
The next one actually came in a great little gift set from Sephora that included a lash primer and mascara that I’d been wanting to try. Lancome Bi-Facial Dual Action Eye Makeup Remover worked really really well. It broke down all of my waterproof eye stuff without me breaking down into tears AND it didn’t leave a residue. It also smelled nice which was, well, nice. This was a contender, it could be somebody.
As a Sephora addict, Sephora Collection Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover obviously had to be among the ones I tried out. Pretty similar results to the Lancome, but half the price. It leaves behind a little bit more of a residue, but it’s minimal enough that it didn’t bother me at all. Points!
The next one is actually a gel instead of a liquid, which was interesting. The Borghese Gel Delicato Makeup Remover arrived with uncanny timing in one of the beauty boxes I subscribe to. I wasn’t sure if I should apply it using fingertips or a cotton square, so I naturally did the A/B testing thing. While not using the cotton square seemed to work the best on breaking down the gel liner, neither was really doing it for me. The formula felt slimy and left that weird unabsorbed serum feeling. Which is kind of funny, because I’ve used Borghese serums before and they sink in really quickly…
The Koh Gen Do Cleasnising Spa Water was super light, and had a little bit of a fresh scent to it. It left behind zero residue which was awesome. However, totally had to use more than one cotton square, so it was a little too gentle. Though it is probably my favorite on days where I’m not wearing waterproof makeup that you need a jack hammer to chisel off.
Verdicts: The Lancome and the Sephora options were the clear winners for me, just gentle enough but still got the job done with minimal effort. Exactly what I want when I’m trying to get my PM routine knocked out so I can knock out. You can find the Lancome Bi-Facial remover here, and the Sephora remover here.
♡Em
