Party in the USA: micellar water edition
Last month I mentioned how Simple was releasing their very own micellar water, a product relatively new to the states. I got my hands on it at Target a few weeks ago, so I figured I would do a little review on what I thought of it in comparison to two other micellar waters by Bioderma and Sephora.
As you can see, I did a little swatch test to compare the cleaning abilities of the three waters on Rimmel's waterproof, black eyeliner. Overall, I found Bioderma to work the best, which wasn't surprising since it's my favorite of the three. It cleans the best, is scent free, and leaves no sticky residue behind. The only downside is that the price is majorly inflated in the US, and you can't find it in stores.
In second place is the Sephora brand cleansing water, which happened to leave a little eye liner behind. But I think that's mostly due to user error as the patch of eyeliner I used it on was a tad bit bigger than the other two. This is my current cleansing water and when I use it with one of the Shiseido cotton pads, I'm able to remove all my makeup with a few pumps and a single pad. Thanks to the pump, this cleanser easily has the best packaging of the three. The bottle instructs to open the lid and press down with a cotton pad, but when you do that the water ends up splashing everywhere. But there's a simple fix for that-- push down with the lid closed, and then open and wet the cotton pad.
Last is the Simple cleansing water. While it is the cheapest of the bunch, it's also the least successful (and the one I will be returning.) As you can see in the picture, it left a lot of the eyeliner behind. It also somehow managed to spread the scrubbed off eyeliner all over my skin surrounding the swatch. I tried taking a closeup of this so you could see the little blank specks of eye liner left over. Overall, I was pretty unimpressed by this cleansing water and I'm still waiting for a cheap micellar water option.
Nouveau cheap did a review on the Simple one as well, and the comments seem to be a bit more positive than mine.
Other micellar waters available in the US are made by Vichy, La Roche-Posay, Ren, Lancome, and Dior. I did try the Dior one in stores and found it to be overly fragrant and not that effective, considering the price.
I've also heard many good things about the Garnier one, but it unfortunately isn't sold in the US :(
If you've tried/ regularly use any micellar waters I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommendations :)
I figure I should start of with what micellar water is and how I personally use it. Micellar waters are cleansing waters that can be used to remove makeup and dirt, without needing to be rinsed off afterwards. They're much gentler than toners and work without stripping your skin of its natural oils. I use them about twice a day, once in the morning to forgo washing my face with a stronger face wash (and because I'm super lazy in the morning and the less I have to do, the better), and then at night to remove my makeup. When I use it at night, I follow up by washing my face with a proper face wash to double cleanse.
The first micellar water I tried was Bioderma sensibio after a friend brought it back for me from Europe. I'm pretty sure its the OG micellar water hailing from France.
-Price in US: $35 ($.14/ ml)
-Size: 250 ml
-Fragrance-free
-Leaves no residue
-List of ingredients here
Second is one by Sephora, which comes in a large bottle with a handy pump.
-Price in US: $20 ($.04/ml)
-Size: 400 ml
-Slight fragrance, smells "clean"
-Leaves no residue
-List of ingredients here
Last is the Simple micellar water, the first US micellar water available at drugstores, to my knowledge.
-Price in US: $7-$8 ($.035/ml- $.0404/ml)
-Size: 198 ml
-Fragrance-free
-Leaves slight residue
-List of ingredients here
The first micellar water I tried was Bioderma sensibio after a friend brought it back for me from Europe. I'm pretty sure its the OG micellar water hailing from France.
-Price in US: $35 ($.14/ ml)
-Size: 250 ml
-Fragrance-free
-Leaves no residue
-List of ingredients here
Second is one by Sephora, which comes in a large bottle with a handy pump.
-Price in US: $20 ($.04/ml)
-Size: 400 ml
-Slight fragrance, smells "clean"
-Leaves no residue
-List of ingredients here
Last is the Simple micellar water, the first US micellar water available at drugstores, to my knowledge.
-Price in US: $7-$8 ($.035/ml- $.0404/ml)
-Size: 198 ml
-Fragrance-free
-Leaves slight residue
-List of ingredients here
In second place is the Sephora brand cleansing water, which happened to leave a little eye liner behind. But I think that's mostly due to user error as the patch of eyeliner I used it on was a tad bit bigger than the other two. This is my current cleansing water and when I use it with one of the Shiseido cotton pads, I'm able to remove all my makeup with a few pumps and a single pad. Thanks to the pump, this cleanser easily has the best packaging of the three. The bottle instructs to open the lid and press down with a cotton pad, but when you do that the water ends up splashing everywhere. But there's a simple fix for that-- push down with the lid closed, and then open and wet the cotton pad.
Nouveau cheap did a review on the Simple one as well, and the comments seem to be a bit more positive than mine.
Other micellar waters available in the US are made by Vichy, La Roche-Posay, Ren, Lancome, and Dior. I did try the Dior one in stores and found it to be overly fragrant and not that effective, considering the price.
I've also heard many good things about the Garnier one, but it unfortunately isn't sold in the US :(
If you've tried/ regularly use any micellar waters I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommendations :)