Eye make-up remover and why it’s important

When it comes to make-up removal, I usually just use a cleanser. These days there are cleansers and make-up removers that are gentle enough to use all over the face, including the lip and eye areas. This means that you can remove your make-up in one fell swoop and not pay for several different products. Sounds great doesn’t it? Well, it can be if you do it right but if you don’t, you may get more than you bargain for.

Last week I had to go and see an eye specialist because my eyes were randomly watering and burning on and off. I was convinced it was an allergy to something. So imagine my shock when I was told that I had severely dry eyes and no protective film covering my eyes causing them to be affected by the slightest external factor. The dry eyes thing wasn’t new to me, it’s been a constant battle regarding contact lens comfort and wearing. However, the concerning element about this all was that the glands at the roots of my eyelashes were blocked, which was causing my eyes to only produce water. Your eyes normally produce mucous and water and the mucous is essential because it allows the water to “stick” to the eye and form tears. But with my blocked lash roots and glands, no mucous was getting to my eyes, leaving them vulnerable.

Later that evening, I was reading Lauren Conrad’s book Beauty and came across an interesting fact about mascara – waterproof mascara can actually block your glands and it is recommended to be worn only on special occasions. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but all I have ever worn is waterproof mascara up until very recently.

So the next day I purchased Garnier’s 2 in 1 Express Eye Make-Up Remover. I had only tried L’Oréal’s Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover prior to this, while it was on offer along with their Skin Perfection cleanser and toner and all of the products made my skin burn like crazy.To be honest, I had just always assumed that if you couldn’t afford the really expensive stuff, nothing was going to completely removed every last trace of make-up on your face, so I believed what I using was good enough.  After one use of Garnier’s eye make-up remover however I honestly noticed a huge difference. My eye lids and lashes looked so clean. Not a trace of mascara or eye shadow left behind and it was only €2.38 in Penney’s!

Garnier’s Express 2 in 1 Eye Make-Up Remover

The cleansers which are suitable for use around the eye area, in my experience, do not give lashes, especially right down to the roots, as good a clean as I experienced with this product. I have used both Garnier’s Micellar Cleansing Water, which is for face, lips and eyes and La Roche-Posay’s Physiological Micellar Solution (same deal) and I was not overly happy with the results of either of these products for facial make-up removal, never mind eye make-up removal.

When you use cleanser to remove eye make-up, it can take a lot more rubbing and repeating the process to get as much make-up off as possible. This is terrible for both your eyes and your skin. An eye make-up remover that works will limit these actions as much as possible (you simply let a dampened cotton pad sit on the eye for a couple of minutes and the make-up dissolves). Plus, the cleansers also tend to be thicker which hurts a hell of a lot more when you inevitably get some into your eyes! (Another reason you need to make sure you’re using an eye friendly make-up remover)

Whatever eye make-up remover you find works for you, use it! It’s a lot less harsh on the skin and eyes and my little “incident” has shown me how important it is to make absolutely sure your eyes are 100% make-up free before you hit the sack for the night. Examine your eyes closely after trying different removal products and make sure they’re doing their job properly. You don’t have to spend a fortune but it is worth buying separate products sometimes. Besides, it’s a general rule of thumb that any product that promises to do more than one thing probably won’t live up to it’s name.