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Best Way To Remove Your Makeup… Every Last Bit Of It

Everyone likes a fresh start. If you want to wake up with clean, glowing skin, then you absolutely must take off all your makeup. You’re doing your skin the ultimate favor by taking off your makeup at night. Sleeping with your face makeup on can lead to dry skin, acne, and even wrinkles caused by collagen breakdown — and that’s just face makeup. Leaving eye makeup on causes its own set of problems, including eye infections, eye irritation, styes, and broken eyelashes. Removing your makeup every night is a skin care necessity.

Read on for seven tips from PLEIJ Salon + Spa’s skin and makeup experts on how to remove makeup completely. We consulted with Sonny Muheisen  and Ena Mayorov to find out how to take off makeup like a pro.

How to Remove Makeup

1. Break Down Your Makeup with the Combination of a Pre-Cleanser followed by a Cleanser

While your daily cleanser should be sufficient to take off foundation and blush, Environ Dual Action Pre-Cleansing Oil is your ideal starting point. It gently removes excess oils, helps dissolve away blackheads and whiteheads, and clear the skin of makeup without stripping the skin’s natural oils. It effectively removes waterproof makeup and serves double duty as an eye makeup remover. Wet your hands slightly and continue massaging the face until the oil becomes a milky emulsion. Rinse with water and then follow with Environ Mild Cleansing Lotion, Environ Hydra Intense Cleansing Lotion or your preferred cleanser to remove the last traces of the Pre-Cleansing Oil. Massage the cleanser over your face as well as your hairline, under your chin, and around your ears.

An alternative to the preferred Dual Action Pre-Cleansing Oil would be a good micellar water pre-cleanse, such as Garnier SkinActive Micellar Cleansing Water All-In-One, or their All-In-One Waterproof (which also removes water proof makeup).

2. Always Be Gentle with Your Skin

The process of taking off your makeup should be gentle and should never leave your skin dehydrated or irritated. We like to use a cleansing oil, which won’t dry out your face. Using your fingers, swipe a small amount of oil across your lids, eyebrows, and lips, and then lightly massage it all over your face. This will soften your skin and loosen the makeup, so you don’t have to rub like crazy. Then take a flat, square cotton pad — I like these better than the balls, which can be rough — and pour a little cleansing oil on it. Go over the same spots again, being careful not to scrub back and forth. Just skim the surface in one direction to pull up the color.”

3. Take Advantage of Steam Heat

You can also steam your face before washing. Fill up your sink or a bowl with hot water and hover your face over it for a minute or two. The steam will loosen up your pores and make it easier for the cleaner to penetrate the skin deeper to remove makeup and debris. This might have the extra time to steam your skin, but it’s a good occasional option. You can even add a drop of lavender essential oil for extra soothing, spa vibes.

4. Give your Eyes Extra Attention

Mascara and liner are the hardest to get off, but you don’t want to scrub — the skin around the eyes is particularly sensitive. Cotton balls leave fibers behind, so use a cotton pad and a product like Environ Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover which is specifically formulated for use on the delicate eye area. It expertly and gently removes non-waterproof makeup without drying the skin. You’ll need an oil based product for water proof makeup.

Pre-soaked pads are fine. (Sonny recommends pre-moistened Ocusoft and Systane pads.) Close your eyes and hold them over your lids and lashes for about ten seconds to give the remover time to dissolve the product before wiping.

When you wear waterproof mascara, swap the cleansing oil for a waterproof-eye-makeup remover. Otherwise, you’ll have to rub so hard to loosen the color that your lashes will break. Soak a pad with remover, press down softly on the lashes for a few seconds so the formula soaks in, and then slowly move the pad across the eyes.

5. Get Rid of Any Excess Oil

After you’ve removed your eye makeup, take another pass with a dry cotton pad to make sure you get off any last bits of product as well as the excess makeup remover. This final pass will prevent mascara circles in the morning and improve your makeup application the following day. No one likes to wake up with raccoon eyes.

6. Use an Oil-Based Makeup Remover to Remove Long-Wearing Lipstick

A cotton pad soaked in liquid or cream makeup remover should take off most lipsticks. You need an oily formula only if the lipstick is long-wearing or intensely pigmented.

7. Avoid Baby Wipes

I cringe when I see women using baby wipes to remove their makeup. Those do not get the job done, and when I tell women this, they say, “But baby skin is so sensitive, this must be good for my face.” Well, a baby’s butt isn’t covered in makeup that requires special ingredients for proper removal,” says Ena.

While choosing which cleanser to use for that second part is determined by skin type, making the decision of which makeup remover to use for step one isn’t so clear.

Share The Beauty… Earn Rewards!

At PLEIJ Salon+Spa, we offer a simple and easy referral program to our existing clients (and even non-clients). When you refer a friend who is new to PLEIJ, we’ll give them a 20% OFF GIFT to use towards any service. To say thanks, we’ll give you a 10% OFF GIFT to use toward services or products!

Be sure to learn everything about this awesome program and even send out referrals.

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