How to Remove Makeup Properly

Removal and cleansing are two different steps. A face wash is built to lift sweat, oil and the day's grime off skin; it is not built to dissolve long-wear foundation, waterproof mascara or lash adhesive. Trying to make one product do both jobs is why people end up scrubbing, and the scrubbing irritates skin far more than the makeup ever did.

Lashes come off first

Take strip lashes off before anything wet touches your face. Loosen the band at the outer corner with a drop of oil or an adhesive remover on a cotton bud, wait for it to soften, then lift the band away from the lash line rather than pulling it outward. Peel the dried glue off the band afterward while it is still flexible, and never put a lash away with glue crusted along it.

What dissolves what

Oil dissolves oil, which is why a cleansing oil or balm is the fastest route through sunscreen, long-wear foundation and waterproof mascara. Micellar water is gentler and fine for light makeup or a quick pass, but it struggles with anything waterproof and leaves a film if it is never rinsed off. Wipes move product around more than they remove it, and are best kept as a travel compromise rather than a routine.

The eye area

The skin around the eye is thin and the lashes pull out easily, so pressure is the enemy. Hold a soaked cotton pad against a closed eye for twenty or thirty seconds to let the product break down, then wipe gently in one direction instead of rubbing back and forth. Use a separate pad for each eye. Tugging at waterproof liner night after night is a genuine cause of thinning lashes.

Then cleanse

Once the makeup is off, wash with your normal cleanser. That second step is what clears away the oil or balm and everything it loosened, and skipping it is how cleansing oils end up blamed for breakouts. Keep the water on the cooler side of warm. Follow with moisturizer while the skin is still slightly damp, because removal strips a certain amount no matter how gentle you were.

What to stop doing

Sleeping in makeup, which then sits on the skin for eight hours alongside the day's oil. Scrubbing at a stubborn eye product instead of letting a remover do the work. Reaching for baby wipes, which are made for a different job and leave residue behind. And bar soap on a face wearing sunscreen, which will not shift it and leaves the skin tight.