Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I’m a big proponent of not spending a ton of money on facial/skin care, because more often than not I can make something with one or two ingredients from my kitchen that work better, cost less, and don’t have a ton of questionable chemicals that I can’t pronounce. So, for years I’ve been using coconut oil to ‘wash’ my face. Coconut oil (or any other oil you happen to have in the kitchen like olive oil) works better than any store bought waterproof make-up remover. For my face, I take a little sugar, add a few drops of milk, and I have the most amazing moisturizer and exfoliating face wash. However, after losing electricity for a few days after the last storm, I decided I wanted to find some alternative ways to way to wash my face that didn't require water (I really dislike those facial cleansing towels because they have way too many chemicals, leave what feels like a 'film' on my face, and sometimes irritate my skin). The coconut oil works well, but I'm always experimenting with new ideas to see if I can improve on what I'm doing. I started reading about Micellar water and I wanted to see if it was really as amazing as some people were claiming. The reason why micellar water works so well is pretty simple; it relies on oil to remove dirt and makeup rather than soaps and detergents that are in most face washes. Commercial face washes generally strip away all facial oil along with the bad stuff, which does clean, but in removing oils prompts the skin to produce excess oil. This is why many people with oily skin often (though not always) benefit from cleansing their skin with OIL (I know it sounds counterintuitive!) because by not constantly removing the natural oil, the skin stops producing such an excessive amount. This was certainly my experience. As I usually do with most skin care products, I made a DIY version before I bought the store brand. If you search ‘DIY micellar water recipe’ you can find a bunch of sites with easy to follow directions. What I did was to take some oil (I used rosehip seed oil since I happened to have it on hand, but you can use other oils that are liquid at room temperature), and mixed it with glycerin. Glycerin is really interesting, because it’s one of very few substances that mixes with both oil and water, so in theory it helps to ‘bind’ the oil with the water. I then added distilled water, shook it up really well in a mason jar, and then used a cotton round to wipe my face. The results of my homemade concoction were pretty impressive; it did an amazing job at both removing a lot of unseen dirt, but left my skin feeling smooth and moisturized. However, I did notice that some of the rosehip seed oil separated from the rest and needed a periodic shake of the container. This could be that the ratio of glycerin to oil to water I used wasn’t optimized, or perhaps I didn’t allow enough time for the oil and glycerin to fully mix before adding the water. Even with this minor ‘flaw’ my recipe still worked well. However, curiosity got the best of me, and I decided I needed to try out an official commercial brand to see how my homemade version compared. I bought this Garnier Micellar water since it was the most reasonably priced brand I could find. One thing I don’t understand is that the oil seems to completely separate, so you have to really shake it well every single time you use it. I just seems like they added some cheap oil and water in a plastic bottle. Except that’s clearly not what they did, because the ingredient list is pretty long and unpronounceable and slightly scary; I don’t know what most of those chemicals are and I’m not feeling great about my skin absorbing them on a regular basis. So, I’m using it sparingly and when it runs out, I plan to resume using my homemade version. It does work well on the general face area, but it doesn’t work as well at removing eye makeup as it claims; it removes waterproof mascara and eyeliner inconsistently and requires some mild scrubbing (directions claim no scrubbing required). So I don’t rely on it to remove eye makeup; for that I use my tried and true coconut oil, which works like a charm. Since they claim that it removes waterproof eye make-up WITHOUT scrubbing, I had to dock some points because it does not do what it claims to do. As a general facial cleanser it works well. So overall, I’m a bit conflicted on how to rate this product. As far as commercial facial cleansers go, it works. If you are currently using a commercial foaming facial cleanser and are looking to switch to something different that is not drying, I think it’s definitely worth a try. However, you could probably make something that works just as well by putting some water, oil, and glycerin in a bottle and shaking it. Just don’t expect to use it to remove waterproof eye makeup unless you’re prepared to do quite a bit of scrubbing. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to help, and if you found this review helpful, please consider clicking 'yes' below. *I have noticed that several reviews I have written on items purchased through Amazon have had the "Verified Purchase" removed incorrectly and as a result are no longer visible, which is likely happening to other people as well. When you read reviews, be sure to sort by 'All reviews' since there is obviously a bug in the system and many helpful and detailed reviews are now hidden.