Micellar waters are a very fancy name for a mild cleanser with the following characteristics: they have mild surfactants (or cleaning agents); are non-foaming and contain moisturising ingredients.
You can read about the technical detail on how micellar water or facial cleansers work at this BLOG.
What am I testing and why?
I am road-testing the third micellar water I bought from Boot’s, specifically the claim that it removes make-up.
Before photo
After applying a copious mix of waterproof, pigmented and shiny make-up, my forearm looked like this:
I then pressed down a pre-soaked (in micellar water) cotton pad on the above patch and counted to 5. Finally, I wiped over this area (quite firmly) exactly 4 times.
After photo
There are make-up stains of most products, including the green eyeshadow and the Tom Ford emotion proof eyeshadow. That’s a first.
To buy, or not to buy
This is a rubbish make-up remover. I would say its a decent micellar water, but I don’t believe that and that’s not JUST because it contains parabens. This product has only one surfactant – PEG-6 Caprylic/Capric glycerides, which is great because its a mild cleansing agent, but there is simply not enough of it, as its the 5th ingredient on the list.
You can pass on this product, even if the only pharmacy around you is Boots.