Rosewater Regime - Nuxe Micellar Cleansing Water

A month or so ago, I bought a couple of products from Nuxe that I only recently started using after experiencing the awesomeness of the Nuxe Multi-Usage Dry Oil~

Today's product is the Nuxe Micellar Cleansing Water with Rose Petals, a one-step makeup remover and cleanser for face, eyes and lip. Designed for sensitive skin, it's applied with a cotton pad and is non-rinse! Oh did I mention that it's also paraben and (kind of) alcohol-free?



200ml bottle / S$38 from BHG aLT beauty corner
Also available at dept stores like John Little and drugstores like Watsons

By default, I'm quite attracted to products with rose content, petals, rosewood, rosewater, damascas rose, those are all trigger words! As Nuxe prides itself on being a natural-origin skincare brand, a look at the ingredients list is a must~

Do you see what I see?

It's nice that Damascus Rose flower water is nice and high on the list for its soothing and skin softening effect~ But I couldn't help noticing that Benzyl Alcohol is the 5th ingredient in the list =\ Now, this product is listed on Nuxe's website as 'alcohol-free' and legally this is correct as long as the alcohol content of a product is 5% and below. So while that's an extremely low content percentage that would be ok for most, for those of you who're looking for a 100% alcohol-free product, sorry. This is not it.

For my part, I'm not too concerned as this product was formulated for sensitive skin and should therefore be quite gentle on my normal/combination skin. In fact, I read that Benzyl Alcohol is actually quite commonly used in natural or organic skincare as a solvent and viscosity decreasing agent. For those who are interested to know more, Sesame of VivaWoman has a full post on the effects of Benzyl Alcohol and it's use in organic cosmetics/skincare HERE~

Moving on~ Here's a look at the dispenser and how it looks in the bottle and on the cotton pad:



I can smell the roses~

        

I must admit that I was feeling adventurous and decided to try the cleansing water once in combination with my konjac sponge just to see how it'd feel. Big mistake! My skin was itching for a couple of hours and felt slightly dried out so don't be tempted to try it! >_< Anyway, I tested the Micellar Cleansing Water over 2 days with 2 different makeup levels. First with full makeup (i.e makeup base, mineral loose powder, concealer, eyeliner, mascara, blusher etc) and later light makeup (i.e mineral loose powder, concealer, brows and eyeliner).

Below are the before & after photos, pretty good actually~ =D

Do note that it took 3 cotton pads before I could be sure all the (removable) makeup was gone.



3 times to all-clean!

The water was able to remove all the facial makeup but wasn't able to remove much of the waterproof eye-makeup. So for really waterproof makeup, I think you'll still need your regular makeup removers..or shop around for a 'stronger' version like Bioderma or This Works. But for lighter makeup, lazy busy days and oh those late nights when you just want to tumble into bed and concuss till the next morning, this is a great convenient alternative to waiting your turn outside the family bathroom! No fuss, no muss!

In a nutshell, the Nuxe Micellar Cleansing Water with Rose Petals:

• has, like most natural and organic products, a PAO(period after opening) of 6 months which should be alright if used fairly regularly
• has a rather long shelf life if unopened, Dec 2017 according to the label on the bottle
• smells nicely of damascus rose, not an overpowering scent
• does not sting or dry out my normal/combination skin as long as used according to instruction
• effectively removes facial and lip makeup after 3 pads-worth but not all of the waterproof mascara and eyeliner
• leaves skin feeling soft and pleasantly taut (not tight or dry) after use (I like!!)
• followup with a toner indicated no residual makeup!

Some additional info about Micellar water for the uninitiated, it is basically:

• an oil-loving microscopic huddle of oil molecules suspended in water; this oil-loving characteristic is what draws all the dirt and grime off your skin
• said huddles are also hydrophobic so they won't harm the skin's natural lipid barrier like conventional cleansers
• often combined with other skin soothing ingredients like rose and cucumber for that extra soft feel~

Other brands that have micellar water products include Bioderma (highly raved about), Avene and La Roche Posey~ Have you used any other micellar water products yet?