Bioderma Sensibio Micellar Water vs Nuxe Eau Demaquillante Micellaire aka French Micellar Water Showdown
Contrary to popular believe I actually use western cosmetics quite a bit. For one I travel and like to try the products offered in those countries and I also sometimes buy things last minute in my local drugstore.
I took a trip to France last year and bought quite a bit of French pharmacy items believing all of the hype that surrounds them online.
In case you are wondering, I did not find one single product I loved and was mostly disappointed by the lot. That being said some of this stuff was quite cheap so the quality is decent. But if it is hard for you to get French pharmacy products or they are expensive, remember that a lot of hype surrounds them and cheaper alternatives can be found.
Today I will review two cleansing waters.
I love cleansing waters to be honest and don't want to live without them. Cleansing waters are great but not in the way most people think.
For me they are multi purpose products that are gentle and enable me to double cleanse without using any tap water. What they are not is miracle makeup removers, as most articles online would like you to believe.
In fact if you use remotely waterproof makeup, don't expect micellar waters to get it off your face for you. And if you use more than just a tiny bit of it, you will have to use a lot of soaked cotton pads to get it completely off your face.
I will talk a little bit about each of them on their own and then about Micellar waters in general since I have used quite a few so far.
I will start with my favorite of the two, the Bioderma Sensibio.
Bioderma Sensibio Micellar Water
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| I seem to not have taken any photos from the bottle so stock photo it is |
It might be the favorite in this selection but my reaction to it was very meh to be honest.
I believe it was because of the humongous amount of hype surrounding it.
The good part is that it is scentless and really gentle. I appreciate scentless products since most companies go either overboard with their scents or make them quite unappealing to me.
It looks just like regular water but science tells me that it cleanses better than water. I will just trust science this ones and believe this is true. Here is also a wonderful article by Lab Muffin on the science part of Micellar Waters.
Besides that it is scentless and like water, there is not much to say about this honestly.
I honestly do think it is completely overrated since it does not perform miracles as mentioned above, but if you have only a little bot of powder or some other makeup product that is non waterproof on your face it will remove it just fine.
Nuxe Eau Demaquillante Micellaire
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| No picture of this one either. Sorry |
The Nuxe Eau Demaquillante Micellaire is basically the same than Sensibio only that it has a very strong scent. I noticed that most of their products smell really strongly. The scent is rosey and perfumey. Kind of a vintage type scent but honestly very overpowering. It also looks just like water and the cleaning power is just as decent as Biodermas.
You might now wonder why I do like cleansing waters at all, since I am clearly gushing about how much I love these two!
They are super practical to be honest. They have some cleansing abilities to the point of being able to clean by themselves to some extent but work even better in combination with other cleaners. They also double as toners which makes me be able to skip one skin care step depending on my routine. They have never irritated my skin even when it was quite sensitive which I absolutely appreciate. And many of them can be really cheap.
I am actually one of those people that when they do wear makeup it is such a teeny tiny amount (if you check my makeup pictures on here or on Instagram that is about double as much as I would wear on a normal day, if any.) that micellar waters should be able to deal with it.
Of course they can't tackle my mascara but I dont expect it to do so (any more).
I actually double cleanse on a daily basis, starting with a cream cleanser followed by a cleansing water. Cleansing creams are often meant to be just wiped off but some residue often stays and the cleansing water enables me to make sure that my skin is thoroughly clean afterwards.
Without them I would have to use tap water (which is what I want to avoid) or live with the residue on my face. If you are in a bind micellar waters can also be used as a stand alone cleanser but I try to avoid that situation.
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| Fact-check: What is micellar water and how does it work? An Update |
All in all cleansing waters can be quite wonderful for many situations, but simply not what most people would like you to believe. Honestly most people that I know in person have similar opinions about cleansing waters, so I am really not sure how this internet phenomenon came to be. Either way, so far all micellar/cleansing waters I have used where 95% the same as far as I can observe. So if you are curious about how they work just buy the cheapest easiest alternative you find and see how it goes. If you are still curious about the others afterwards you can always go ahead and take the plunge. I will compare the famed Japanese cleansing water Bifesta and Garniers cheap version in the future (including some cleansing photographs of course).
What do you think of cleansing waters? Have you tried Bioderma and do you think it stands up to the hype?
