Beauty Clinic: Please help me find a gentle cleanser
Q I’m desperate to find a facial cleanser that is gentle on my eyes. I’ve tried several but if I get any in my eyes they end up pink, sore, itchy and somehow smaller, often for days. Help!
A. We absolutely know the problem and sometimes even dedicated eye make-up removers have the same effect on our super-sensitive peepers.
The new-ish product we both swear by is LIXIRSKIN Electrogel LIXIRSKIN, formulated by Doctor of Dermo-Pharmacy, Colette Haydon. Well, we could almost kiss her feet because this rich cream cleanser is really, truly gentle on our eyes. Until you have ended up countless times with sore red eyes - as in your case and ours, it’s almost impossible to imagine how grateful you are for a product that takes off every bit of pollution and grime (by some wizardry about negative and positive charges – that's the ‘Electro’ bit) and is also super-gentle on eyes.
The directions actually specify to apply it generously with clean damp hands all over the face, ‘including the eye area’ – that's how confident they are. Do also use it on your neck and décolleté. Take a minute to massage in, leave for another minute then rinse off with a clean towel mitt.
Now two things: Electrogel Cleanser is not a beauty steal at £25 for 100 ml at victoriahealth.com, but you only use a small amount per wash and it does seem to last for ages. And you can also use it as a mask, which saves on that.
Secondly: those towel mitts. We have just opened a new two-sided one called CloudCloth/£8 for 3, which claims to be ‘suitable for the most sensitive of skin, even the delicate eye area’. The reverse side exfoliates. So we are off to try that.
For the last year or so, however, we have alternated between pure muslin cloths (very easy to wash daily) and MakeUp Eraser/£16.99, a machine-washable, microfibre flannel that is designed to remove make-up, even waterproof mascara, simply with water. Have to say we still use cleanser though, being pedantic and a bit sceptical.
MakeUp Eraser is double-sided too, and comes in pink and black.
