How to remove eye make-up without tugging the skin



Step-by-step guide to cleansing the eye area as gently as possible.

   The skin around the eyes has no oil glands and is quite thin. While it is important to be thorough in cleaning off eye makeup, you need to be very gentle with this area. Eye makeup is not easy to remove, especially if you use waterproof products, so here are some tips to do it right !

The key is to let the water and the oil dissolve as much of the makeup as possible, before you start rubbing.
Be gentle !

  1. First, wash and cleanse your face. This will allow the eye makeup to soak and loosen a little bit.
  2. Saturate a cotton pad with oil. Press it against the eyes and hold it there for a few seconds. This will allow the makeup to loosen.
  3. Dab the cotton pad on the eye, pressing gently. This should remove most of the makeup.
  4. If there is still a lot of makeup on you eyes -- Using your ring finger, dab and gently massage a little bit of oil around your eyes. This will help the makeup to dissolve, besides conditioning the lashes and massaging the skin. Be gentle !
  5. Gently wipe the eyelid with the cotton. The movement should be downwards, and across from the outside in (you are cleaning in the direction of the tear duct, which is where any makeup that got into the eye can get out). Never tug !
  6. Gently wipe across under the eye. again from the outside in.
  7. TO REMOVE EYE LINER: Dip a q-tip in oil, and trace it along the eyeliner.
  8. TO REMOVE MASCARA: Take a clean mascara brush, dip it in oil and comb it though your brushes. Demonstrated in this video

      You do not need to use cleanser to wash off the oil, since the skin around the eyes is dry and not prone to breakouts. Leaving the oil in will condition the skin and lashes. 
      I recommend using oil instead of makeup remover since it does the job just as well (if not better), and is much gentler.

    * Coming up: a post on which oils to use for removing eye makeup.*

Photo by Tapio Hurme

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