With the wedding season comes the excitement of seeing your cousins, Bollywood-inspired sangeet dance practices, and Pinterest boards filled with makeup looks. Whether you are a full-glam fan or prefer a subtle look, the one thing we all dread is the post-celebration double cleanse. Makeup is fun to put on, to prance around in, and to take pictures with, then why should it be a hassle to take off?
What we need when we come back is not to fill the bin with used makeup cotton pads and a face with makeup residue, but a quick and easy one-step cleanser to melt away all the products. Here’s a list of heavy-duty cleansers that work wonders for when your makeup is more than just a swipe of gloss and mascara.
1. Dot & Key Strawberry Dew Daily Cleansing Balm
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Who hasn’t wished putting makeup on and off like we see in reel transitions? While the former is still a dream, Dot & Key’s strawberry cleansing balm can certainly help you with the latter. Infused with strawberry enzymes, natural plant oils, and murumuru butter, it melts off heavy, waterproof makeup, sunscreen, and dirt like butter without any tight, dry feeling after rinsing off.
2. d’you Good Grease Cleansing Balm
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Crafted with a 5-oil ferment complex and mango seed butter, this indulgent formula effortlessly melts upon contact, thoroughly purifying your skin by removing dirt, oil, environmental impurities, SPF, and stubborn makeup (we’re looking at you, waterproof mascara), all without leaving your skin feeling dry. This anti-bacterial, single-step PM cleanser is barrier-friendly, travel-friendly and doesn’t sting the eyes upon use.
3. Clinique Take The Day Off Charcoal Cleansing Balm
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Japanese charcoal, which helps unclog pores, and safflower seed oil, which is rich in linoleic acid and leaves skin feeling soft and nourished, come together in this lightweight, non-greasy, non-acnegenic, fragrance-free cleansing balm. It transforms into a smooth oil from a solid balm on application and quickly dissolves tenacious eye and face makeup, sunscreen, and dirt.
4. Biotique Bio-Almond Oil Makeup Cleanser
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Infused with a blend of enriching almond, castor, safflower, sesame, neem, soy, and staff tree oils, this cleanser holds anti-inflammatory properties that help heal redness and other facial skin problems by removing harmful agents causing skin infections. Great for dry skin, it cleanses and moisturizes. Just clean rinse off your face with water post use and you should be good to go.
5. Dermalogica Precleanse
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The product melts away layers of excess oil, sunscreen, waterproof makeup, environmental pollutants and residual products that build up on skin throughout the day, without clogging the pores. Use it on a dry face at first then use wet hands to massage it into a light, milky emulsion. With no artificial fragrances, it’s good for all skin types weather you’ve got acne, blemishes, deep pores, sensitivity or redness.
6. Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Botanical Cleansing Oil
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An aromatic blend of botanical oils, including squalane (Kiehl’s signature ingredient), lavender essential oil and evening primrose oils, this cleansing oil is lightweight, gentle, yet effective. Suitable for all skin types, this ophthalmologist-tested oil transforms to a cleansing milk when emulsified with water, which leaves skin feeling soft, supple and replenished.
7. Bobbi Brown Soothing Cleansing Oil
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This one takes off makeup and pollution while adding nourishment to get soft and luminous for hours. Its unique water-light oil texture dissolves long-wear heavy makeup with ease while the omega 3 and 6 fatty acids work to help the skin maintain a radiant complexion.
8. Versed Day Dissolve Cleansing Balm
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If there’s one thing we’re not taking with us to 2024 is single use cleansing wipes. Massage this vitamin E-infused cleansing balm on your entire face, including those often-overlooked areas like your hairline and jawline that are prone to breakouts, for moisturised, soft, delightful smelling skin.
9. Benefit Pore Cleansing Oil
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Grape seed, jojoba seed, avocado and plum kernel oils are all brought together in a formula that is light-weight, silky-smooth and gentle. This clinically proven, dermatologist-tested oil will make your pores squeaky clean.
10. Farmacy Green Clean Cleansing Balm
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Even the boldest eye makeup and your favourite long-wear foundation don’t stand a chance against this multiple award winning cleansing balm. With sorbet-like texture that melts into into silky oil on contact, it contains sunflower and ginger root oils to clean, papaya extract to retexture skin, and a blend of lime, bergamot and orange essential oils to exhilarate and revitalise.
