Micellar waters everywhere, which one should you choose?

After two years, I can finally say I’m an experienced micellar water user. My initial presumption was that these are completely overrated, but now I admit I was completely wrong. I’ll go through all five micellar waters I’ve tried so far and let you know a bit more about each one of them!

♦ My first micellar water ever is the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water All in one. You can never forget your first, they say, and in this case this is absolutely true. This is by far the best micellar water I have tried. It removes all of the makeup quickly and doesn’t leave any residue. In addition, this one never irritated my eyes nor it had any particular taste. The oval packaging prevents the bottle from falling over, which is a big plus. Definitely a wonderful product, a 400 ml bottle costs around €6. I will repurchase it soon!

♦ The L’Oréal Skin Perfection Micellar Water turned out to be less favorite because it doesn’t remove the makeup as thoroughly as the one from Garnier. The job was still done at the end, but I needed to work it out a bit more. What probably irritated me the most with this product is its packaging: it looks so cute in its rectangular bottle, but the fact is that it is insanely clumsy. Or am I, the fact is that I managed to turn it over a few times and almost spilled some water out (practice makes perfect, I always caught it at the end!). It is a few Euros more expensive than the one from Garnier (around €5 for 200 ml).

♦ The Mixa Micellar Water is specifically made for sensitive skin that gets irritated quickly. This is not the case with me so I cannot say it for sure, but it is a great product. For me, this one stands somewhere between the Garnier and L’Oréal micellar waters, so it is a bit less effective as the Garnier one, but still very similar to the L’Oréal. Plus, if it really doesn’t irritate sensitive skin, this one would be a perfect choice for those who suffer from reactive skin. This one is in the same price range, you can purchase it for around €7 (400 ml).

♦ In autumn, one of the Bioderma beauty advisers at the pharmacy gave me a few samples and one of them was also the oh-so-famous Bioderma Micellar Water. This brand is also the one that invented micellar water suitable for sensitive skin in the first place! All beauty lovers swear by this product and I must admit, it is really good, but also quite expensive. A 250 ml water costs around €12 and to be honest, there is nothing too special about it when compared to the Garnier. It removes the makeup just as well without any residue. The only thing that shocked me is its taste!! Removing your lipstick is not as fabulous with this micellar water, I was surprised every single time and started using other products to cleanse my lips in the end.

♦ The last micellar water I’ve tried so far is the Inell Eau Micellaire by E.Leclerc’s brand Marque Repere. This was a completely blind buy as I purchased it just because it costs around €2 and I know E.Leclerc’s products are not that bad at all, regardless of their low price. I was partially right, this cleanser for dry and sensitive skin could just as well be on a par with slightly more expensive products – you have to work it out a bit more and you also need a bigger amount of the product to remove all the makeup (the water somewhat gets lost and has to be reapplied), especially when it comes to mascara. I will use it up, but probably won’t repurchase it again.

The verdict? After closely comparing the five micellar waters, I can say with full confidence that the Garnier’s product is the best to go for. It wins in absolutely every aspect: it removes the makeup in a very efficient way, leaves no residue on your face, doesn’t irritate your eyes and has no taste. However, if you want to invest a bit more money into a more luxurious product, you should definitely go for the Bioderma micellar water, but there is nothing so special about this one that the Garnier wouldn’t provide, plus it has a bitter taste. What I also like is that Bioderma has a smaller travel-sized packaging, which comes in handy when you’re on the go.
As for L’Oréal and Mixa, the two products are good as well and I would love to use them again at one point, but I won’t repurchase them straight away. With Inell’s product, you get what you pay for: a cleanser that does remove the makeup, but is much harder to work with.

To conclude, micellar waters are much more efficient at removing your makeup than any other product, so if you haven’t decided to try them yet, give them a go and I’m sure you’ll get to love them just as I did!

♥