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Taking It Off

Boots Botanics Hot Cloth Cleansing Balm

I have never been a wash-my-face-every-night kind of girl.

I really dislike being at the sink and using soap or a cleanser that must be rinsed off. I’m not the tidiest of rinsers and by the end of the 2 minutes it takes me to do this, it looks like baby sparrows have been frolicking in my bathroom. There’s water everywhere, my sleeves are soaked, and I’ve usually managed to not get everything rinsed off, entirely.

So, in light of my sink washing woes, I’ve always used alternate methods of makeup removal. I’m not a huge fan of what we used to call base makeup. And although it has come a long way, I still use today’s foundations, tinted moisturizers, and other such products, sparingly. Therefore, I don’t have a lot of overall makeup to contend with. My Achilles’ heel is eye makeup, and specifically, mascara. I love a good 15 coats or so to get the longest, thickest lashes possible.

I joke, but I do use a technique called ‘wardrobing’ which is layering different mascaras to get your overall look. The important issue for the purposes of this post is, it’s never easy to remove.

I’ve been through many different makeup removal products, from wipes, to lotions, to an oil based formula specifically geared toward waterproof mascara, which you would think worked amazingly well on non-waterproof, but surprisingly doesn’t. Then a friend introduced me to cleansing balm, and I found my holy grail.

There are quite a few cleansing balms out there. I hear Clinique makes a great one, Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm, $29, It Cosmetics has Bye Bye Makeup 3-in-1 Makeup Melting Balm, $38, which is very popular, and Boscia’s Charcoal Makeup Melter cleansing oil-balm, $32, is especially good for skin that is on the oilier side.

In fact, here’s an article from Shape magazine that reviews 9 different cleansing balms. In the spirit of complete disclosure, I’ve not tried any other brand, but I also don’t have any reason to, I LOVE what I use.

The product recommended to me was from British drugstore brand Boots in their Botanics line.

The Hot Cloth Cleansing Balm is packed with skin loving ingredients like Shea Butter, Rosehip, and Jojoba Oil, and comes with a muslin cloth for you to warm under hot water and use to wipe the balm off.

This product is the perfect consistency, thick enough to coat your lashes well, but oily enough to be easily removed. I use a makeup remover wipe to clean it off and it works perfectly. It doesn’t leave any kind of residue, and of bigger concern for me, it doesn’t dry my skin out. In fact, it’s very moisturizing and leaves my skin soft.

I take about a quarter teaspoon on my finger, smear it on one eye, gently rub it around to spread it over my lid and eyelashes, and repeat the process to apply on the other eye. Once it’s on both eyes, I use my ring finger to rub gently in a circular motion, concentrating efforts on the lashes. You can feel the mascara breaking down. After gently rubbing approximately a minute to a minute and a half, I use a remover wipe to clean the balm off of my eye. I only use this product to remove my eye makeup. I don’t need anything this heavy to remove the rest of my face makeup.

Here’s some of the best news about this particular cleansing balm, I buy it at Target or Ulta and it’s extremely affordable. Target doesn’t offer it online, but you can buy it at Ulta online here for $8.49.

The friend who recommended it to me only uses it when she’s wearing waterproof mascara, but she’s also under 30 and has gorgeous, clear skin that hasn’t had time to get dry, like mine, so she uses it for the sheer ease of getting stubborn mascara off.

Here are my favorite things about this product:

1. Easy to use.

2. Very moisturizing.

3. Nice, light scent.

4. No residue.

5. Great price.

Have you tried a cleansing balm? Tell me about it in the comments.