Ingredients to avoid when removing eye shadow, eye liner, and mascara - plus a powerful natural eye makeup remover
What’s our favorite thing about holiday beauty trends? If we had to pick just one, it would probably be the free license to wear as much glitter as possible. Even so, glitter is all fun and games until we’re three makeup wipes in, and still smudged with eye makeup residue.
Not only is glitter almost impossible to remove, but common glitter beauty products can cause major eye irritation. Instead of stinging our eyes and burning them until they’re as red as Santa’s suit, introduce natural eye makeup removers into your routine to nurture the skin around the eyes and gently leave lids as clean as a whistle, without adding (more) fine lines.
There’s a good reason why a separate category of cleansers was created specifically for the eyes. First, we all know the eyes can be a finicky, sensitive area. They are the princesses of the face and deserve to be treated like royalty - with products that won’t cause lines, stinging, or long term damage. Another reason why we need special eye care products is because, as we mentioned earlier, eye makeup tends to be a bit more persistent than the rest of the beauty products we use. When you think about it, eye makeup is designed to sit around an area that moist, constantly moving area all day - without showing wear and tear. That’s a big task! So we totally understand why our eye products have to be heavy duty.
All things considered, eye makeup removers should work by melting eye makeup off the face in the gentlest way possible. We should be able to apply our eye makeup remover, leave it on for a short period of time, and smoothly wipe all of our eye makeup right off. Instead we’re finding flecks of mascara in the root of our lashes deep into the night, and suffering from bright burning eyes for almost an hour after our evening routine.
Cosmetic Ingredients That Are *Not* Safe for Eyes
If you’ve ever dared to read the ingredient list on your mascara or eyeliner, the components ain’t pretty. Riddled with toxic ingredients like coal tar-based dyes, aluminum and parabens, we’re exposing our eyes to serious damage on a daily basis. The eye area contains super tiny pores that soak up these bad ingredients like a sponge. With an eye makeup remover, the goal is to avoid parabens and synthetic ingredients. Go for whole, natural, plant-derived elements that are nourishing to the skin while knocking our eye makeup right off.
When looking for an eye makeup remover, look for natural oils that are lightweight. Nut and fruit oils like coconut, almond, and olive are creamy and soothing on the skin. These work by separating the makeup from our skin, without stripping our moisture barrier or irritating our eyes. Look for antioxidant-rich ingredients that invigorate the eye area. Aloe and cucumber are soothing and hydrating on the eye area. Coffee and green tea fight skin-aging free radicals and boost collagen production. Fruit extracts bring wholesome nutrients right into the skin for younger, softer, and smoother makeup-free eyes.
Avoid using old eye makeup products, as they’re silent carriers of growing bacteria that can irritate the eye. We also want to look for cleansers that are free of known irritants like the parabens we mentioned, heavy metals like nickel and aluminum, and ethanolamine compounds.
Try a Natural Eye Makeup Remover
This bright, creamy balm will clean your lashes and lids the healthy way. This powerful, natural makeup remover soothes while it strips away hardcore makeup. It’s rich in luxurious avocado butter, which deeply moisturizes and nourishes with fatty acids. It will help to soothe dry, tight eye areas and supplement a high dose of vitamin E to support healthy skin. The rich texture of avocado oil helps to loosen the hold of makeup for removal that’s quick, gentle and easy.
Next is a trifecta blend of coconut oil, olive oil, and beeswax. These three come together to create the ideal balm texture that is solid enough to apply on the eyes, but melts at body heat to easily remove makeup and dirt from skin. These oils bond to dirt, makeup, sunblock, excess oil, and impurities to make the makeup removal process quick and easy. Antibacterial coconut and blood orange purify the skin and leave it feeling clean, softened, and bright. It’s the perfectly balanced recipe for happy eyes that shine (with or without the glitter)!
We carefully hand-select products based on strict purity standards, and only recommend products we feel meet this criteria. 100% PURE™ may earn a small commission for products purchased through affiliate links.
The information in this article is for educational use, and not intended to substitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should not be used as such.
