Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water Review

I didn't like this micellar water. It felt oily and left a residue in my eyes when I tried to use it to remove eye makeup (which it didn't remove). My vision was blurry for a few minutes until I blinked all the product out. The bottle is bigger than other brands and the price is cheaper so I can see the attraction but I would rather use a regular cleanser than this rubbish. The Loreal version is much better quality and is not oily.

It seems the BR world is divided into people who love this and people who don't. I really wanted to love this but....I just.....can't. I bought this at the height of its hype and was really excited to get the last bottle hidden away on the bottom supermarket shelf. I find the clear bottle with its pink lid attractive and the amount you get represents good value for money. It contains a clear, almost odourless liquid that does bubble up if you give it a shake.

Ok, so before we get started, let me make this clear. I am devoted to hot cloth cleansing with a thick, oily cleanser. So micellar was probably never going to be a good fit for me but I tried to go in with an open mind. What I found was that I had to soak a lot of cotton wool with a lot of the micellar to get all my makeup off. It took at least five before they came away clean. I didn't rinse if off the first few times I used it and after a few minutes I got the weirdest sensation on my skin. Not burning or tingling but bubbling. Weird (and I wouldn't describe my skin as sensitive) One time I didn't apply moisturiser straight away and my skin went very red. After that, I rinsed after use and my skin did feel clean and soft. However, this is when I decided micellar was not for me. It just seemed like a lot more time and faff involved than my usual HCC and with not great results. Really, it's no better than the dreaded face wipe (don't get me started on those!)

As this only has a six month shelf life, I don't want to waste it so I use it when I'm away. I've decanted it into a smaller bottle with no spillage disasters. Sadly, it won't remove my latest mascara so I'm back to finding another use for it. A few on the forum say it makes a good brush cleaner so I'm going to give that a go next.

Disappointing but I know many swear by it, it's just not for me.

Not a fan. I've tried to love it. I really did. I dislike (intesely) the amount of cotton pads I need to use to remove my makeup (I wear a full face each day). Also, I userproof mascara and eyeliner:This won't remover that, back to Neutrogena Oil Free makeup remover I go. This also leaves a greasy feel to my skin -I can't wait to clean my skin properly. All in all, for makeup removal, I much prefer Clinique Take the Day Off Balm: Or coconut oil!

I really wish I could love this product, but I think like many. It broke me out really badly. Although it still does what it's meant to; remove all traces of makeup :)

NOTE: I first reviewed the Garnier Micellar Water in 2014, after using it for two weeks. I then switched to another makeup remover, giving this one to a friend. After all of the hype this year, I repurchased and used for two weeks before having a terrible breakout. At this point, I decided to rewrite my review. When I first used the product in 2014 I had acne, so would not have attributed this product to it.

I have used the ZA cleansing oil to remove makeup for years. It is quick, easy and effective. When my ZA cleansing oil ran out recently (believe me, I usually have backups) I didn’t want to go into town especially for it, so I picked up the Garnier Micellar water at the supermarket. The Garnier Micellar water is used by soaking cotton pads and then wiping these over the face. This totally pulls the makeup off my face, foundation, mascara, eyeliner and all. No scratching or scrubbing, no cleanser splashed into my eyes, and no sticky residue. It does take five or six cotton pads to remove my full face of makeup, so it isn’t an environmentally friendly way to remove makeup. I then follow up with a double cleanse using my Lancome cleanser.

The Garnier Micellar water didn’t irritate my eyes and I was under the impression that it was virtually just water, so I wasn’t concerned about the ingredients affecting my skin. My skin is usually very clear, with no more than two small blemishes at a time. Within a week of using this product, I had a major break out. I had at least six large blemishes around my chin, as well as small bumps over the rest of my face. I was guttered, as my skin scars for a long time and I had invested a lot of time, care and money into getting my skin to a blemish and acne scarring free state. I had introduced other products into my routine at the same time, including a foundation, so the Garnier Micellar water didn’t ring alarm bells and I continued to use it for another week. After seeing a post on Instagram regarding the Garnier Micellar water and break outs, I immediately stopped using it. From that point I had no further blemishes, however the ones that it caused are taking very long time to heal. Due to the high number of girls that have broken out from this product, I do not recommend it to anyone, and have returned to my ZA cleansing oil.

When I read all the hype surrounding this product I guess I was expecting a miracle. My expectations were pretty high. I soaked a cotton pad with Micellar water and wiped it across my made up face. When I looked at the pad after wiping I expected to see a lot of my makeup there, however there was only the faintest residue of it. I wiped again, this time quite firmly, still very little came away. The next day I decided to experiment. On half my face I used Micellar water and on the other half, tap water. After wiping, the two pads looked identical. In short, this doesn't seem to offer me anything that good old tap water doesn't already offer in abundance.

I was so determined to get my hands on this after all the hype about it on the makeup obsessives page. But It hadn't been released in Nz (it was due to release about a week after I purchased it). I found it on the hikosencara website and without any hesitation I put it in my cart. It was roughly $20, it could have been a wee bit more but I didn't know any better and didn't think any thing of it untill I told my friends about it. They then went on to tell me that when it releases in Nz it would roughly be $13 so understandably I was a little disappointed. Anyway....

I had been using it to remove my makeup (as you do) and I was loving how quick and easy it was. It removed all of my makeup with ease, I even used an oil cleanser afterwards to see if there was still any makeup that the micellar water had missed but the cotton pad was clear. No yucky left over makeup, just clean skin and a white cotton pad. I had used it roughly 6 times and it had barely used any product. I was so impressed that I actually went out and bought another one (never hurts to have a backup right).

Well a couple of days later, I noticed my skin had broken out, really badly. My forehead was the worst. I had huge red bumps all over it :( It was the worst breakout I had ever had. They slowly started to appear on my cheeks and onto my chin aswell. I carried on using my micellar water and they just continued to get worse. I immediately stopped using it and tried to let my skin breathe for the next few days so I didn't make my breakouts worse.

It took weeks for them to heal and settle down. I haven't touched the micellar water since and have just started using my skinfood cleans all again and it has made a huge difference.

I'm really sad that my skin didn't agree with this product. I loved how easy it was to remove my makeup at the end of the day. I will definitely give the micellar water another go, it just wont be the garnier one.

This was one of those products that got ALL the hype, it was talked about everywhere I went. On Social Media everyone was uploading photos of this new creation, it was nearly as crazy as a new Whittaker's Chocolate being bought out. So with all the hype I decided to try it out.

At first I loved it, this product was brilliant. It removed all my makeup without any struggle, it even took of my mascara which was usually a problem with most cleansers.

However, after a couple of weeks my skin started to change, my foundation wouldn't stay on anymore. It got worse, I couldn't blend foundation into my skin, it would just sit on the surface of my skin & wouldn't blend into my pores. My skin became oily, never in my life had I had oily skin. I stopped using the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water immediately as this was the only new product I had started using, 2 months later my skin is still getting back to normal, it's not as oily as it was but I HIGHLY recommend you research this product before you start using it - I guess it depends on the type of skin you have, but for myself with normal to dry skin - it was a nightmare.

I feel like I'm one of the only ones who do not rave about this stuff. I'm actually going to struggle to finish the bottle - might have to give it away :(

Firstly, the product is a very generous size, I think it's claim of 200 uses is pretty spot on. I like that it doesn't irritate my skin or eye area at all but what I don't like is that it just doesn't budge double wear foundation or mascara.

I lose interest when you have to keep working at removing make-up and granted double wear can be hard to get off but the amount of make-up this doesn't remove is just too much for my liking. After using 4 cotton swabs the foundation and mascara is still visible on my face and my face feels slightly dry and tight.

I've found I achieve a better result with this if I only have BB cream of a foundation that doesn't have much staying power on, that seems to come off much more easily.

Perhaps it's the makeup I use but I definitely will not repurchase. I find oil cleansing much more suitable for me.