The first step of any legit facial is the pre-cleanse step. This involves removing any makeup, dirt, surface oils, pollution, and loose dead skin cells. This step preps the skin for a deep cleanse, and allows treatments during the facial to work optimally. At night, this step is absolutely essential if you want to achieve great skin quickly and easily. Most cleansers on the market don’t really remove all makeup, dirt and other pollutants. There are a couple of reasons for this – 1) makeup and sunscreen formulas are meant to stick and adhere all day, and 2) cleansers don’t always have strong enough formulas to truly remove these products. Think of it like mopping your floors without sweeping first. You just won’t get the same deep clean that you would if you didn’t get rid of debris first. 

Pre-cleansers can be found typically in either liquid forms, balms, or more recently, towelettes. Eye makeup removers fall into this category, but luckily, there are formulas that can remove both eye makeup and facial makeup at the same time. Here’s a few of my favorites:

• Facial Towelettes: Yes To Cucumbers soothing facial towelettes – these are great for travel, and I always keep a pack in my gym bag. I also love Simple’s various versions of facial towelettes. My husband loves these too, as he does a quick cleanse at the end of the day before bed. Both of these brand’s towelettes are great for sensitive skin, and remove all makeup. I do apply cleanser after I remove my makeup, and can feel an immediate difference in my skin after cleansing.
• Micellar Water: this product has been getting a huge amount of press lately, and is technically not new to the beauty industry. The Europeans are especially fond of these, and they are now making their way over the pond to the U.S. There are some expensive options, but my favorite is from Simple. Use it nightly with cotton pads to remove all facial and eye makeup, and then use your cleanser as you normally would. What I really like about Simple’s Micellar Water is that it is especially soothing for extremely delicate skin and Rosacea sufferers. 

These make a huge difference in the quality of your skin and really only need to be used with your nightly skincare routine. Try them out, you’ll notice a great improvement in clarity, brightness, and your other products will work even better! 

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