Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Removing the Day: St. Ives vs. Clean and Clear

When it comes to removing makeup, I'm looking for four simple things: 1) make it fast, 2) don't break me out, 3) make it thorough and 4) make it affordable. So in the last 6 months, I went through 2 drugstore makeup removers: Clean & Clear Makeup Dissolving Foaming Cleanser and St. Ives Fresh Skin Olive Cleanser. Here's how they compare:

Make it fast: Both Clean & Clear and St. Ives effectively remove powder foundations and mineral makeup in a jiffy. For liquid foundations (even Revlon Colorstay), Clean & Clear is much more effective. St. Ives makes it messy and requires a couple of rounds.

Don't break me out: Neither product has caused breakouts on my skin. So if you have problem skin, either one should be fine.

Make it thorough: Clean & Clear claims to remove ALL makeup, EVEN WATER-PROOF MASCARA. Not exactly true in my opinion. Afer several pumps of this product, you can at the most remove 100% of face makeup, and about 90% of mascara. But you will end up with little flakes of mascara clinging to your lashes and below your lids. St. Ives doesn't claim to remove mascara, and I appreciate the honesty. St. Ives can only tackle face makeup, not eye makeup (forget mascara, it can't even take on gel liners and eye bases). You absolutely need a separate eye makeup remover for it.


Make it affordable: Clean & Clear is around $11.99 at Target (6 oz). St. Ives is around $4.99 at CVS (6.5 oz). St. Ives wins this round.

Final thoughts: St. Ives can easily remove daily makeup like minerals and powder foundations. It's a bigger pain to tackle liquid foundations and it's impossible for eye makeup. Clean and Clear is a bit more effective because it does remove most of your eye makeup and liquid foundation is not a problem. However, I do resent that it states on the bottle that it can remove water-proof mascara, but that's just not the case.

Once I run out of Clean and Clear, I will either 1) repurchase it and also get a dedicated eye makeup remover, or 2) invest in something like MAC wipes, or MAC Cleanse Off Oil.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any holy grail products for removing makeup, please put them in the comments below!

12 comments:

Cynthia Z said...

Hey Ashwini..my holy grail makeup remover is Mac CO Oil..I can't live without it anymore. It's amazing n doesn't break me out.
As for question about Himalaya Purim tablets here's the link to the product info for better explanation ~ http://www.himalayahealthcare.com/PRODUCTS/purim.htm
Happy New Year!! :)
♥XX♥

Sheefa F said...

Oh great review :) Have still gota check these out! My favourite is Johnsons and Nivea's makeup remover wipes. Handy and Efficient :)

Mz. More said...

I have been using the MAC Cleanse OFF Oil for a few months and absolutely love it. It removes all makeup. I still follow up with a regular cleanser though

GiGi said...

What I have been using for the past year is Huggies natural baby wipes. Cheap, hypoallergenic, no scent, & takes everything off. No liquid to mess with. The mac wipes are too slick & I am afraid the scent will break me out. My daughter had very sensitive skin, & this is the only thing I used on her, so I thought it would be ok for me.

Tanveer said...

Hey! I have been alternating between using Garnier Cleansing Cream and coconut oil all of last year to take it simple office/day make up off and on Colorbar dual phase makeup remover to deal with the stubborn eyeliners & waterproof mascaras.

However recently (like a week ago) I came across Ponds Cold Cleansing Cream and have fallen in love with it. Though am still in the testing phase for this one :D

Ashwini said...

Thank you all so much for the recommendations. Besides the Huggies Baby Wipes, I have not tried any of the stuff you all suggested, so I'll do that. I've heard loads about MAC CO, but the drugstore stuff sounds tempting as well. Thanks a lot, can't wait to hit "pan" on on my current one so I can run off to CVS or MAC! :)

Imo said...

Great review. I havent seen a st ives remover before? Ill b on the lookout for this

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