Andalou Naturals Micellar One Step Facial Cleansing Swipes

Admittedly I don't review that many skincare items, let alone makeup removing wipes. But I'm making an exception for this new product- the Andalou Naturals Micellar One Step Facial Cleansing Swipes.

I purchased mine for $6.99 in-store at a local Walgreens in the Sensitive version- with Rose Stem Cells. I got a two-pack for that price- the 35-count main pack and an additional 12-pack as a GWP.



Andalou Naturals is a brand that I first became acquainted with on Amazon. My skin adores rose products, and with the brand's affordable price tag I was intrigued. Since discovering the brand, I've tried a few of the rose products. Checking my Amazon history, I've purchased and used several items- the 1000 Roses Cleansing Sensitive Foam (Still in my medicine cabinet for winter cleansing), the 1000 Roses Moroccan Beauty Oil (Put away when I was gifted the Laura Mercier rose oil), and I know I've tried the 1000 Roses Hair Mask, the sheet mask, and have one of the single-use mask pods in my mask drawer to try. I feel like I've tried some of their day/night creams, and I know I've given some of their body products as gifts to my mother, who also loves roses. (Side note: my skin responds so well to roses, whereas she loves the scents and it reminds her of my father who used to keep a rose garden for her.) Since discovering the brand on Amazon, I've ran into products at Ulta, Walgreens, Target, TJMaxx, Whole Foods, and possibly CVS. I just didn't know about these wipes.

I don't usually use wipes on my face, aside from cleaning up my eye makeup. However, I use them daily for that purpose, and for swatching.

One other quick word on the brand and these cloths before we go in-depth- this is a non-GMO brand that's vegan and claims to be cruelty free. I especially appreciated the following:

I'm certainly the last person to talk about being eco-friendly, but knowing these wipes are biodegradable made me feel a little better about my choice. I already know I'm going to eco-hell for my Keurig, so if I can make other trade-offs like my Prius and trying to choose environmentally friendly products when possible I hope the two will balance in the end.

This isn't my first rodeo with rose-infused cleansing wipes. I've tried two others: the Sephora Collection ones and a random pack from TJMaxx (which were awful). I really liked the Sephora Collection ones but found $7.50 per pack too pricey for wipes for me. (I tend towards the Ole Henriksen ones at TJMaxx for $4.99 for eye makeup cleanup and alternate between the Walmart generic for the Neutrogena Nighttime wipes or Yes to Blueberries for swatching).

Let's talk ingredients. This is what pushed me over the edge.

Let's talk our way through the top 10 in this list, since they're in order of their concentration in the product. Ingredient 1: Organic Aloe Leaf Juice. Yes! Ingredient 2: Purified Water. Ingredient 3: Polyglyceryl-3 Polyricinoleate (According to EWG, it's an emulsifier), Ingredient 4: Plant Stem Cells (Alpine Rose, Malus Domestica, Solar Vitis) and BioActive Berry Complex (Organic), Ingredient 5: Ethyl Macadamiate (essentially macadamia nut oil), Ingredient 6: Tocopherol (Skin conditioner, related to Vitamin E), Ingredient 7: Soothing Complex (Sodium Hyaluronate, Magnolia Offcinalis Bark Extract, Boswellia Serrata (Boswellin) Extract), Ingredient 8: Punica Granatum  (Pomegranate) Fruit Extract- Organic, Ingredient 9: Rosa Damascena (Rose) Distillate- Organic, Ingredient 10: Sucrose Cocoate (derivative of coconut oil, skin conditioning agent)

So out of a Top 10, I recognized 6 of 10 ingredients. I will flag the Ethyl Macadamiate for those with tree nut allergies as a potential issue.

This list looks to be well above-average in terms of "things I know are good for my skin," hence why I was happy to actually give this an actual on-the-face test.

These aren't the most effective wipes, but I really enjoy them. I don't feel like I'm ripping up my face in any way.

This is what the individual wipe looks like:

Bottom Line: I really like using a better-for-me brand of wipes on my face, although I don't like using these for removing swatches. I mostly use wipes for removing swatches and for eye-area cleanup these days. It's the second area where I think these really excel. I've actually purchased a second packet of them- that's how much I like them. I wouldn't seek them out, but if you find these locally they're a nice add to your cart.

Koh Gen Do Cleansing Spa Water

I had a HG makeup remover- Caudalie Cleansing Water.  I've gone through two small bottles of it.  However, I decided to try Koh Gen Do after reading so many raves for it online  I'm never going back!

One of my initial hesitations of Koh Gen Do Cleansing Water is the price ($13/3.38oz or $39/10.15oz).  That works out to $3.85/oz for the small bottle and $3.84/oz for the larger one.  In contrast, Caudalie Cleansing Water retails for $ 14/3.38oz for the small bottle and $28/6.7oz.  That works out to $4.14/oz for the smaller, and $4.18/oz for the larger.  Once I did the math, I was stunned.

The Koh Gen Do is better and cheaper- a real steal!

Performance-wise, there's no comparison. The Koh Gen Do cleansing water is gentle, unscented, but will melt off the even the toughest mascara, eyeliners, and cream eyeshadows with just one swipe.  There's no reason to wash it off, or even have a separate eye makeup remover.  Consider me sold.

Philosophy Purity Made Simple Wipes

If reviews had a soundtrack, this would be best represented by a sigh.  It's not for the reasons that you may suspect, though.

For years I've been extolling the virtues of high/low beauty, splurge/save.  I zeroed in on makeup removing wipes as one place where someone could easily save money.  Rationally, this product touches your face for little time, and there's not a difference between drug store wipes (average: $7/30 wipes) and high-end wipes (in this case, $15/30 wipes).

And then I really set out to test Philosophy Purity Made Simple wipes.  I think I've gone and fallen in love.

Ulta offered Philosophy Purity Made Simple wipes as a part of the 21 Days of Beauty promotion. At just $2 more than the Neutrogena wipes I've been using, why not test these?  Surely it would confirm that there's no real difference.

That's negative.  I've found Philosophy Purity Made Simple to outperform its drugstore counterparts at every turn.

Strength of product?  I was able to remove makeup that normally would take a targeted application of my Caudalie Cleansing Water or Laura Mercier oil free makeup remover with the same towelette.

Strength of wipe?  Once again, Philosophy gets the edge here.  I could ask far more from the cloth in terms of it not tearing.

Feel on skin? Once again, edge to Philosophy.  My skin felt good enough that I felt like I could've skipped cleanser.  No sticky film left by the product, and refreshed in total.

I don't know if it's worth the overall splurge, but I'm sorry that I only picked up one package of these while they were on sale.  For the record, I've never been impressed with the liquid form of Purity Made Simple.

Price: $15/30 wipes

Availability: Ulta, Philosophy, Sephora