Review and Comparison: Micellar/Cleansing Waters - Avene, Bioderma and Uriage

After skin started breaking out really badly due to stress, one of the major skincare changes I made was to switch my make-up remover from oil cleansers to cleansing water. They're really light and feel just like water, and they're very gentle on painful cystic acne bumps. Micellar solutions can be used as a toner as well, but I've only used them to remove make-up. So far I've tried 3 brands - Avene, Bioderma and Uriage.

Avene Micellar Lotion

This comes in a 200ml bottle (I believe it comes in 400ml as well, but I haven't seen it around), which I purchased for about S$26 after a 30% discount. It lasts me about a month with daily use. The fragrance is quite strong and smells like an expensive face cream. I find Avene's micellar lotion the most gentle of the three, and leaves my skin feeling the softest, I think because it's the only one of the three that contains sodium hyaluronate. If the lotion accidentally gets into my eyes, it doesn't sting too much.

Ingredients: Avene Thermal Spring Water, Cocamidopropyl Betainamide Mea Chloride, Poloxamer 188, Bisabolol, Fragrance, Peg/Ppg-14/14 Dimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hyaluronate, Trisodium Edta.

Rating: 9/10

Bioderma Sensibio H2O

This comes in various sizes. I bought the 500ml bottle in Taiwan for about S$40 on sale. It's fragrance free and smells like saline. I find the Bioderma is the best at removing makeup as compared to the others. However, it stings if it gets into my eyes.

Ingredients:  water (aqua), peg-6 caprylic/capric glycerides, propylene glycol, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit extract, mannitol, xylitol, rhamnose, fructooligosaccharides, disodium edta, cetrimonium bromide. 

Rating: 9/10

Uriage Tolederm Soothing Cleansing Water

This comes in a 250ml bottle, which I purchased for about S$30. This isn't actually a micellar cleanser, it's just a regular cleansing water. (The Beauty Brains explains what micellar water is. I think the difference between micellar water and regular cleansing water is that micellar water is more gentle while cleansing water might contain harsher surfactants.) Uriage does make a micellar solution too, but I bought this cleansing water accidentally instead. It smells a little yeasty, like beer. I find that this doesn't clean as well as Avene or Bioderma. This also stings if it gets into my eyes.

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Uriage Thermal Spring Water, Glycerin, Poloxamer 184, Phenoxyethanol, PEG-80 Glyceryl Cocoate, Cetrimonium Bromide, Citric Acid, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide

Rating: 8/10

I did a little experiment on the cleansing power - I swatched black pencil eyeliner (Urban Decay Perversion), Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus mascara and Ettusais BB cream on my arm and tried to remove them. I used just one cotton pad. (Usually for light base make-up and no mascara, I use 2 cotton pads for my whole face.)

From left: Avene Micellar Lotion, Bioderma Sensibio H2O, Uriage Tolederm

As you can see, Bioderma has the best cleansing power, followed by Avene, then Uriage. All three don't remove the Majolica Majorca mascara easily. (However, Majolica Majorca mascara is really tough to remove, even with regular make-up removers.) They're all quite comparable in price and effectiveness.

Personally I will stick with Bioderma because I'm more cost-conscious, but I would choose Avene if it was more affordable. Micellar waters are pretty expensive really, and are more expensive in Singapore. I think I will stock up when I go overseas - there are bundled promotions in Taiwan drugstores, especially in summer, when people want to use lighter cleansing waters in the hot weather.

Summary:

Most value-for-money: Bioderma

Best for sensitive skin: Avene

Best make-up remover: Bioderma

Review: Avene Diacnéal (with photos omg)

Oops I've been gone for a couple of weeks. (I blame it all on The Job.) So my skin has been flaring up recently, the worst since I was 19? That's like 4 years ago. It pretty much came about due to the stress and late nights from The Job. I've read about Avene Diacnéal before but I had good skin so I never got the chance to try it. Now that my skin had become horrible, it was a good chance for me to try it out. (Always look on the bright side...)

I read on MUA that Diacnéal has been replaced by Triacnéal, but somehow Singapore's version is still called Diacnéal and there hasn't appeared to be any changes. (The expiry date on my tube is June 2013 so I don't think I purchased an old tube...) The active ingredients are 0.1% Retinaldehyde (prevents thickening of skin and formation of blackheads) and 6% Glycolic Acid (exfoliates and 'peels' skin to reduce blackheads and smoothen skin).

This is the first time I'm using a retinol and glycolic acid treatment... I applied a thin layer almost every night (only at night). I say almost every night because if my skin feels dry or tight or itchy, I listen to it and I skip treatment that night, substituting with a light moisturizing sheet mask. While on Diacnéal, I also skip exfoliation, scrubs and deep-cleansing masks. Usually I exfoliate/mud mask about once or twice a week. With Diacnéal, I do so only once or twice a fortnight, and on the day I do so, I skip Diacnéal and use a moisturizing sleeping mask after. So I believe you do have to listen to your skin and give it what it needs.

On to the pictures!

1. Before treatment

2. After 1.5 weeks of treatment.

3. After 4 weeks of treatment.

So the photos above are of my left cheek, the lighting conditions look different because #1 was taken in daylight, #2 was taken in the wee hours of the morning after work under my desk lamp, #3 was taken on a cloudy day under my desk lamp. I'm afraid I didn't have time to take many photos, but you can see how my skin has gradually improved!

I realise I haven't taken a photo of Diacnéal itself... it's a thick yellow cream, feels quite heavy so I only use a very thin layer of it, and only at night, followed by a moisturizer. You do have to let your skin adapt to it, and it might sting on areas where you have zits, but other than that, I haven't experienced any hyper sensitivity to it. Also, it is very important to put on sunscreen in the day, since Diacnéal increases your skin's sensitivity.

Ingredients: Water, Cetyl alcohol, Cyclomethicone, Polysorbate 60, Glycolic Acid, Avene Thermal Spring Water, Alcohol, Sodium Hydroxide, BHT, Dimethiconol, Fragrance, Polymethyl methacrylate, Potassium sorbate, Red 33, Retinal.

Rating: 9.5/10 (-0.5 because it is so bloody expensive!)

On a side note... my clear skin (in that last photo) isn't so clear anymore because of my recent lack of sleep, stress and the fact that I'm having a cold right now. :( So seriously... good health = good skin, so take care of yourself if you wanna be beautiful! :)

Till next time~