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If red lipstick is the little black party dress of beauty, micellar water is surely the elastic waist pants, there to wrap you up in a warm, soothing embrace after a night out on the town. It’s a somewhat boring-but-practical vanity inclusion, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune to a moment in the sun every now and then (think of what COVID has done for tracksuits and you’ll see what I’m getting at).
I’ve got a handful of firm micellar favourites, but this shiny new one from Drunk Elephant is the current object of my affections (and late-night-deadline makeup removing bed fellow). Truthfully, the brand doesn’t have any dud products, so my expectations were kinda’ high… but how “special” can a micellar water really be? Turns out, it can be quite special.
The gist with micellar water in general is pretty straightforward: a surfactant is added to water so that “micelles” form, and they go on to absorb and sweep away oil-based compounds when swept over the skin, namely makeup and sebum. The key difference when it comes to Drunk Elephant’s iteration is that it also contains ceramides and melon seed oil, so it absorbs said makeup but also nourishes the skin barrier (without being overly filmy).
The other key difference is the texture. Most micellar waters are more or less the consistency of water (go figure) but this is milky, almost like a really thin serum. It’s also more opaque and feels cooling on the skin – a sensation I’m very much a fan of.
The bottom line is that it does remove makeup, maybe a little more gently than other waters out there. Personally, I found it left my skin cool and clean and fresh – not tight – and I didn’t feel like I had to then rinse, but each to their own. It’s more expensive than other micellar formulas out there, but if you find traditional drugstore buys dry you out, this could be a fantastic alternative.
Drunk Elephant E-Rase™ Milki Micellar Water, $45. SHOP NOW
