Review: Philosophy Purity Made Simple Facial Cleansing Oil

I was looking for something gentle to remove my makeup when I bought this cleansing oil.  It seems like most makeup removers on the market are so harsh as they sting your eyes and dry out your skin, and the gentler ones like Bioderma just take a little too much time/effort/product to do a proper job.  Well here comes Philosophy Purity Made Simple to the rescue!  It is gentle AND effective at removing all my makeup in one fell swoop.

This magical oil has lots of ingredients, many of which I do not recognize, which is slightly scary, but it appears to be a mix of different oils plus water and some kind of emulsifier.  The oil is very thin and will run all over the place if you're not careful.  The technique to this stuff is to pour a little into one palm, dampen the fingertips of the opposite hand, and then use your fingertips to massage the oil in circular motions around your dry face and over your eyes.  I probably massage for about a minute before I rinse it off with warm water.  The great thing about this oil is that is takes off ALL my makeup the first time!  It leaves not a trace on my skin or eyes.  It has easily removed tough mascaras, waterproof eyeliners, foundations, BB creams, you name it.  It does sometimes get in my eyes and blur my vision until I can rinse it out (because it is oil, but that really scared me the first time), which is unfortunate, but it doesn't sting or irritate them and leave them red like lots of makeup removers.  I always follow this cleansing oil with my normal facial cleanser because I don't like the slightly oily film it leaves behind and I want to make sure my skin is completely clean.  With this method, I never saw an increase in breakouts and I think this oil helped keep my skin moisturized through the dry winter months.

I paid $18 for mine back in autumn but I just checked Ulta's website and it looks like they're selling it for $25.  It is quite pricey but mine has lasted me a long time.  I'm not sure if the ingredients are quite worth that cost.  My next endeavor is to try a pure oil like coconut or jojoba to see if they do as good a job at removing my makeup for a fraction of the money.  I hope so....

Overall, I highly recommend the Philosophy cleansing oil for its makeup removing power if you are willing to shell out the cash, but check back in the future for my report on purer and cheaper oils!  

~Ashley