I love eye makeup. I do, I love it. My eyes are my favorite thing about me, they encompass so many different colors in such a small space that it looks like they change colors depending on the weather and what I’m wearing.
I love to emphasize my eyes with a combination of eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara every day. It’s simple, relaxing, and it makes my eyes stand out like crazy. Why do I love wearing makeup? I feel like the best way to explain it is with the quote below:
However, eye makeup can be incredibly stubborn to safely remove. Getting makeup remover in your eye, leaving residue on your skin, having to go through a lot of expensive makeup remover to get it all off, and still not removing all of the eye makeup. The struggle is real.
Why I don’t use makeup remover wipes
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but if you still use a makeup remover in the form of small chemical filled wipes, then you’ve fallen behind. These wipes are filled with chemicals and preservatives that leave behind residue on your skin after they are applied.
“Makeup wipes are quick and convenient but not optimal for overall skin health,” Dr. Kraffert says. Since you’re not rinsing away the active cleansing ingredients in wipes, that residue that’s left behind may expose your skin to high concentrations of solublizers, surfactants and emulsifiers. This can be drying and irritating for some people, especially those with dry or sensitive skin. Also, some wipes contain alcohol, which can cause stinging, says Dr. Mikhail.
Want more information about why you shouldn’t rely on makeup wipes? Check out this article by the Huffington post.
Coconut Oil
So what should you use? Something natural, preferably organic, safe, moisturizing, and effective. That’s right, coconut oil. Coconut oil can do hundreds of different and amazing things, but so far my favorite one is using it as a makeup remover.
Don’t shy away at the idea of using oil on your skin. “But my skin is already very oily, I don’t want to add more oil on top of that” you might say. Trust me, I said the same. I’ve always had really oily skin so I strictly avoided putting any oil on my skin. Then, I started working for a coconut oil company and they gave me free product to try out: I fell in love with it! The organic coconut oil naturally combated the oil that my skin produced, which solved a lot of my problems.
Benefits
Using coconut oil as a makeup remover has many perks. It helps to naturally grow eyelashes, softens and moisturizes skin, doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals, is super effective and easy to use.
How to: Use Coconut Oil as a Full Makeup Remover
Organic Coconut Oil works fantastically as a natural makeup remover to remove makeup instantly and effectively. I’ll break it down to you in four super simple steps.
Before
As a reference, here’s what my eye makeup looked like at the time that these images were taken. This is so you can see how much eye makeup I had on (complete with eye shadow, eye liner, and mascara which was a bit tired looking from being on all day at work) as compared to the final product afterwards.
During
1. Put coconut oil on your hand (or a wash cloth/cotton ball/Q-tip!)
2. Swipe your hand over the area that you want to remove the makeup from. This will smear the makeup. For effect in the images above I smeared it down my face a little bit for you to see!
3. Take some water (I prefer this in the form of a wet wash cloth.)
4. Swipe the water/wash cloth over the smeared makeup to pick it up.
Voila! That’s it. No need to repeat like with makeup remover wipes.
After
The skin around my eyes is nice and moisturized without feeling oily, my eyelashes are strengthened and encouraged to grow, and my makeup is all gone! That simple.
What’s your favorite beauty hack? Any product that you swear by?
Full disclosure: I do work for a company that produces organic coconut oil and organic coconut oil based skin care products. However, I wanted this post to be informative to my readers and not selling a specific product so I have made sure to not include any brand names to avoid influencing you toward a specific brand. If you are interested in purchasing coconut oil all I recommend is that you get one that is unrefined, cold pressed, and 100% USDA certified organic. All opinions in this article are 100% my own and I have not been compensated for creating this post at all.
I love using coconut oil to remove my makeup! The synthetic removers tend to irritate my eyes and they aren’t very effective (since they’re water-based) but everything comes right off with coconut oil, even waterproof and long-lasting makeup. I also like to leave some under my eyes to moisturize that area overnight. 🙂
My thoughts exactly! I tend to wear waterproof makeup most times so it is perfect for that, and it makes my skin feel so fantastic with all the extra benefits that the coconut oil provides. Couldn’t agree more 🙂
I had never thought to use coconut oil as makeup remover! Brilliant!
It can be used for SO many things! The possibilities are endless, so its a great investment 🙂
What a neat hack! I’ll have to try it!
I use straight coconut oil too! It removes EVERYthing. It’s quite amazing stuff.
Isn’t it fantastic? Glad we’re on the same page with it!
I feel like I’m about five thousand years late the coconut oil party, but I am just now discovering how many uses it has! So awesome. And your eyes are gorgeous, by the way.
My favourite makeup remover from The Body Shop is actually really similar in texture to coconut oil. I don’t see why it would be much different! I know what I’ll be trying when I run out… Great post!
Definitely give it a try and let me know how it stands up in comparison to the one from The Body Shop, I’d love to hear about it!
I have always had such a tough time with all different types of makeup removers! I am DEFINITELY gonna try out coconut oil now! Thanks so much for this awesome post, it’s really going to help me a lot!
xx, kenz
http://sincerelykenz.com
Do it! It’s definitely worth a shot, and since a lot of people keep coconut oil in their home for a variety of reasons its a cheap and well worthwhile investment! Let me know how it works out for you 🙂
Coconut oil is one of God’s greatest gifts to man. My husband and I use a lot around the house. Now I know it can be used to remove make-up thanks to you! Great info!
Man, coconut oil is the bomb! I already use it for SO much – but now I can add this to the list! Great tutorial!
I recently started using coconut oil as a moisturizer but I’ll have to try it to remove my make up. Thanks for the tips!
You’re welcome! Let me know how it works out.
I’m so glad you posted this. I’ve been wanting to try coconut oil, but was really unsure, this is great information. Thank you
You’re welcome! Definitely give it a shot!
I have always needed tips like that for myself to improve my makeup skills, i’m getting older and this defently saves my time for removing the makeup
I have very sensitive eyes – so the ONLY thing I can use to remove my eye makeup is the Green Tea Cleanser from made from earth….everything else makes my eyes water. It also is a great cleanser for the mornings! Def recommend if your eyes are sensitive to soap since this is not soap.