I’m pretty sure all of us are aware of the importance (both for our skin and our pillowcases) of removing makeup before bed. But if I asked for a show of hands I can guarantee 99.9% of you (myself included) would admit to at least occasionally letting your heads hit the pillow with a full face of slap still on. Because sometimes  the multiple steps involved in makeup removal are just a few steps too many at the end of a long day.

This is where makeup removal wipes should be a godsend – take it out of the packet, smoosh it around your face a bit and throw it in the bin. Job done. Except so many of the cleansing wipes I’ve tried (and I’ve tried more than a few of them) have disappointed. Either they’ve moved the makeup around my face instead of actually removing it, made me breakout, left an oily film on my face that required another cleansing step to remove, made my eyes sting something shocking, or smelt so strongly of alcohol that my eyes started to water as soon as I opened the product. Or sometimes all of the above.

Thank goodness for Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes.

Simple’s ethos is “No perfume, no colour, no unnecessary or harsh chemicals so it won’t upset your skin”, and the first thing you’ll notice about the wipes is that there is very little discernable scent to them. If I try really hard I can detect a not-unpleasant background scent of what I can only describe as ‘cosmetic ingredients’.

The wipes themselves are a good size and well-moistened, and they do a good job of removing my makeup without having to rub excessively hard at my skin. One wipe will generally suffice on a normal makeup day (which for me is foundation, eye makeup, blusher and gloss). My eye makeup comes off easily without any stinging of my eyes, although I should qualify this by pointing out that I don’t wear waterproof mascara so I can’t vouch for how well these would cope with that. They are advertised as being suitable for waterproof mascara removal.

My skin is left feeling slightly damp after use but not oily, and within a few minutes this has dried without leaving any residue. On the occasions when I’ve made a boo-boo with my makeup application and used these to remove it I’ve been able to re-apply without an extra cleansing step.

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes have become a standard in my skin care regime. Most nights these are my cleansing step, followed by moisturiser, and my skin has not suffered any negative effects. In fact quite the opposite, they leave my skin feeling cleansed without over-stripping it.

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes come in packets of 25, and are widely available in department stores, pharmacies and supermarkets around New Zealand. They retail for around $10, and I would advise shopping around as I’ve seen price variations of up to $5 between stores.

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes ingredients:

Aqua, Cetearyl Isononanoate, Ceteareth-20, Cetearyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, Disodium EDTA, Ceteareth-12, 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol, Propylparaben, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid