What are Micelles and are they Really Water?
If you’re reading this chances are you remember when water came out of the tap and was not purchased at the store and consumed out of a plastic or glass bottle. Then one day suddenly everybody was lugging and chugging water out of a bottle. And for many people tap water was reduced to cooking and bathing.
Of course, people in Europe, especially France had been drinking bottled water for hundreds of years.
The same can be said for the beauty product of the moment – Micellar Water. Used in France for literally hundreds of years, it went from relative obscurity in America to being the product nobody “could live without.”
Like most “it” products these days some beauty bloggers and make-up artists declared that Bio Derma Water was one of their staples, and before you knew it Bio Derma was being photographed alongside the obligatory empty Diptique candle holder filled with cotton balls, next to the Glossier lip balm and Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream in everybody’s beauty cabinets.
For years people yelled that bottled water was a rip-off and many of the companies were just taking it out of the tap and putting it in a fancy bottle. Of course, this has never been proven. But is it cause to pause before you spend two dollars on something that is free in your kitchen.
Because I am a beauty junkie and believe much of what I read, especially if it has the added eye candy allure of being well packaged, I jumped on the BioDerma wagon like everyone else. I’m not sure what it did for me, except it made my life easy. It’s cleaning your face with a few cotton balls and you’re done.
So I guess there is a method behind the hype.
When I went cruelty-free I abandoned Bio Derma and Garnier who like everyone else started making their own version of the “magic elixir.” But both companies test on animals. Never wanting to miss out on a trend, I went out tried several of the cruelty-free brands of which there are many.
I would love to tell you I see a huge difference. Like it really did something life changing to my skin.
It’s easy. It smells good. The best thing about it is you clean your face without washing it in the morning. The moisturizing part I find hard to believe. Thought it’s not drying so it might be adding some moisture. There is no way I could use micellar water without adding a moisturizer. Just forget that, unless you are twelve years old.
But I like it. It’s, it’s nice. The idea is nice. The packaging is nice and I guess the micelles whatever micelles may be are sucking the NYC dirt out of my pores. Which is super nice. So, I will buy into that claim.
At this point, you might be saying, what is the difference between micellar water and toner? Micellar Water is exactly that, a water that purifies and removes dirt. Toners of which there are many, do a multitude of things, some tighten, some hydrate, some help reduce pores, some exfoliate and some just get your skin a little cleaner after you wash it.
But wait, can’t the micellar water do that? No. Not if you want help with real skin issues and there are as many toners as there are skin imperfections.
So most beauty junkies use both and then they add an Essence too. Don’t ask!
Is it overkill? Depends on your tolerance for how long you like to spend on your skin and how much you want to spend and how devoted you are to looking as good as you can. One bottle of micellar water is not a bad thing to add to your line up. In fact I would recommend it.
But I would not call it life-changing. Now what is life changing is Biologique Recherche Lotion P50. But we will save that for another day.
