The Ordinary

 Glycolipid Cream Cleanser for Dry Skin and Makeup Removal

Most Helpful Positive Review

How to use this properly

I see a lot of people complaining about this product not being good enough at removing all makeup on its own. This is normal and expected. The product itself is perfectly fine at doing what's meant to. Let me explain… I wear makeup pretty much daily and sometimes quite a bit of it. There is just n...o way that I could remove it all, including sunscreen as the first layer, not to mention my skincare that goes underneath it all, all topped with foundation, powder, eye makeup with mascara, etc… in just one step. I WISH it were that easy, but it's not. So, I have a double cleansing routine. 1. I first melt away as much of that stuff layered on my face as I can with a makeup melting balm. There are so many of these on the market now to suit every budget. Actually, I hope that TO can come out with one in the near future. 2. Then, I use a separate eye makeup remover to make sure that all of my eye makeup and mascara come off. I use one by Lancome out of habit, because I've been using it for decades and even though it seems expensive, a little really goes a long way (I wet my eyes AND the cotton pads I'll use first, to make the product stretch even further, which actually also makes it more efficient), but there are other good options out there now based on similar technologies at more affordable price points. I just don't find many of them to work as well, or last as long, and I eventually end up spending the same amount, so I ultimately keep going back to Lancome's. 3. Lastly, I use a cleanser like this, or the one with Squalane, or any cream cleanser that keeps the skin barrier intact. I NEVER use foaming cleansers now that I'm in my 40s. If non-foaming cleansers feel odd to you at first, like they did to me, gently use a washcloth with them. You'll see that you'll get much better results. La Roche Posay has one that I like, but TO one is also good. Sometimes I'll use NIOD's Sanskrit Saponins, which is awesome. Or if I'm using TO AHA/BHA peel, or NIOD's Flavonane Mud, I'll skip this last step. So, that's actually three different steps, I guess, in just removing makeup, sunscreen, built up debris throughout the day, and making sure that I have a totally clean canvas to work with when I'm applying my night time skin care routine with my actives that I really want to absorb into my skin. I know it sounds like a lot, but it literally take 2-3 minutes at most from start to finish. If you expect one cleanser to remove everything and give you a totally fresh face as though you had absolutely nothing on it minutes before you began cleansing it, you'll be disappointed. At least I have never found a product that can do it all and I've tried too many to list. Most people I know double cleanse with at least two different products. This is especially necessary if you regularly wear makeup or sunscreen. Otherwise, yes, you will get buildup and breakouts and your nightly skin care won't penetrate in the way you'd want it to. This is not the fault of the cleanser. There is a reason that double-cleansing is a thing. Expecting one product to do it all is expecting too much and it's just not reasonable. It's not going to happen. It's better to just accept that fact and work with that assumption, trying to find the two best products that will work best for your skin in collaboration with each other, used back to back. But, that's just my opinion based on decades of personal experience.