When it comes to makeup, there's a lot of things to learn about. You have skin prep, primers, foundation formulas, shades, etc. and sometimes you have to do a lot of trial and errors to know what's best for you.
Applying the makeup to last is important but what's more important is to be able to properly remove it.
"Huh, easy, just wash your face with soap. Duh."
Well, that's what I thought too. I mean, if you don't wear any heavy makeup and you've observed that water-based cleansers can clean your face easily, then you'd have nothing to worry about and just more steps aren't necessary.
But if you wear heavy makeup with chemical sunscreens and waterproof eyeliners, then double cleaning most of the time would be necessary to effectively remove them.
When I started seriously learning about skincare and makeup, I've always come across "double cleansing" but didn't really know what it meant. Until I started wearing waterproof makeup like eyeliners and mascaras, whenever I wash my face with soap, my eyes are still covered in black. Like, the eyeliner is still there and even if I wipe my eyes with cotton, it just won't come off. Of course I can't just rub my eyes with soap again because that would eventually hurt lol.
There is a makeup remover called Micellar water that's water-based but it's not enough to remove the waterproof products at all.
There is this thing called double cleansing which means you use an oil-based cleanser on your face first before the water-based one. One of the cleansers I used in the past was The Ordinary Squalene Cleanser which was really nice but it was quite expensive for the tiny amount that you get. So one $9 bottle usually will only last 1 month if you use it everyday and I can't really buy it from here since the brand doesn't have many official retailers in my country - just resellers.
When I was in Bangkok, I made sure to visit EVEANDBOY as suggested by 
Then, I found this cleansing balm of the brand Bifesta which was really what I was looking for.
One tub costs 490 Baht ($14) which was a lot more affordable than The Ordinary Squalene cleanser.
It has a balmy-waxy texture that melts on your skin so fast. It also comes with a spatula, which was nice so I don't have to contaminate the product
This is what I wore when I first tested the balm. I had medium coverage foundation, just a bit of concealer under the eyes, powdered products like eyeshadow and blush, setting spray, and waterproof eyeliner and mascara.
Ok so to use the balm, you're meant to put them on your palm and rub your hands together until the balm "melts". Then you just rub your face with it until your makeup melts as well. You're not supposed to put water on your face yet, just the oil-based cleanser. The way it works is that the oil itself blends with the makeup thus removing them from your skin. This also removes the waterproof products effectively.
After rubbing all those, you then wash it off with water.
This is how my face looked like after using the cleansing balm! The balm made my skin feel matte but doesn't feel dry and flakey. Compared to The Ordinary squalene cleanser, this actually feels a lot better since it doesn't feel oily nor dry afterwards. It feels really really good and makes my skin feel so clean. :D
As you can see, it effectively removed my eyeliner and mascara. With normal washing, you would see dark marks there still, like a panda.
After the cleansing balm, I washed my face with a water-based cleanser (which means the usual facial cleansers like soap or whatever lol).
I seriously recommend Bifesta Cleansing Balm. Also, apparently Bifesta is a Japanese brand and Japan (along with Korea) were the ones who used double cleansing really early as a method of washing their faces. :D
