Rimmel Gentle Eye Make Up Remover > Reviews (3)

Rimmel London

Rimmel London has been running now for a surprising two centuarys which is a fairly good time and the old girls still running and is one of the most well known cosmetic brands going. It's one company that doesn't look like it's going to retire soon and it's the world's oldest cosmetic brands to top it all. Who started it all though?

In 1820 a French perfumer, trained by Lubin (Perfumer to Empress Josephone - wife of Napoleon) was asked to manage a perfumery in London on Bond Street. By 1834 the perfumery was so successful that with his son as an apprentice Eugene Rimmel who was then aged 14 opened up a perfumery of their own. Thus was the birth of Rimmel but was first named "The House of Rimmel".

As business progress so did Eugene Rimmel and by 24 he was an expert perfumer and a cosmetic visionary experimenting with colour and fragrance. At this point Eugine's shop was on Regent Street in London and there was a lot of potential which then started to advertise the products using mail order catalogues similar to the ones we see today such as Avon. Of course after Eugene died in 1887 his two sons took over the empire and enhanced products creating the revolutionary mascara which is supposedly Rimmel is the word used for mascara in several languages - pretty impressive.

Rimmel Gentle eye make-up Remover

So what is this product for? If you wear eye make-up you'll know yourself that mascara is such a b*tch to take off especially the waterproof kind. I, myself have accidentally pulled out eyelashes trying to remove mascara and needless to say it's painful. This make-up remover states on the bottle that it removes waterproof mascara which can only be an eyelash saver if it works - which it does.So What does the bottle say?

• Gently removes all eye make up, including long lasting and waterproof make up, with no oily residue.
• Suitable for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers
• Dermatologically (a word I can never say properly) and Ophthalmologically (This is where I got the dictionary out - it's for eyes) tested.

Now When I was in superdrugs contemplating the purchase I was swayed by the removal of make-up - even the waterproof and long lasting kind. I tend to wear waterproof mascara and this helped me feel as though I could stop tearing out my eyelashes which really is painful at times.

Using this product

I get in from work and I want to remove my make-up. I looked at the directions which say: "TO USE: Apply cleanser to cotton wool/balls, gently sweep over eyes till all traces of make-up are removed." Now that sounds simple enough to me and you can't really balls it up. So I got my cotton pads and squirted a bit of the cleanser onto the pad and gently sweeped over my eyes and then gently rubbed my eyelashes to help remove the mascara a bit better.

To me the directions were a little vague but you don't need much more than what is given to be honest although it obviously isn't going to work if you only sweep on the eyes and I find you do have to take care with eyelashes to remove the mascara from there as well.

Result

I decided to inspect my eyes and see if all of my eye make-up really was removed and found that a majority was but there was still a little bit of black mascara on my eyelashes although this was just the colour which had been left and not actual clumps which I found removes itself when you wash your face afterwards.

I can't say that I'm disapointed really as I find that it does do a fairly good job although I would have been happier if it had removed all of the mascara instead of most of it - nonetheless at least I'm not ripping out my eyelashes anymore - thank god!

What does the product look like?

It's basically just a clear transparant bottle approximately five inches in height and nearly two inches in width. There is mostly blue writing on the bottle with Rimmel in black writing and at the bottom "4.2 fl oz 125ml" which is also in black. The lid screws off but there is also a flip cap to allow you to squirt the product into a pad. On the back of the bottle there is a barcode with ingredients, directions, what the product does and the same in other languages. The liquid itself just looks like water which gets a bit frothy at the top if you shake the bottle and has no scent to it at all.

There's nothing special about the look in fact I would say that it's very bleak and quite boring but I wouldn't say it's not professional although I will say it's been cheaply made. There's nothing really attractive about the product either that would make me want to add it to my cosmetic collection (even though there's A LOT already).

Suitability and warnings

Obviously don't drink the product that's never going to have a happy ending really to be honest otherwise it's suitable for sensitive eyes and those who wear contact lenses and has been tested by dermatologists and Ophthalmologically tested. Being that Rimmel London is a well recognised brand I do trust that it's not going to affect my eyes or that anything bad will happen but obviously if it is that you get any in your eyes then you need to wash your eye out imediately and possibly contact your doctor and if your eye starts to burn then you should wash the product off of your face with warm soapy water and possibly contact your doctor if there is irritation, a rash or a burning sensation.

I feel that there isn't really enough warnings on the bottle - well actually there aren't any which is a little worrying but I pressume this goes by Rimmel assuming that adults will use this and keep the product out of reach of children which isn't always possible or the case.

Top tips

Tip 1:

Have you ever smudged eyeliner or mascara on your eyes or underneath them? Well if you get a small facial sponge or fold some tissue and get just a bit of the cleanser on then you can remove the smudge yourself. It can save you buying the corrector stick that's recently came out and I find this product works better on fresher make-up.

Tip 2:

You can also use this to remove other make-up such as foundation although I would still recommend that you wash your face afterwards after as to help prevent yourself from clogging up your pores.

Tip 3:

When removing eye make-up never sweep away from the bridge of your nose always sweep inwards. By sweeping outwards you're actually encouraging the signs of age by helping to cause wrinkles to occur whereas if you sweep inwards you're not likely to cause this and can look younger for longer.

Quality

Well I'm not impressed with the look of the bottle in all fairness but I wouldn't say it's a poorly made product either. I think the improvements are there to be made like with any other product but the starting point would be the overall appearance but in regards to quality I don't actually have any problems with it.

Harshness to Skin

When I used this product I found that it was relatively soft to my skin and there was no harness, sting or irritation caused by the product itself. I also found that my skin wasn't oily like how the back of the bottle said it wouldn't be. However, my skin is different from another persons and just because I didn't find this product harsh doesn't mean somebody else wont and the only way to be sure of this is to test the product for yourself, borrow it from somebody who uses it or look at the ingredients to see if there's anything that you know you are allergic to.

Price

You can purchase this product from Boots, Superdrugs and occassionally Wilkinsons at around £3.49. I find this to be a little high as I would have paid £2 at the most but I find that the product lasts about three months so at around £1 a month it's not too badly priced either. I do however think that 125ml isn't a lot and it would have been better if there was 150ml or 200ml to justify the price a little better as I feel like I'm buying water sometimes and being that the appearance isn't exactly glamorous then I can't see where Rimmel London see justification in £3.49.

Conclusion

Overall I'm going to rate this product four out of five stars as I think it's slightly overpriced, the appearance isn't great but technically the product does work although a bit of mascara is left sometimes. I would recommend this to a friend if they happened to wear a lot of eye make-up - although like I stated you can actually use it to remove other make-up such as foundation which I found useful.