8 Ways You're Removing Your Eye Makeup Wrong (2025)

8 Ways You're Removing Your Eye Makeup Wrong (1)

You get home from a late night out and want to wash your face as quickly as possible so you can crash. The result: You go at your made-up eyes with the harshness of a middle school cyberbully. No bueno: Not properly removing your eye makeup can wreak havoc on the surrounding skin. "Skin around your eyes is thinner, and more delicate and fragile than rest of your skin," says Julie Karen, a dermatologist at Complete Skin in New York City. "That's why this area has to be handled with more care." Here, experts share all the ways you're screwing up the makeup removal process. And, duh, the right way to take it all off before you get your beauty rest.

1. You're rubbing too harshly. The not-pretty effects of going aggro on your eyes are redness and irritation, which can lead to flaking, plus increased dryness and, over time, the formation of fine lines. "Using too much force is a major no when it comes to your eyes," says Dr. Karen.

To remove makeup quickly and painlessly, soak a cotton pad with a dual-phase (a hybrid of water and oil) eye makeup remover like Simple Dual Effect Eye Make-Up Remover, then gently wipe over eyes in one quick go — no harsh rubbing or pressure. The oil helps break down your makeup, and "helps lift makeup out of skin and off eyelashes," says Debra Luftman, a dermatologist in Calabasas, California, and Simple advisory board member. "At the same time, it's conditioning your eyelashes."

2. You're using a regular facial cleanser on your eyes. "The eye area is the thinnest skin on your face, so it's also very, very sensitive," says Francesca Fusco, a dermatologist in New York City at Wexler Dermatology. "I tell my patients to handle the skin around your eyes like a baby's and be very delicate about it."

Classic face washes — you know, the ones that lather and suds up — can be drying on your skin, let alone on your eyes. "The worst thing you can do is dry out the skin around your eyes," says Dr. Fusco. "You can get lichenification, which is when the skin looks lined or almost a little leathery. Then, when you put your eye shadow on, it doesn't deposit evenly and catches in all the nooks and crannies." Not to mention, excess suds around your eyes is never a good idea — you're asking for tears. Instead, look for gentle, moisturizing eye makeup wipes that have just the right amount of removing liquid, such as Simple Eye Makeup Remover Pads, which contain hydrating agents like panthenol.

3. You're moving back and forth over eyes with a cotton pad. Creating the perfect cat-eye is all about precision; removing the damn thing with a just-right motion is every bit as crucial. Instead of running the cotton pad back and forth over your lids, which can irritate skin and pull out lashes, try this pro method: "Swipe gently across your lash line moving from [the inner corner of your eyes outward]. Then go back to the inner corner and make short downward motions, following your lashes across your eye until you reach the outer corner," says Dr. Fusco.

And never go back to swipe underneath eyes either. (If you do the above correctly, you won't need to because you're removing makeup from the upper lid and lower lashes simultaneously.) "A common mistake I see some women do is open up their eyes, tilt their head back, take that cotton pad, and try to get the underside of the lashes," says Dr. Fusco. "They shouldn't do that because the fiber of the cotton or the pad could get in their eyes and really irritate them."

8 Ways You're Removing Your Eye Makeup Wrong (3)

4. You're not cleansing after removing eye makeup. While the oil-water combo is the secret to getting clean, soft skin around your eyes after taking off all your makeup, some removers can leave a residue behind. That's exactly why Dr. Luftman suggests cleansing your face after removing your eye makeup — never the other way around. Speaking of residue, if you need to fix runaway liner, dip one side of a cotton swab in the eye makeup remover, tidy up, and then dip the clean side in a micellar water like Simple Micellar Cleansing Water to wipe away any oily residue. This will also prevent what you put on next from smudging!

5. You're using the same side of a cotton pad over and over. You know how the cotton pad is full of gunk after the first swipe over your eyes? Well, if you put that back on your eyes, you'll end up redepositing the makeup you just removed. But no one needs to go through a whole stack of cotton pads to get a clean eye. First, use the full pad to wipe across your eye, and then fold the clean side in half. If your makeup is still lingering, fold the pad into quarters and use both clean sides. The result: the power of four swipes in one wipe!

6. You're using the flip side of a dirty cotton pad the next night. If you only wear a bit of eye makeup, you can totally get away with using just one side of the cotton pad to remove it all. But that doesn't mean you can save the other side for tomorrow's nighttime cleansing ritual. "The cotton pad can harbor bacteria through to the other side," Fusco explains. For the love of all things beauty, always start with a clean slate.

7. You're not going up to your eyebrows. While you're super focused on getting that stunning smoky eye off, you probably forgot about your brows. Most eye pencils are wax-based so the formula basically grabs onto your brow hairs and doesn't budge. "In order to fully get that off, you need an oil and water-based eye makeup remover," not just your regular face wash, Dr. Luftman says.

8. You're using a face scrub on or near your eyes. "I have patients who tell me they like to use scrubs around the eye, and that's bad for your skin on so many levels," Dr. Luftman says. "The eye is the thinnest skin in the body so it's very delicate, and using any type of scrub — no matter how gentle the label claims — can cause micro-tears or broken blood vessels, and can even lead to infections." Moral of the story? Gentle makeup remover = your eye's best friend.

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8 Ways You're Removing Your Eye Makeup Wrong (7)

Nicole Catanese

Nicole Catanese is a beauty and wellness editor.

8 Ways You're Removing Your Eye Makeup Wrong (2025)

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