I am (was?) an avid fan of Chloe Morello so that’s how I first learned about Face Halo.
I hate removing my makeup because it is such a long process (I double cleanse) so the thought of makeup remover cloths has always intrigued me. However, because no good removers were available in the Philippines, they were always not on my priority on my To try list and these cloth usually require extreme scrubbing on the face which I don’t like. But when Chloe keeps on featuring these small round cloths on her channel, I just had to try it. She kept on demonstrating that these round wipes require little to no rubbing which really sold me. Luckily, my mom visited the States so I had it shipped to her then she brought them home. The brand currently does not ship to Asia.
One of the selling points of Face Halo is that it is ecological in that it minimizes or eliminates the use of makeup wipes. Face Halo can be used up to 200 washes and that old Face halos can be sent back to them to be used for roofing or whatever (at least that is what I remember from one of Chloe’s videos). As a side note, however, if being environmental-friendly is one of the features of Face Halo, they can be packaged better and not in single used plastic/aluminum packets; it’s not like the halos will break during shipping anyway.
I bought this directly from the Face Halo website. It retails for $22 but I was a first time buyer so I got the 10% off. For how many uses you can get from one halo, the price of $22 for 3 halos are reasonable, but they can definitely be cheaper because these are just glorified makeup cloths, and, spoiler alert, act like a regular makeup remover cloth.
My Experience
Once you open the packets, you will feel how soft these three round cloths are. They look and feel promising.
That was it though. They just felt smooth and looked promising. Performance-wise, it really did no live up to its claims, or, at least, it did not live up to the claims that Chloe mentioned on her numerous videos.
Powder Makeup
Once damp, this does a fairly good job at removing powder makeup. Nothing note worthy though, as powder makeup is quite easy to remove. A simple damp cloth can do the job as well.
Liquid Foundation
Face halo, indeed, can remove liquid base makeup but only after a lot of rubbing. I tried to remove my makeup very gently without tugging my face and while there were a lot of makeup on the halo, there were still a lot of makeup left on my face (as seen when I swipe a micellar water on my face). Note that I don’t wear a lot of liquid makeup and at the end of the day, most of it has been melted off from my oily face. But even then, the face halo cannot remove all of it from my face.
Because of the rubbing to remove all the makeup, my face usually ends up red and, because my face is also sensitive, it causes me acne when I really try to remove my makeup with the face halo on its own. The constant rubbing will also cause premature wrinkles in the long run. Yikes! Also, since this has microfibers, it already acts as a physical exfoliant to the skin and using the halo every day to remove makeup causes too much exfoliation on the facial skin.
So if you do not like rubbing and tugging at your face to remove makeup, I don’t recommend this face halo. You are better with cleansing oils or balms.
Bullet Lipstick
I love lip swatching my lipsticks, especially now that I am on my no-buy, I keep trying to look for ways and color combinations to spice up my lipstick collection. This is where the Face Halo comes in handy. It removes bullet lipsticks pretty well, whether the formula is creamy or matte. It definitely saves me some cotton rounds and makeup remover.
However, for dark lipsticks, if you don’t want the halo to be stained, you have to really wash it thoroughly for it to be white again.
Liquid Lipstick
I have the Colourpop Ultra Matte Liquid Lipsticks and the Maybelline Super Matte Liquid Lipstick and the Face Halo cannot even remove a single fleck of these liquid lipsticks! Despite the many rubbing, wetting the halo, scrubbing my lips, it cannot remove these liquid lipsticks.
The instructions state that for harder to remove makeup, just soak the area with the water from the halo, leave it for a few seconds/minutes, and the makeup would have softened up and the halo will easily remove the makeup.
NOPE, it did not.
Eyeshadow
I also like using the halo when I am playing with my eyeshadows – just pure powder shadows, trying to come up with new looks. It removes the eyeshadows quite well without tugging. However, if you use an eyeshadow primer, you will have to tug on your eyes a little bit to remove the eyeshadows. If you add a waterproof mascara and eyeliner, I would suggest just using a cotton pad and makeup remover and use that to remove your eye makeup instead, unless, of course, you are okay with tugging at the skin around your eyes.
After the 200 washes, it is recommended to use another halo because the old ones have lost their effectivity. Instead of tossing them away though, I use my old face halos to clean my makeup brushes between powder applications. I am too lazy to clean my brushes so having these old face halos and removing some of the eyeshadow from my brushes after shadow application is really convenient for my routine.
Overall
While these face halos are a good alternative to makeup wipes because they lessen trash, for someone like me who prefers a gentle makeup removal system, I would stick with my cleansing balms. Also, while I like using these to remove my makeup trial looks, these are expensive for that purpose alone. I can remove powder makeup and lipstick with a simple washcloth and water. I don’t need to invest on these and pay for shipping as well (since they do not ship worldwide). But if you are a user of makeup wipes, give these a try because it removes makeup the same was as a makeup wipe. It is also easier to travel with these because they are very portable and are easy to wash and quick to dry.
Bernice 