This household item is the key to removing glittery holiday makeup

As difficult as applying glitter makeup can be, removing it can be even more difficult. And since this is the season for all things to sparkle and shine, you may find yourself even more distressed come December.

“Glitter is great, but removing it can sometimes be a chore,” says the bridal makeup artist Simran Kaur said HuffPost.

Like holiday lights, glitter comes in many varieties, including liquid, pressed and free. Kaur said that pressed and loose glitter usually last longer after application and therefore may require a more aggressive approach.

Your skin will thank you for this extra effort. “Removing makeup is essential because your skin needs to breathe and have the opportunity to regenerate skin cells,” says New York dermatologist Dr. Angela Lamb said HuffPost. “To apply moisturizer, serum, things like that, it really has to be on fresh skin.”

Along with glitter that can get into the eyes and cause irritation, Lamb warned that it contains metals and dyes that can also be catalysts for skin reactions. “It can be cobalt, it can be some kind of nickel; there are traces, but enough that it can be really irritating,” he said. “You really don’t want those sitting on the surface of your skin.”

Make-up artist Hayley Perez he told HuffPost he usually hires One size fits most Patrick Starrr Go Off Makeup Solving Mist to remove shiny eye makeup. “I’ll spray it on a cotton ball and put it on my eye,” she said. “After that, I’ll go in with Garnier micellar water and get anything [the mist] it didn’t come down”.

Kaur uses the micellar water on a cotton ball, holding it over the eye for 10-20 seconds and repeating the process again with a clean swipe of the pad. Lauren Renck Manning, a member of New York’s Radio City Rockettes, told HuffPost that she, too, swears by micellar water to remove a full face of holiday makeup, including a bold fake red lip. lashes – which he applies twice a day during the dance troupe The Christmas show season.

For difficult to remove with glitter, though, makeup artist Julie Pearson relies on something you’ll likely have on hand for gift wrapping: clear packing tape. “If they’re really stubborn, I’ll get some tape and try to get them out that way,” she said. “I’m going to use duct tape as much as I can because I always get nervous when I get glitter in my eyes. It just doesn’t feel like a good time.”

The streak will continue with the makeup remover.

Perez said “any type of clear tape” will do the trick. “It works really well with big glitter because those big pieces just stick to the tape,” she said. “Press it down, make sure you press really hard, then slowly peel it off and the glitter comes right off.”

If you’re worried that the tape might have a “patch popping” effect, beauty influencers Tess Chung she suggests removing some of its stickiness by pressing the piece onto the back of your hand first. Once you’ve done that, you’ll go over your eyes with the tape “as many times as I need to get 90% of the glitter off.”

“Then I’ll go in with a bomb cleansing balm to wash it off,” Chung said, adding that she recommends an oil-based remover. “Oil-based detergent, do the work for you.”

Lamb understands why tape might be the most effective way to remove glitter makeup. “Glitter gets everywhere and sometimes… the only way to get it off is to touch it with something else. It doesn’t just tend to clean,” he said.

While Lamb believes someone with “heart” skin might be able to tolerate masking tape on the lid, he cautioned that “the tape actually removes the top layer of the stratum corneum” (the outermost layer of the epidermis).

Lamb prefers to use a natural oil or cream based cleanser. In his opinion, Macne wipes and micellar water — or, as she put it, “anything that falls into the formaldehyde category or releases formaldehyde” — contains too many preservatives.

“They can be really irritating to the average person’s skin,” Lamb said. “Cold cream is better. Even if you have to clean twice, it’s better than using a detergent with preservatives.

All experts told HuffPost that you should wash your face after using glitter makeup to make sure every bit of glitter is gone.

“I like to clean twice,” Pearson said. “It helps a lot to get it out. And then using the cleanser leaves the face nice and clean.”

Pearson uses both Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm or Beauty First Aid 2-in-1 cleansing oil and makeup remover before washing with a Cetaphil cleanser.

Perez likes to use Junoco Clean 10 Cleansing Conditioner. So to be 100 percent sure I got all the glitter off, “I’m going to take a hot towel and make sure all the glitter is off my face,” she said.

Renck Manning washes with a Noxzema detergent and apply Kiehl’s Ultra Face Cream or Skin Therapy Facial Oil with Palmer Cocoa Butter Formula. “It keeps me from getting too dry when I wear makeup and I wear so much makeup,” she said.

Also, remember to give your face a little break from the glitz and glam. “On my Christmas day off, I wear as little human makeup as possible,” said Renck Manning. “It feels good to give my face a chance to breathe and rejuvenate.”