A must-have if you use the They're Real! mascara. Comes as a cream so it's easy to control how much you want to use. Doesn't leave your eyes feeling dry or irritated afterwards. I love this makeup remover!

According to Benefit, this product is “Specially formulated to remove our bestselling They’re Real! mascara and They’re Real! push-up liner” as it “…completely lifts away waterproof eye makeup without tugging the delicate eye area.”

There’s no question that They’re Real mascara and its new liner have impressive staying power and can’t be removed with a normal facial cleanser. But, with a just dime-sized amount of this eye makeup remover, they come completely off. I also found this product to be wonderful at washing off shimmery or glittery makeup.

Benefit recommends first applying the remover to a cotton pad that you then wipe across your eyes before rinsing it off but I found that I could easily skip the cotton pad part. Instead, I applied the remover directly to my eyelids and rinsed it off, along with all of my eye makeup.

But while this is a powerful eye makeup remover, it’s also quite gentle. Benefit claims that it is “Suitable for sensitive eyes & contact lens wearers” and as a sensitive-eyed contact lens wearer, I completely agree. This product didn’t irritate me at all; it didn’t even sting when a bit of it got into my eyes.

This is hardly the first effective eye makeup remover that I’ve come across but it is the first cream-based one I’ve ever used and I quite like it. I took it on my recent trip to Chicago and it travelled very nicely; much better than a liquid one would.

Benefit clearly realizes how travel-friendly this product is as it offered it in a 15 ml size that retails for only $8 US (sadly this offer is only available directly from its site and not from Sephora). There is also a larger, 50 ml size that goes for $22 at Sephora in Canada. Since a little goes a long way, and since you really only need this product when you’re wearing waterproof or heavy eye makeup, one tube will last for quite a while.