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Yes, there is another new kid on the block. Garnier joined the micellar waters race with their budget version. I must confess, I had no idea that it existed and I was surprised to see it on a shelf in E.Leclerc (French supermarket). The bottle is quite big and holds 400 ml of product which is twice as much as L'Oreal's version, but the price is about the same, 5.29 €. There is no secret that L'Oreal owns Garnier (and tons of other brands), so it's actually not that surprising that these two micellar waters share a very, very similar ingredient list. There is a difference only in the position of one ingredient on the lists - poloxamer 184. This is recycling at it's finest since as you probably know, L'Oreal often "borrows" formulations from their subsidiary brands and offers it under another brand and name (such as L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows and Giorgio Armani's Eyes to Kill Intense or GA's Maestro foundation and L'Oreal's Nude Magique Eau De Teint to name a few).
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I already compared L'Oreal Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution with Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micellar Solution here and though they feel very similar, the Bioderma one is much more effective. I actually reach much more for Bioderma than L'Oreal's hence why it's almost run out. This time I compared only Garnier's and L'Oreal's. I wore a full face of makeup with Rimmel's Perfect Match foundation and concealer, highlighter, blush, contour, eyeshadow, L'Oreal's liquid eyeliner, Lancome's Hypnose waterproof mascara and Rimmel's 107 lipstick, which is a dark berry, so it was a proper test. I used each on one side of the face.
Again the texture and feeling is exactly the same. All three feel like water. There is no residue left, just clean and refreshed skin. Neither of them break me out or irritate my skin in any way. Both L'Oreal's and Garnier's have a slight chemical scent, but it's faint.
There was no difference between the two when removing the make up at all. There was the same amount of make up on the cotton pads and it took three cotton pads of each to have the face completely clean. Neither removed waterproof mascara, however, nor does Bioderma. I removed mascara with coconut oil.
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Basically these two are pretty much the same product for me. However, you get more product for a similar price at Garnier, not to mention a much, much better packaging. L'Oreal's comes in the new revamped square top packaging that spills product everywhere (seriously L'Oreal, fire the one that approved this). Garnier comes in their traditional, but more rounded version of their toner/cleansing milk/body lotion packaging with the same flip top. Neither are as effective as Bioderma, but they are nice drugstore alternatives and worth checking out.
So far I've only seen Garnier's version in E.Leclerc for 5.29€, but L'Oreal's is sold in every drugstore and 200ml costs 4-5€ (depends where you buy it).
And the ingredient lists for anyone who wants to compare:
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