Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micellar Water 500ml

A first impression

The pink-capped bottle that lives behind the counter of nearly every French pharmacy – and has done since 1995. Sensibio H2O is not a cleanser that announces itself. It removes the day with unfussy efficiency and asks nothing more of your skin than that you let it.

Why eMaison chose it

Cleansing is where most routines quietly go wrong, and it is especially so in perimenopause. The barrier is thinner, the microbiome more easily upset, and the foaming face wash that was fine last year suddenly stings. Sensibio was formulated for this skin before the beauty industry had the language for it – a spare ingredient list, physiological pH, and a micellar technology that lifts makeup and pollution without disturbing the lipid film underneath. It has been the dermatologist's first recommendation for reactive skin for three decades, and the case against it has yet to be made.

How it fits into your rituals

Evening, as the first step. Saturate a cotton pad and press gently over the eyes and face, repeating until the pad comes away clean. Follow with a second cleanser – Sensibio Milk, ideally – if you have worn heavy sunscreen. In the morning, use on a cotton pad in place of water if your skin is feeling fragile. The 500ml bottle is the size that lasts: refill it into a smaller flask for travel.

What's in it

Water, fructooligosaccharides and cucumber extract to soothe, and a micellar surfactant that works by attraction rather than by stripping. Fragrance-free, alcohol-free. Ten or so ingredients – nothing it does not need.

The honest note

It is not a dramatic cleanser, which is precisely the point. If you have skin that reacts to everything else, this will almost certainly behave.