Easy Way to Remove Aquaphor?

People using aquaphor, how do you take the aquaphor off your lips without taking the build up off?

I rinse my lips with saline solution and then water, which takes off some of the aquaphor along with any buildup that I might have but some of the aquaphor still stays on my lips but I need it all to be off so I can apply the products on my lips or else I would just be putting the products on the aquaphor which isn't good.

So I end up just using my finger and just taking off the aquaphor like that, but I'm worried that I might be taking off the build up too early.

The other thing is that I don't really know if my lips are still building up because after I take off the aquaphor with my finger my lips don't have anything on them so that's when I apply the products. However, after applying the hydrocortisone cream it dries up and leaves my lips looking a little white and then I apply the aquaphor and then my lips look like they have buildup on them because of the hydrocortisone.

The thing is I don't know if my lips are indeed still building up or not so I'm worried that I might be taking off the buildup too early when I remove the aquaphor.

Sorry if this sounds confusing, don't really know how else to explain it lol