At a food festival a few years back, my friend spotted a natto vendor and (hardly able to contain her laughter) excitedly urged me to try a sample. I pride myself in not scaring easily when it comes to food, so I grabbed a sample and plopped it in my mouth, only to immediately spit it back out. I love the acidity of most fermented foods but natto had the taste and texture of something that had already made its way through most of the digestive tract.

Fast forward 3 years and I am willingly applying moisturizer with natto to my face. Such is my faith in the Korean cosmetic industry. The good news? None of the gross stickiness of the food ingredient transferred to the cream. The bad news? The cream is overall pretty underwhelming.

ORGANIC FLOWERS WATER CREAM WITH NATTO

The cream comes in a heavy, translucent glass jar. Spatula included for hygienic reasons.

The texture of this cream is nice and fairly impressive considering the ingredient list lacks slip agents, I suppose, but still nothing exceptional. It is light, easy to apply, and looks and feels whipped.

I have dry skin which requires hydration (providing moisture) and occlusion (sealing in moisture). Most creams aimed at treating dry skin get it wrong and only focus on occlusion. When I use these creams, I can feel them sitting on the surface of my skin without fully sinking in. I find this particular water cream from Whamisa to be a decent occlusive but not a great hydrator. The cream is light enough such that it does not feel greasy, but I can definitely feel it form a film on top of my skin. I would recommend this cream primarily for oily and normal skin types. If you have dry skin and are dead set on trying this out, I definitely recommend layering some thin, watery humectants under this cream.

Ingredients look promising! Cosdna analysis revealed two acne triggers, indicated below. No irritants though!

Oryza sativa (Rice) Extract, Aloe barbadensis leaf extract, Lactobacillus/ Rice Ferment Filtrate, Lactobacillus/Aloe Barbadensis Ferment Filtrate, Camelia Japonica Seed Oil, Olea Europea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Natto Gum, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Camelia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Lactobacillus/Chrysanthemum Sinense Flower Ferment Filtrate, Lactobacillus/Nelumbium Speciosum Flower Ferment Filtrate, Lactobacillus/Taraxacum Officinale (Dandelion) Rhizome/Root Ferment Filtrate, Scuterllaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Xanthan gum, Aniba Rosaeodora (Rosewood) Wood oil, Geranium Maculatum Oil, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Fragrance

Assuming ingredients are listed in order of concentration, Oryza Sativa extract is a primary ingredient. I’ve seen Oryza Sativa extract in Japanese skincare products before and although oryza sativa extract is new to me, my skin works well with oryza sativa oil. There is some evidence that oryza sativa offers anti-inflammatory activity that potentially helps with wound treatment and exhibit antioxidative properties that may be effective in enhancing hydration and improving skin lightening, thickness, roughness, and elasticity in humans.

Another star ingredient, which is mentioned in the cream’s name, is natto. Although it tastes gross, ant is a natural source of antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin K, and riboflavin. Furthermore, natto, camelia sinensis, and glycyrrhiza glabra are, according to Johnson & Johnson’s research, some of the best natural ingredients for skin whitening.

PERFORMANCE

As mentioned before, I do not find this cream to be hydrating enough for my dry skin. Also, despite the impressive list of antioxidant heavy, fermented ingredients, I have not noticed any changes or improvements to the general texture, tone, or state of my skin after about a month and a half of use. In addition, I have one major issue and two minor issues with this cream.

The biggest issue? I actually have found this cream to be mildly irritating. Usually, my skin is bulletproof- in the past, I have naively introduced glycolic acids, retinoids, and ascorbic acid to my skin without introductory period and (luckily!) without any negative consequence. This last week my skin was dryer than usual and when I applied this cream, it actually stung my face and caused it to momentarily redden. The irritation passed but none of the other products I was using caused any sort of noticeable irritation. If you have sensitive skin, definitely take your time patch testing this cream.

The other issues are nit-picky and are mostly personal preference. The smell? I’m not a fan. It’s earthy, wet, and astringent smelling, almost like an all-purpose cleaning product you might find at whole foods. This wasn’t enough to deter me from using this cream until one day when wearing it, my partner asked why my face smelled weird. I asked what it smelled like, and he simply said “gross.” The smell is not too strong, but I’ve become very conscious of it following that exchange. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the jar packaging. It’s a shape that really requires you to dig your fingers in (because I’ve long lost the spatula) and with natural products, I’m always suspicious of whether or not the preservative system used is enough to keep any bacterial / fungal cultures from springing up.

Final Thoughts: This is decent moisturizer with a lovely, lightweight texture. However, the ingredient list seems unnecessarily complicated considering 1. the translucent jar packaging, 2. the lack of noticeable effect to my skin, and 3. the mild irritation I experience when using this cream. There are simpler and cheaper lightweight moisturizers out there that I intend to replace this with when I run out.

Where to buy Whamisa organic flowers water cream with natto?

I purchased my Whamisa items through Avecko from Interpark (just do a search for “화미사“) for about $20. It is also available through TesterKorea for approx. $24.