This week's review is yet another Mizon snail product, specifically the Snail Repairing Foam Cleanser, or; The Last Foaming Cleanser I Bought Before I Knew Better.





Sigh. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, my friends.









This foaming cleanser, and the Mizon Skin Turnaround Pore Refine Deep Cleansing Foam I purchased at the same time, is the last full size cleanser I'll purchase without either first getting a sample size or confirming that the pH is within an acceptable range.





I purchased both because I was looking for a replacement to the Shiseido FT Sengansenka Perfect Whip Facial Wash ( reviewed ) which gives me a dense, firm foam that is the perfect compliment to my Clarisonic brush. It's also way too high in pH for me to use, so I desperately need to find an alternative that works the same way with my brush. I use my Clarisonic much less now that I am gripped in the voodoo of chemical exfoliation, but I still use it when it feels like my skin needs it.





So how does it measure up against my beloved Perfect Whip?



Details :



Full product name : Mizon Snail Repairing Foam Cleanser





Purpose : A foaming cleanser that lathers up when agitated with water.



Scent : Mild, in fact by the time I took all these pictures and got ready to write this review, I had completely forgotten what it smells like and had to go sniff it. Sort of sweet and fruity, with some floral notes. According to the product copy on Mizon's site , it has floral extracts in it so I assume it's either naturally scented or they added floral fragrance to try to heighten the perception of benefits from the extracts. Fragrance is listed at the very end of the ingredients.



Texture : Very thick and stringy when it's first dispensed, and then foams up to abundant lather when used with a foaming net or other lathering tool. Pictures are below.



Quantity : 60ml and I went through it quite quickly, although it's very inexpensive.



Availability : It's pretty widely available online, I got mine from ebay, but it's available at most major resellers that offer Mizon.



P rice : I bought mine from costsell's ebay store for about $8 with free shipping. It's available for $8 with free shipping + $2.50 tracking number per order from RoseRoseShop (my favourite place for large Mizon hauls due to their free shipping on Mizon), and for about $6 (before shipping) from Testerkorea , which charged by exact weight so a package with just the foam alone would be about $4.30 so a total of $10ish.



pH Level : Brace yerselves. It has a jaw-dropping pH of 8. Get thee behind me, Satan. You can read my Skincare Discovery: Why the pH of your Cleanser Matters post here





Rating : If I was blissfully unaware of the importance of pH in skincare, I'd probably give it a 4/5 at least. As it is, it gets a 2/5 because at that pH level it's actually damaging your skin.



Repurchase : Sadly no, not with a pH level that high. It's a beautiful lather and it's fun to use, and it's destroying your skin's ability to fight off acne bacteria every time you use it.





Full Review :





Cleansers are tricky to wax eloquent about because they simply don't stay on your face long enough to have a positive impact in terms of fancy skincare ingredients. It's why cleaners that have different acids in them (salicylic acid is popular) don't really do much because the pH of the cleanser is often too high to exfoliate and acids need to be left on the skin to do their magic. Your cleanser is something that you apply, massage around, and wash off relatively quickly.





In terms of what I look for in a cleanser- I want it to clean efficiently and remove all traces of residue from my skin, clear my pores so my remaining skincare products can absorb quickly, rinse off cleanly, and have a low pH. This failed only in the final category.





When I first got this product, I hadn't seen anyone really foam it up properly in their reviews, so I didn't realize this product really needs to be lathered up with a tool.



Looking more carefully at the product copy from Mizon, you can see how the woman on the right has a puffy ball of foam in her hands, rather than being applied to the skin in its natural state on the left where she pulls it apart between her fingers.



When you first dispense the product, it has an interesting pearlized appearance and is very strangely stringy, as you can see in the right hand picture below.







When you first dispense the product, it has an interesting pearlized appearance and is very strangely stringy, as you can see in the right hand picture below.