When Sephora started to introduce more Korean brands, I felt so happy I wanted to instantly buy everything. I read online that they launched the brand ‘Belif’, which honestly speaking I have never heard about, and I was desperately trying to find it in the store. I stumbled upon it squeezed between men perfume and haircare, after the sales lady swore to me she never heard of this brand before. Belif products were available in a promotional package, so I got the Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist, Hungarian Water Essence and The True Cream Aqua Bomb. What I bought left me with mix feelings, I discovered one great product, and I am a bit disappointed by the other.

So let’s get started.

Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist, by Belif

The promise: The Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist is a gentle creamy cleanser for removing make-up and impurities. It is packed with Vitamin C, apothecary herbs (I like that!), Wormwood to prevent breakouts, Soapwort to detoxify, and Sweet flag to cleanse and soften. The cleanser is also fortified with 20% glycerin to soften and condition skin.

First Impressions: This cleansing foam smells very ‘earthy’ – it is neither too sweet nor too overwhelming. It just has this nice fresh smell. You only need a small quantity of product each time, as it creates this super soft foam when you start massaging it. For me, it is a great product with the Clarisonic brush – as it is just perfectly balanced between cream and foam (The oil cleansers like the SU:M37 Melting Cleansing Balm, or the ‘Mega foam’ cleansers just don’t work well with this brush for me, also I will soon be reviewing a new double cleansing routine so stay tuned!).

Effect: I would say that this cleanser combined with a brush, almost doesn’t call for a double cleansing routine, as it gets the job done well on its own. So it is a great holiday companion if you don’t want to carry too many products. My skin was left soft, not too dry and simply well cleaned. If I continue with the Clarisonic brush (I am considering to try the Luna brush) I will definitely go for the full size product.

Where to find it? In the US available at Sephora and Worldwide at Korea Depart.

Hungarian Water Essence, by Belief

The promise: From the name I am guessing its main ingredient is ‘Hungarian water essence’ although I don’t get any more details on that. It contains a blend of apothecary herbs, including rosemary and lavender. Rosemary and lavender are often used in European cosmetics, especially French brands (think l’Occitane or Yves Rocher). Rosemary has purifying properties, so it detoxifies skin, and lavender is soothing and healing (I love using it as a Bath oil!).

First Impressions: “Hungarian water essence”? Seriously? Well I have spent half of my life in Central Europe, so that definitely doesn’t sound neither exotic nor very appealling. If you ask me, I associate “Hungarian water”, with an awkward experience of a thermal bath from the sixties I visited in Budapest as a teen. True – in Hungary they have lots of therapeutic natural springs (more on that here, you should definitely visit!) but this is not the experience I am looking for in Korean cosmetics. Also, this essence was rightly called “water”, because of it very watery and transparent consistency. According to the packaging 98% of its formula is aqua-based. Wait! Does this mean I am basically buying spa water from Budapest and only 2% is something else? This is not very convincing.

Effect: This one is a fail for me. Call me boring, but what I like in Korean beauty is all this Ginseng, Green tea and other Korean goodies. Not Hungarian Water, that I can have at home. I didn’t get the whole size of the product, but at least from the big sample, I didn’t notice any effect whatsoever on my face. I tried applying it and waiting a bit to see how it felt, but I am left doubtful.

Where to find it? In the US available at Sephora and Worldwide at Korea Depart.

The True Cream Aqua Bomb, by Belif

The promise: The main ingredients of the cream is the ‘Lady’s Mantle’ (also called Alchemilla – I had to google it) that provides antioxidants and helps fight free radicals, in which the other ingredient, Malachite, will also help. The cream also contains Plantin and Oat Husk for extra moisture. All these ingredients are old fashioned remedies, which really draws the connection between Belif and an Apothecary – and I find that quite cool.

First Impressions: The consistency of this product if very gel-like. Just like the Laneige sleeping mask (reviewed in my night routine here) it appears blue in the package but is transparent when you put it on. It gives a super nice refreshing effect – it felt like a ‘Mentos’ add where everything becomes frozen once I applied the cream. This, combined with a ‘fresh and clean’ smell gives a nice cooling effect. It gets absorbed well as my skin instantly sucked in the cream.

Effect: When I bought this Belif cream, the summer was still hot and I thought I will go for a more gel-like consistency, despite the fact that I have rather dry skin. Big mistake. I am not a big believer of this whole ‘Bounce balm’ concept, that is currently trending in Korea (more on that on Refinery 29). This cream is indeed light and refreshing, so if you are looking for a nice cooling effect this cream could be a good pick. But for me, the hydration was not enough – or at least not on its own. For the sake of good testing, I was trying to give this cream a chance on its own for my morning routine (meaning doing less moisturizing steps before). But these days, as the season is already changing I wake-up with drier skin and I am in need of an extra moisturizing kick. So I ended up using this cream as a ‘Step 1’ moisturizer, and I follow with an additional cream on top. But again, I may be a bit too harsh with this cream simply because it didn’t fit my skin type. I should give the ‘The True Cream Moisturizing Bomb‘ (the more creamier version) a chance (Edit: And I did! Here is the review). Anyone has tried this product? What are your thoughts?

Where to find it? In the US available at Sephora, worldwide at StyleKorean or Korea Depart.

General pros: Belief products are free of mineral oils, SLS, parabens, sulfates, dyes and fragrances. So it is definitely a brand that answers our growing expectations for more natural products (or at least free of potentially irritating ingredients). The Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist was a nice discovery and it works very well with cleansing brushes. Another pro – it is available in Sephora, so you can easily go try it or request a sample, so it definitely makes life easier if you live near a Sephora store that carry it.

General cons: The Hungarian Water Essence (Ok, I am getting extreme here). Also choose your cream wisely, because the ‘Aqua Bomb’ version was not moisturising enough on its own for my rather dehydrated skin.

I give Belif a 3 out of 5 Kinbeauty rating, and mainly because of the Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist, but the Essence pulled my rating down.

(PS note – the included links in this post are not sponsored and I won’t get any financial benefit from them – I just added them for your convenience)

I am also on Reddit and /r/asianbeauty!