Hello again!

Another review, my first conflicted and ultimately negative. This was one of the many lovely things that arrived with my first haul, and since it gave me so many problems, I really wanted to give it time to win me over.

Alas, no such luck, but I did decide that there were some ways I could use it anyway.

Anyway, firstly, I got the small size which came in a pack with the Super Moistfull Essence. This is quite a tiny little jar, so I thought it would be great to try out.I needed (and, since this is a bummer, still need) a moisturizer and this seemed to have many positive points.

It was cheap, intended for my age range (I’m 22), cheerful and was simply packaged. I do not labour under the delusion that collagen can, in any way, penetrate the skin, or give any anti-ageing benefits through topical application. I don’t believe that eating more collagen-heavy foods helps either, as these are broken down by our digestive system into the basic building blocks that other foods give us.

But I digress. I know that collagen does nada for anti-ageing but I do believe that as a moisturizer it could be very effective. It acts as a humectant, and as a biological product it seemed a little more accessible than hyaluronic acid, which I’m now a big fan of anyway.

The product that seemed to get the most write-ups (weirdly enough I didn’t seem to read any reviews about breaking out, but now that it’s happened to me, I notice them everywhere haha!) was the collagen line, so I thought, heck, why not.

The packaging is pretty much in line with Etude House’s girly branding. The pack came with a small spatula to offset the bacteria-infesting nature of the jar packaging. I wish I was more of a fan of jars, because this is a lovely one! It’s sturdy, pretty in shape and beautifully topped off with a hefty, well-closing lid. The peachy colours are really lovely, and if I have anything that I can think to keep in it, I’ll definitely repurpose it.

It’s a good example of the high level of detail that Korean manufacturers put into their packaging. I was excited to use it, and, I’m ashamed to admit, completely forewent the patch test that really would have solved all the upcoming woes.

Anyway, the cream is a thick, faintly translucent gel that, for me, is near perfect in texture. It has a beautiful glossy sheen and absorbs really quickly for a cheap skincare product.

It’s a little similar to Clinique’s moisture surge, which I used once as a teenager, or L’Oreal Hydrafresh gel that I also used a million years ago. The colour of the gel is almost exactly the same as the pale peachy colour that the packaging focusses on.

The advertising copy spruiks the hydrolised marine collagen and baobab tree leaf extract as its main active ingredients.

I’ve mentioned my lack of belief in the penetrability of collagen, but I’m also sceptical about the fact that the baobab tree leaf essence conveys any of the actual tree’s water-storing capabilities. I know from seeing these amazing plant-beasts that they store the water in their trunk, which is like a big tree version of a camel’s hump. The actual leaf extract is available here, interestingly enough, but I don’t really count any source that’s selling the same product it’s explaining…if that makes any sense.

I find the scent is strangely divisive. I both love it and kind of dislike it. It smells faintly floral and citrusy, but also simultaneously soapy. I’ll go back and forth between liking it and hating it!

Crazy, I know but I like to be accurate about scent, it’s something that is important to me. The cream is quite strongly scented compared to the other Korean products that I’ve been using, and more so than most moisturizers that I’m used to. When I use it on my hands I smell it lingering, but it didn’t seem like too much of a problem on my face. I wish it was just slightly less soapy, I’d be in love!

The cream absorbs pretty quickly, and leaves a lovely faint sheen of softness, not really greasy or filmy but faintly noticeable. I don’t know how well that would function under makeup because, after what happened to my skin I’m not putting it on my face again!

Ingredients:

(I see now that it contains ceterayl alcohol and that may be the issue here)

Hydrolyzed Collagen (Antistatic, moisturizer, emollient), Water (solvent), Butylene Glycol (solvent, moisturizer), Cyclopentiloxane (conditioner/solvent), Adonsinata Digitata Extract (emollient/skin conditioning), Glycerin (skin conditioning), Cyclohexasiloxane (skin conditioning, silicone), Glyceryl Polymethacrylate (Film forming agent/ viscosity), Hydrogenated Lecithin (emulsifier), Cetearyl Alcohol (HIGH COMODOGENIC RATING on Cosdna, surfactant/ emulsifier), Hydrolysed Adansonia Digitata Extract (Baobab extract, skin conditioning), Betaine (humectant/antistatic), Kaolin (surfactant/absorb), Cetyl Ethylhexanoate (emollient), PCA Dimethicone (skin/ hair conditioning), Dimethiconol (emollient/ slip agent), Cyclomethicone (solvent/antistatic/emollient), Gylceryl Stearate (emmollient/emulsifier), Ammonium Acryloydimethyltaurate/ VP Copolymer (surfactant/emulsifier), Hydrogenated Polysobutene (emmollient), Silica (thickener/emulsifier), Stearic Acid (emulsifier, COMODOGENIC), Dimethicone (thickener/ texture improver, slightly comodogenic), Polyethylene (thickener, film forming agent), Sodium Polyacrylate (thickener/ stabilizer), Polyglyceryl-3 (thickener/emulsifier), Methylglucose Distearate (Thickener/emulsifier), Hydrogenated Polydecene (binding agent), PEG/PPG-20/15 Dimethicone (synthetic polymer conditioning agent/ humectant), Phenyl Methicone (emollient), Ethylhexylglycerin (moisturizer/ suspension agent), PPG-5-Laureth-5 (emulsifier/emmollient), Carbomer (mild iritant, thickening agent), Disodium EDTA (chelating agent), Phenoxyethanol (preservative, one of the less irritating), Fragrance (fancy make smell good).

This ingredient list contains a lot of emollients, moisturizers, and few actives, unless you count the hydrolyzed collagen as an active, which I don’t. Or the Baobab tree extract, which sounds to me like more of a nice story than a helpful skin ingredient.

Anyway it does contain silicone and fatty alcohols, which I don’t usually think of as too much of a problem, but I can’t see anything that’s particularly good for my skin, however nice the skin feel is.

Ok, so now onto my experience with this product. Sigh.

I put it on after my night time skincare routine. This is still incredibly basic. I cleanse with Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser and a face sponge (not a fancy konjac one unfortch, just a sea sponge which gets the job done), tone with my Secret Key Snail + EGF toner, and put on some of the Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence.

I’ve used these products for about a month now, twice a day, with no breakouts or any kind of skin trouble. I’ve kept my face clean, and don’t usually have a problem with pimples at all, except between my eyebrows or cheek occasionally. I have never had acne around or below the jawline, so I was upset to wake up to four angry, cystic, painful, deep pimples.

I’ve only ever had cystic acne years ago and very infrequently, so it’s not something that cropped up due to hormonal reasons, and my diet hasn’t been especially bad recently. Nothing to justify my skin being suddenly awful! The rest of my face was moisturized, sure, but it lacked any brightness or bounce. It didn’t matter to me because I had my first cystic breakout in about 5 years!!

This was three weeks ago, and I didn’t touch it again. I babied my skin back to having no problems, mostly thanks to the Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence, Zeniswell UltraMoist Soothing Gel, and a new tube of Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream (review upcoming) and was stumped as to how to use the cream again without causing havoc to my skin.

Again, before bed, I decided to use it as an eye cream. I’ve never, ever had a pimple anywhere near my eyes, and I would also love to own a nice eye cream (search ongoing…).

And, derp, I had a huge pimple just under my eye, barely touching my waterline.

Seriously? I’ve never seen that on my skin before

I decided that I just couldn’t use this anywhere that could break out. I’m done with this crap! I like the idea of the product and I love the properties of the product. It’s really nice, goopy, floral-citrus scented stuff. I just can never use it on my face ever.

As a hand cream, however, it’s great! It doesn’t break out my hands or cause any trouble at all.

I use it almost daily on my hands, and it’s totally non greasy after a minute. It makes my hands soft, and lightly scented. It’s a really nice hand cream. For three weeks I’ve used it and not had any problems.

It’s like the scent, I love it and I hate it! I wish I could slather it errywhere but, fact is, something about it breaks me out no matter what the circumstances.

My hands love it though! I’ve had way worse from more expensive hand creams, given that the whole set cost me around $10 USD.It’s not the most travel friendly, especially in the hefty jar, but if I ever need a good handcream, I actually might repurchase this face-poison.

Best Aspects:

Moisturising but not heavy.

Awesome texture.

Soaks in quickly leaving a faint scent.

Ingredients list isn’t too gnarly.

Worst Aspects:

Broke me out both times I used it on my face. Not happy.

Can smell a little soapy.

Not particularly portable, especially with the loose spatula.

🙂 🙂 2.5 stars.

Ah well, lesson learned, right? (Probably not.)

Love to all things xx