One of my best friends brought me back a ton of goodies months ago and I haven’t gotten around to posting because there are so many products to try! I’m still trying to get through them all, but here is a quick review on a few I’ve sampled so far. If you missed my last post reviewing some Korean skincare products, here it is.
Nature Republic Help Me Ceramide Sheet Mask: Ceramides make up a large portion of our skin matrix, and this sheet mask boasts of ceramide as the main ingredient (something I cannot verify. All the ingredients are in Korean!) What I do know is that this mask was coated in a thick almost greasy liquid that actually left my face feeling intensely hydrated. When I woke up the next morning, my face still felt like there was a layer of moisture coating it. I only had one of these to sample so it was a single experience, but I’d probably use these only once in a while since the liquid on it is quite thick.
Innisfree intensive ampoule mask: This is my absolute FAVORITE sheet mask to date! Each of these masks come with a side pouch of ampoule, which is an even more concentrated mixture of active ingredients like vitamins, enzymes, extracts, etc. compared to serums. First you take off the smaller ampoule pouch and massage the contents into your face. Before it is absorbed into the skin, place the mask over your face to seal the ampoule in. All of the masks I tried smelled fantastic and my skin felt much more moisturized and smooth, even in the morning after use.
Innisfree it’s real squeeze mask: I reviewed these babies before here, but now that I’ve tried a few more types of masks, I feel I can make more informed comments. These masks are light and paper thin which I personally like because they’re more breathable. Compared to other masks, these don’t leave my skin feeling oily, but instead, nicely moisturized.
The drawback of that is, expectedly, by the time I wake up in the morning my face feels normal and on the drier side again. I like to use these as a nice mid-week pick me up face mask since they’re less fussy and high maintenance, and go for some of the fancier face masks with thicker formulations (like the intensive ampoule mask above) on the weekends for more intense hydration.
Nature Republic Chamomile Cleansing Oil: This thick oil based makeup remover really does the trick, removing even thick mascara and foundation with just a few pats. I put a few squirts on a cotton pad and then, starting with the eye area, work my way around my face. I don’t like using my hands because everything gets mixed together into one black greasy mess (plus I don’t like getting my hands dirty).
The one big downside that makes me think twice about using it is that the oil smudges and stains my contacts. This isn’t a huge deal because I wear daily disposable contacts, but sometimes I still have stuff to do that require vision after removing my makeup…but I’m essentially blind. Save this for use at the tail end of the night when you’re really ready to retire into glasses mode!
Snail masks: Read my review on the science behind snail mucus here. The short of it is that there seems to be one published study showing significant improvement in wrinkles around the eyes and mouth after 8 weeks of snail cream use. I definitely didn’t use it for that long (ok I’ll be honest, I only used it once) because I didn’t feel like the mask helped to moisturize my facial skin significantly. Another small part of me feels some unconscious disgust at the thought of those garden snails I used to see in my backyard being smeared on my face. If it made a huge difference in my skin, I may be able to get past that, but not in this case.
Do you have any favorite Korean skin care products? Would love to hear!
Leave a Reply