Review: Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Hydro Gel Mask

This review today is on the Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Hydro Gel Mask!


 I've gotta admit it, I love snails. I like gel masks. You put them together and?! What more do I need to say, of course I had to try this!


Image: Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Hydro Gel Mask front
Credit: Self

Image: Back of the mask
Credit: Self



Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Snail Slime Extract, Ceratonia Siliqua Gum, Carrageenan, Hydrolyzed Baobab Tree Extract, Lactobacillus Ferment, Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract, Green Tea Extract, Artemisia Princeps Leaf Extract, Houttuynia Cordata Extract, Citrus Junos Fruit Extract, Castor Seed Oil, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol , PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate , Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Methyl Paraben, Centella Asiatica Extract, Chamomile Flower/Leaf Extract, Disodium EDTA, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hyaluronate, Phenoxy Ethanol, Propyl Paraben, Perfume

Several interesting items of note, especially in the first few.
Snail Slime Extract
Can't really be seen, but it is clearly stated on the back of the mask to contain 5% of this. Mmm. Snails.
Ceratonia Siliqua Gum
The ground seed of the fruit of the carob tree, Latin name Ceratonia siliqua. Used frequently as an adhesive and binder, I assume to control the viscosity of the gel mask.
Carrageenan
Derived from algae, they can be made to use agar. There seems to be quite a controversy about the safety of this ingredient in edible agar, but since this is a cosmetic gel I'm not going to be consuming, we don't need to care about that!
Baobab Tree Extract
Baobab refers to the tree genus Adansonia, of which there are 9 trees. Baobab has been tested to have high antioxidant content, even higher then the highly acclaimed orange! Antioxidants helps prevent cell damage and slows aging. However I am a bit sceptical as to how these antioxidants will actually penetrate into our skin...

Background

Name of mask: Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Hydro Gel Mask

About the company: The company Missha is a Korea road brand, which means that you can easily find stores selling this in the streets of Seoul. So far, reviews I find online shows that it is more popular for its point makeup then skincare. The Cell Renew Snail Line is an established product line of their company, and there are quite a few reviews of this online already, since Missha is considered a globalised brand.

Why I brought it: It was on sale and I couldn't resist! Normally it would retail for SGD$6 in Singapore, which was why I couldn't bring myself to purchase for something that was only one use.

Before usage

Appearance: The packaging is super nice and shiny! I'm a sucker for nice packaging really.

Image: The 3 layers of the mask
Credit: Self

Material: The mask comes in 2 sections (upper and lower), which had 3 pieces each. There is a opaque plastic sheet sandwiching the gel mask with a transparent plastic sheet. That's actually a lot of non-biodegradable waste...

The gel mask is much thinner then other gel masks I have used. The transparent gel is attached to a checkered wire gauze. REMEMBER: Give the mask a scratch near one the edges, and determine which side is the checkered wire side and which is the gel side! Put the correct gel side on your face!

Fragrance: A flowery smell when I first put the mask on, it dissipated easily.

Amount of serum: There were no claims of how many grams of serum this mask had, and it was not actually a lot.

Texture and colour of serum: Runny like water and clear.

During usage

Image: The mask on skin
Credit: Self

How it adheres to face: It fitted quite well, most likely because of the 2 sections. I really liked that most gel masks are cut in this way. The overlapping sections go well over each other.

Feeling: Even though I put on the Daiso Silicon Mask over it, the gel thinned very fast. It could be possible that it was due to the fact that it was already thinner then other gel masks when unused, but the speed at which it thinned was a bit disappointing.

Also strangely enough, despite the fact that I had pulled this out of the fridge, there wasn't much of a cooling effect to my skin.

After usage

Actually I did not like this much. I didn't feel any of the soothing cooling effect I like so much that a sheet mask normally brings, and this mask also did not make my skin feel more hydrated, smoother, nor brighter. It sort of feels like I wasted my time doing this, actually?

And I did double check that I had the gel side facing my face, so I don't know what happened here. Guess I know for now that not all gel masks are wonderful.

Rating: 2/5

Rating scale:

1 – I'm not looking to spoil my skin. Rarrr.

2 – It wasn't bad, but neither was it good. I won't use this unless I have to.

3 – Mmm... I'm sure I an find better quality.

4 – Quite good! Would use again!

5 – The best. This will always be in my stash unless it's discontinued.

Repurchase: No. Never.

 

Review: Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch

Today is going to be a review on the Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch!

I started becoming concerned about dark eye circles when I started wearing contact lenses. Previously, I had been wearing full frame spectacles that covered my under eye area, and as I have a habit of wearing my spectacles almost all the time I am awoke, I had never actually looked closely at my under eye bags until then. My friends who know of my obsession with skincare had asked me for any tips and/or products to help with their eye bags, but I was unable to give them good advice because I thought I didn't have any. Oh was I wrong.

After starting wearing contact lenses, I started noticing much more about my eyes then I had not before. For example, that my double eyelids were parallel, my eyelashes were not that short, that my irises were actually at least 3 different shades of colours, and of course... that I actually had pretty severe eye bags.

Image: Difference between tapered and parallel double eyelids
Credit: Here

I could go on a whole new topic of how parallel double eyelids are more prevalent in Caucasians and tapered double eyelids are more prevalent in Asians, or my own theory of the length of eyelashes in different races, as well as a spiel about the many pretty colours I discovered in my eye. But that's not what you are here for, so let me spare you all that and get to the meat of the matter.

Image: the box of the Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch
Credit: Self

Introducing our Guest of Honour for this evening - the Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch!



I came up with a new list of criteria for mask reviews, which is what I will be using in the future so as to make reviews easily comparable.

Background

Name of mask: Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch

About the company: The company name is Petitfee, and they have two lines of products, the namesake Petitfee and the sister brand Koelf. When looking for tubs of eye masks, I have found that there are only 3 Korean brands readily available to the international market, and they are Petitfee, Koelf and SNP (under the company SNP).

Why I brought it: My previous choice of eyepatches was the Etude House Collagen Eye Patch, but I stopped buying them after a few purchases. Why? For one thing, they come individually wrapped with 2 patches (for each eye), both patches in a plastic mould designed to keep moisture in and with plastic mesh on the patches themselves. That’s a whole total waste of plastic!

The second consideration is because of cost. They are sold in Singapore Etude House for SGD$3 a packet. Eyepatches are an item that would be used frequently, so the costs would build up considerably! A month of daily usage would be $90 a month.

Image: Etude House Collagen Eye Patch - Please note the plastic moulds the eye patches come in
Credit: Etude House

Whilst looking for alternatives, I found an online promotion for Qoo10 in which the Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch would be sold for SGD$10~ including shipping! They also came in a tub of 60, or 30 pairs. This greatly minimizes packaging wastage, and the tub could be re-used after it is empty! I brought it and didn’t regret my choice at all o(-^_^-)o

Before usage

Image: Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch
Credit: Self

Appearance: It comes in a round tub, as seen above. It also comes with a flat spatula meant to lift each piece of the gel eye patches, and it does its job quite well. I don’t recommend using your fingers to pick up the eye patches, because other than the bacteria issue,  the gel patches are quite thick for gel masks, but still quite thin and a stray fingernail can easily pierce a hole through them.

Please note that the tub is sealed with aluminum , but since I forgot to take a picture I can’t show it. Tip: Don’t peel all of it off. Its best to keep it covering the top in order to prevent the gel patches from drying out.

Image: Petitfee Black Pearl and Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch - only 1 left in the tub!
Credit: Self

Material: Made of black gel with sparkles in the material. Shiiiiiiny. I like to tie up my hair into two buns, and pretend I’m a panda with those on.

Fragrance: An artificial floral smell that is not too strong.

Amount of serum: At first opening, there is quite a lot. It covers all 60 patches thinly. However the serum starts drying up after you first peel off the seal, so you would be lift with a strangely thick serum. The expiry date is 2 months from opening.

Texture and colour of serum: Colourless, and would drip rather then flow.

During

Feeling: It feels very nice and cooling. The surface area it covers is under and around my eye, as well as a small part of my cheek. I keep them on for as long as I can, or until they start to dry up and their thickness goes down.

After

After the first few usages, I could not see any visible improvements, though I could feel that the area was more moisturized and cooler.

However, after a few weeks of daily or once every 2 days usage, I was really surprised to see that my under eye circles had really lightened! There was a clearly visible difference between my before eye circles and after. Unfortunately, I don’t have any Before and After pictures of this huge change, and it’s not just because I don’t like to put my face on the internet.

However! I think part of this was because Petitfee had good ingredients, but a large part was because of frequent usage. Previously I would only use eyepatches about once a week, and sheet masks most of the time, because oh gosh those eye patches are way smaller than a sheet mask but costs double – but a sheet mask typically does not cover the eye area tightly. From once a week to nearly every day, the boost of hydration helped a lot.

Review: Tosowoong Rosehip Oil

My previous reviews were really patchy and each post had different quality. So I decided to start using a template I made myself!

Well that's enough of that, lets come to the real meat of the matter, which is the product I'm introducing today!

Background

Name of product: Tosowoong Nature Pure Rosehip Oil

Image: Tosowoong Nature Pure Rosehip Oil
Credits: Self

 

About the company: Tosowoong is a lesser known brand in Korean cosmetics, and their selling point is about proven beneficial ingredients from nature and simple formulation. Those are not uncommon selling points in skincare, but from other reviews so far, they seem to be keeping their promise! Their products are not very pretty (except for their latest release, the Hello Kitty Pore Brush), and they look more unisexual and functional then anything. They do have ‘special’ ingredients like camellia, sea cucumber and propolis, which really attracts me!

Why I brought it: Rosehip oil has been proven to have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects  (Source: Grajzer et al., 2015 and Chrubasik et al., 2008), and not yet proven-as-of-yet, anti-aging and scar lightening properties. Well, what really sold me was the fact that Miranda Kerr said that she use rosehip oil regularly for her face, and claims that its why her face is so smooth and bright.

Before usage

Appearance: It comes in a small dropper bottle. The dropper is easy to hold and use, each oil drop can be measured out easily.

Material: The bottle is made out of amber glass, which I prefer because it prevents any light sensitive component in the product from oxidizing due to light and thus reducing efficiency. According to the company, this is 100% rosehip oil, and I don’t think rosehip oil is reactive to light. Anyone can weigh in on this?

Fragrance: There is no fragrance I can detect.

Amount of serum: The stated amount is 10ml, and I find that usage of 2 drops every night can last me for about 3 months. My face is pretty big, but 2 drops is enough to smooth across the entire face.

Texture and colour of serum: Well… its oil? Its very… oily. How can oil not be oily? HAHAHA. (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))
It has a very slippery feel though, and after patting it into my hand or face, there will be a slight sheen no matter how long it has been. However this does not mean that it was not absorbed, on the contrary, I feel that application of this after my routine actually facilitates the other products to sink in better. I really like this benefit! The colour of the oil is slightly yellow, light enough that its transparent normally and the yellow colour can only be seen out of the bottle and under light.

After usage

Again, I really really like it. I find that no matter what products I use before the application of this oil, whether it be my lightest toner or my greasiest sleeping mask, this makes everything absorb better. No matter what product I use before, I always wakes up with my skin softer and brighter.
 
Due to this property, this oil can ALSO be used in the morning! I spread a drop of it over my face, apply sunblock, and I'm good to go! No extra greasiness other then what my oily skin would normally produce.