Review: SKII facial treatment essence; Biobeauty Skincology Advanced Hydrating Creme EX2

After working for 6 months and having not too much time to spend too much $ (on busy periods I still sacrifice sleep to shop online though, to counter boredom ^^), I've graduated to experimenting with higher-end skincare/make-up products. Today I'll be reviewing SKII's infamous miracle water and another hyaluronic acid product - I've been using these 2 products together and find they work quite well on my super-breakout-prone skin - calming and non-irritating.

BioBeauty Skincology Advanced Hydrating Creme EX2
This product can be purchased through Payeasy. It's the cream version of the BioBeauty Skincology Advanced Hydrating Serum II that I've previously reviewed. It's slightly more expensive than the serum. The serum is NT350 for 30ml while the creme is NT380 for 30g. The ingredients are simple and soothing - hyaluronic acid, vitamin A, C, B5, B3, aloe vera and soy protein. It has a light and refreshing gel texture that totally doesn't clog pores at all (very gentle, soothing, non-reactive and friendly to sensitive skin) - a very safe product. The only thing that kind of freaks me out is how opaque it is. Like, unnaturally plasticky white, don't you think? Apart from that, everything is peachy!

Oh, and I do dislike how cheap the packaging looks with the blue sticker. However, it is easily removed - without the blue sticker, it looks quite elegant and almost matches my SKII bottle with its white plastic cap and frosted glass jar.

Because it has a pretty light texture, it may not be moisturizing enough for people with really dry skin. I guess it'd work better for people with slightly dry to super oily skin. It doesn't make my face oil up any more than it usually does. When I'm in air-conditioning, I layer this quite a bit, so one jar lasts me a month or thereabouts.

Rating: 9/10


SKII Facial Treatment Essence
Moving on to the star product - SKII! This is cheaper at dutyfree so I get my sis to buy it for me. I think of this as the La Mer of Asia. At first I got kind of confused - this totally looks like toner, but it'd be way too wasteful to use it as such! (Especially since I finish a bottle of toner a month!) This is supposed to be used after toner, before moisturizer. When I use this, I avoid using acne treatments or moisturizers with too fancy ingredients (like lactic acid, salicylic acid, etc) just in case it counteracts with the treatment essence. (No scientific proof on this, anyone knows? Cos SKII is way too expensive for me to use it anyhow. I usually layer a light hyaluronic acid cream/essence over it.) I shake out about 5-6 drops and lightly pat it on my face, wait for it to absorb and layer moisturizer.

The thing about SKII essence is... it stinks. Literally. It smells weird. But bearable. (The scent is quite light.) I also find it gives me a slight glow the next morning and calms my skin down when I'm very stressed. It is not meant to be used as a moisturizer so you definitely need to layer one over it. It didn't work wonders for me straightaway, but after 7 days, I noticed my skin getting calmer. You definitely need to use it long-term to experience the effects. For the exorbitant price though, I expected more than that. Like, faster and more dramatic effects. :P

Rating: 9/10

Today's post is about almost HGs, but not quite there yet!

Midweek - I'm just about surviving... Friday is coming and I cannot wait. I can't wait to meet people and rant. It's fun to rant with people who are experiencing bad luck as well, but sometimes I wonder if we should hang out so much cos maybe the bad karma is recirculating amongst us. :P