Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum

Although rarely mentioned by Western beauty bloggers, the Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum is a firm favourite among Asian beauty bloggers and is touted as something of a miracle product. Now, the word "miracle" always makes me a bit skeptical when referring to skincare, but of course I could not resist the urge to try it out for myself.

Sulwhasoo is a high-end Korean beauty brand rooted in traditional Korean herbal medicine. Their products are based around various plant extracts that aim to balance and purify the skin. The First Care Activating Serum is meant to be used as the first step of your skincare routine right after cleansing, so it should be used before any toners, serums, or creams. It claims to replenish moisture in the skin right after natural oils are stripped away by cleansing, improve skin's ability to retain moisture, promote blood circulation in the facial area, and help subsequent skincare products absorb better and thus perform better.

In terms of packaging, the product comes in a hefty ceramic bottle with a plastic lid. It is quite heavy, so may not be the most convenient when travelling. It comes with a pump, which is my preferred way of dispensing serums, because it keeps the product away from air exposure and thus allows the active ingredients to degrade slower. Although the bottle looks like an opaque white, when you hold the bottle against the light, you can see how much product is left inside, which I find very convenient. The actual serum is amber coloured and has a watery-gel texture. It has a pleasant herbal scent and absorbs very quickly into the skin, but doesn't leave that smooth, silicone feeling over the skin that many serums do. I use 3 pumps for my entire face and neck.

When I first started using the product, it was in the hot, humid climate of summer in China. My sensitive skin responded to the heat in that my skin was always red, and I noticed immediate results from this serum when my skin drastically reduced in redness just after the first few days. This effect continued during the whole time I used this product, but apart from that, I wasn't seeing any other immediate results and was a bit put off. I didn't think a little reduction in redness could justify the "miracle product" standing.

I find that while Western skincare products are often more aggressive in the sense that they deliver fast results but can be harsh/irritating on the skin, Asian skincare is often more demure. It is much more gentle on the skin, but can take a much longer time to see substantial results. After using this product every day and night for the last three months, I can now definitively say that it has made three big changes to my skin:

1. It has reduced the redness in my skin.
2. It has made my skin much less sensitive/reactive to other products and environmental factors.
3. It has changed my skin from combination-oily to more of a normal skin type.

These changes happened over a very long period of time, so I didn't think the product was doing very much until I noticed that the foundation on my nose was not slipping off by the end of the day, and that I was suffering from much less break outs every month. This product works to balance the oil-water ratio in the skin, thus reducing any overproduction of oil, but also helps the skin to better retain moisture, resulting in plump, radiant skin for me. It also helps to calm the skin, which means my face doesn't turn into a bright red tomato every time the bae tries to kiss me with stubble, among other skin-irritating things.

I picked up the limited edition 90mL size,which will probably last me 4 months in total, using it twice a day everyday, 3 pumps every time. I like to pump the product into the palm of my hand, rub my palms together, and just smooth over my entire face and neck. I then pat my face a couple times with both palms to ensure that the product absorbs.

Redness, sensitive skin, and combination skin type are three very common skincare concerns that often are met with no adequate solution, so the fact that the Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum was able to address all three of these concerns was really impressive. The promise of subsequent products being better absorbed is also tempting, because it means you will be getting better bang for your buck for every skincare product you apply.  However, it's not like my skin is completely void of redness now or that I never break out anymore, so I still wouldn't quite say this is anything of a "miracle". The final verdict? I wouldn't call it a "miracle product", but it's a damn good product as far as skincare goes.

My Beauty Wishlist #1

(Images taken from the web, of course.)

I'm delighted to see some new followers of the blog over on Bloglovin, so welcome to you all! When this post goes up, I'm going to be up in the skies on my way over to China. If I don't update for a short while, it'll be because I'm not nearly organized enough to schedule several posts ahead of time, but I will be back shortly. Now, on to the post.

Yes, I know that I already have way too much in my beauty stash as it is. But as the old saying goes, a girl can never have enough beauty products. I think I may have just made that up, but the way I think about it, I don't drink any alcohol, so compared to others my age, I'm just using all that drink money on beauty products. Fair trade, right?

As I've been getting into lighter bases recently, it's only expected that I would finally become intrigued by the much coveted Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation. It feels like every single beauty blogger has raved about this product at least once. I always thought this would not be nearly enough coverage for my skin, as I suffer from acne scars all over my cheeks. However, my beloved Stila CC Color Correcting Cream has recently converted me to the whole sheer base + full coverage concealer type deal. The Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua is supposedly like "second-skin", so I expect a very natural yet perfecting kind of deal with this product. However, it's $51 at Nordstrom, and I'm just not sure I'm ready to spend that much on a light coverage foundation yet.

And now, on to skincare. I've been lusting after the Algenist Algae Brightening Mask lately. This is a kaolin and bentonite clay mask that uses algae extracts to brighten the skin. I'm particularly fond of algae as a skincare ingredient, and I've always been intrigued by Algenist as a brand. The company discovered its signature ingredient alguronic acid when studying algae as a means to harness renewable fuel energy. Although there isn't any research on alguronic acid available on the web (the only research being done on it was done by Algenist and not made public), there is lots of research on algae ingredients, showing their capacity to provide antioxidants, as well as anti-inflammatory and anti-aging benefits to the skin. I've tried samples of other Algenist products before and they've all been very nice. I'm more drawn to brightening products than anything else due to acne scars on my face. Fading acne scars definitely takes time, as well as consistent exfoliation coupled with good serums. I don't expect a mask to work any miracles, but I still feel like this mask could be one of those special occasion good-skin-in-15-minutes type masks with its deep cleansing and brightening actions.

The last item is a long time favourite of one of my favourite beauty bloggers, Igisele. The Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum  is meant to be used as the first step after cleansing. This serum is packed full of herbal extracts. Igisele says that it helps to really balance and soothe the skin, as well as aid in the absorption of subsequent skincare products. It's also full of herbal extracts to pack some antioxidants into the skin. Balancing the skin would mean balancing out oil production or dry patches, as well as soothing any irritation or inflammation. I find that balancing the skin is key to keeping down breakouts and redness, so I'm interested to see what this serum can do. Unfortunately, it's quick hard to get a hold of. Not many websites sell it online, and my local Korean beauty store is always out of stock, because it's just so popular. Many one day, I will finally get my hands on it.

What is on your beauty wishlist?