They help loosen up the dirt and grime from your skin and hair to allow for water to wash it away with ease. Also since it’s a natural extract, there can be allergens in it, and there are cross-reactivities between snail and dust mites and shellfish – but lots of people with these allergies don’t have a problem with snail products, and people without these allergies have reacted to it. Some people do get closed comedones (small clogged pores that are flesh coloured bumps) with snail.

Initially I was a bit weary of Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence, because of animal welfare and, well… snail slime?!? But it is such a gentle, hydrating and (for me) healing product, that I keep using it every day still. And apparently the snails are not harmed. For exfoliating, you prep your skin with warm water, pump out some product and just start massaging. After about a minute, you start to feel little sand-sized grains forming under your fingertips. It’s very satisfying! Aside from hydration, this product is also known for brightening skin tone, helping with breakouts and irritation, and there’s some talk of it being good for anti-aging. It’s hard to pin any of this down to a specific substance in the snail essence, but it does have a lot of antioxidants, peptides, antimicrobial compounds, glycolic acid. There's still a lot of support for avoiding parabens following the better safe than sorry route. If you do we completely support you! The EU Allergen Free label is for the 26 ingredients identified by the EU SCCS and products will be only flagged if a suspected ingredient is on it's ingredient list. It is possible for cosmetics to contain one of the suspect ingredients without it appearing on the ingredient list due to it not reaching the concentration threshold to disclose it and cosmetic manufacturers choice to not disclose it.Pyunkang Yul was originally developed by the renowned Pyunkang Oriental Medicine Clinic in Korea. The brand has a steadfast philosophy of using only the minimum ingredients needed to help nourish the skin and allow it to heal itself. Retinal (note: with an A, not retinol!): This is a stronger form of vitamin A that converts to retinoic acid (tretinoin) in one step, which is as close to tretinoin as you can get in a cosmetic product (it’s one step closer than retinol).

As a reminder, you can use the menu above to shop for items based on specific sensitive skin problems, as well as viewing all our sensitive skincare products here . I want to try out a few products. What should I get? All in all, with such gentle and kind-to-skin products, Pyunkang Yul are a must-have brand for every consumer. As a result, please note this is only an experimental label that can be best used to possible identify problematic products you have used in the past. It is in no way a perfect identifier nor a predictor in whether or not it will exacerbate or cause fungal acne. It will continue to be worked on as more information and research comes to light. I have mixed feelings about having all these very similar Kolmar sunscreens on the market. I’ve seen Odile Monod say it’s boring, and while I kind of agree, it’s also really nice to have variations of my favourite formula. If you don’t like this formula or if you’re allergic to one of the components it’s probably less of a good time for you… Mixsoon Bean Essence While a peeling gel starts bunching up immediately, this takes a bit longer and there are less particles.The best known GAG in skincare is hyaluronic acid, and the sugary molecules in snail essence works along similar lines – they’re really good at holding onto water and acting as a humectant moisturiser. Aside from hyaluronic acid, you don’t really see these a lot in skincare. Unfortunately I did not find this moisturiser very hydrating my skin still felt dry and looked dull after using this. I only buy mineral sunscreens because I live near the ocean and all chemical sunscreens are toxic to marine life. However, it is incredibly hard to find one that leaves little white cast and is not overly drying or sensitizing. I have very sensitive, cystic acne prone skin and am also prone to dryness so it is a bit of a hassle to find a sunscreen that hits all my requirements but this one does! The ATO formula was much too drying, but this one is so moisturizing and I think because of the extra moisturizing ingredients it actually is much more sheer (although I am very pale as it stands). If you have oilier skin I would go with the ATO formula or at least would not use this one with a moisturizer. This sunscreen also does not break me out or cause irritation.

The fermented bean part explains the texture – it’s really gooey and stringy, a lot like snail essence. It’s reminiscent of the stringiness of natto (edible Japanese soybeans). Ginseng: Their star ingredient, which they say they included because it’s been shown to target wrinkles. It’s a hugely popular ingredient in Korean skincare.

Ok, so now we know what ceramides are, let's see what they do in our skin: research shows clearly that they play a super important role in keeping the skin barrier healthy and the skin hydrated. If ceramides in the skin are decreased, more water can evaporate from the skin and there is less water remaining in the skin. So ceramides form kind of a "water-proof" protecting layerand make sure that our skin remains nice and hydrated. Cosrx also added some extra ingredients that also add to the hydrating and soothing effects: betaine, butylene glycol, hyaluronic acid, panthenol, allantoin and arginine. Now the question is only this: If we put ceramides all over our face do theywork as well as ceramides already naturally in our skin? Well, the answer is probably a no, but they do work to some extent. The BeautyBrains blog made a fantastic article about ceramides and they have listed a couple of examples about studies showing that ceramides - especially when used in certain ratios with cholesterol and fatty acids - do hydrate the skin and can help to repair the skin barrier. The Silicone-free label only includes the most common Silicone ingredients that have indentified been reported by individuals that could potentially cause issues.