Oh February. You were wild. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I continued battling a rash and I think it’s finally subsided for real, but it really wrecked me this month. That resulted in me having (comparatively) fewer opened products, since I didn’t want to introduce too many new variables to my routine after it got really bad. Thankfully the rash never hit my face but it came close, and far be it for me to not take my own advice when it comes to skin irritation (I mean, I usually don’t take my own advice, but this would have been a real frustrating time to not do so). As per usual, I’ve only included prices in this post — ratings wait until after I can give each product a more thorough test! Have you tried any of these? Is there a product you’d like to get my review on? Let me know in the comments!

Wash-Off Products

🧼 Mizon Cicaluronic Cleansing Balm

In classic Mizon fashion, the Cicaluronic Cleansing Balm is very aesthetically pleasing. It’s got a very nice perfume fragrance, is a lovely shade of blue and, of course, if you get it in a full-size, it’s got a lux gold+frosted glass look to it. I feel like Mizon doesn’t get much attention from skincare internet, perhaps because the price point and audience age does seem to skew slightly higher. (Incidentally, my mom loves their snail eye cream for dealing with eye bags, and I’ve just picked it up to try.) I don’t think the texture on this is quite as nice as some other cleansing balms, although this emulsifies and rinses easier than most, I think.
Price: $18 USD / 80 mL; shown in a 7g sample size

🔄 Peach & Lily Super Reboot Resurfacing Mask

I previously used a mini of the Peach & Lily Super Reboot Resurfacing Mask, so it’s not a new product to me, but I did take the plunge into a full-size when it was half-off recently at Ulta. This is a jelly exfoliating mask, with 10% glycolic acid (an AHA) and .5% salicylic acid (a BHA). This is a gentler, more cosmetically elegant alternative to the infamous The Ordinary’s AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution, which can still give you a bit of a tingle but is less prone to user error. I definitely recommend following up with a gentle, active-free routine.
Price: $43 USD / 80 mL

🍵 TONYMOLY I’m Green Tea Hydro-Burst Morning Mask

I’m pretty sure I picked up the TONYMOLY I’m Green Tea Hydro-Burst Morning Mask to hit a discount at Ulta, but I’m not mad about it. If you’re a morning showerer, I do recommend this as a mask to wear in the shower. It feels very refreshing thanks to the aloe, and the shower water offsets its occasional difficulty to rinse — a common problem with gel masks. I feel like I’m bombing through this, just scooping it out and slathering it on my face, neck and chest after, for example, using the Peach & Lily Super Reboot Resurfacing Mask, but given the price point I’m not too fussed about my rate of use.
Price: $15 USD / 100 mL

Leave-On Products

💧 Sioris My First Essener

I’ve been interested in trying Sioris for a while, and conveniently received their My First Essener in a giveaway from YesStyle in autumn. I’ve tried the PKY Essence Toner before and loved it, and this has a fairly similar texture — an almost gel-like consistency. There’s some really wild ingredients in this one, though, because sometimes I can turn it upside down and it will legit not flow out. Surface tension is magical. Makes it a bit of a pain to use. Ingredients-wise this focuses on green tea and mugwort, so those with a tendency towards acne inflammation might really like it.
Price: $32 USD / 100 mL

🌊 Phytomer Marine Mist

My husband and I have started going to a spa regularly, and he was really obsessed with the spray they used during treatments, so we picked up the Phytomer Marine Mist. If it had been coming out of my skincare budget, I probably would have passed: the website itself even calls this “Scented Water with OLIGOMER”. The Oligomer referenced is essentially just sea salt (fun fact: when not trying to sound fancy and rip off the French word for sea, oligomer also mean a polymer whose molecules are repeated a few times, which salt is not). This spa uses Nuface in their facials, and electrolytes are key to making a Nuface work, so I’ve begun spraying this before I use mine. It seems to tug less? But time will tell if it makes it more effective than my other conductive products. But hey, it DOES smell nice.
Price: $54 USD / 100 mL

🛢 iUNIK Noni Light Oil Serum

I had been looking at the iUNIK Noni Light Oil Serum for months, wondering “what are you”, so when it went on BOGO for Black Friday at YesStyle, I seized the moment. In the US, sometimes brands like to call things serums that are oils. In Korea, apparently sometimes they like to call serums oils. While this does certainly have oil in it (which I guess most k-beauty serums are strictly water-based, so … fair), it’s a thick serum texture. Noni is a fruit, and is an ingredient that I’ve just started using recently, but it’s functionally an antioxidant. Those looking for an off-the-beaten-track more moisturizing antioxidant serum should consider it!
Price: $21 USD / 50 mL

🍀 Isntree Cica Relief Cream

The Isntree Cica Relief Cream is my holy grail for a day cream as well as for battling irritation and itching, which is exactly where I found myself when January’s occasional idiopathic rash exploded into “and now I have permanent hives in my cleavage somehow” (it got better, thankfully). This is pretty instantly soothing thanks to the cica and panthenol, and the green tint helps offset any redness in the skin. The buttery light lotion texture, plus the oodles of peptides, makes it a great go-to for a day cream. This one made my Top-Rated Skincare of 2021 and was also featured in my recent Best K-Beauty Products for Redness Reduction post.
Price: $34 USD / 50 mL

☀️ Thank You Farmer Sun Project Water Sun Cream

Thank You Farmer’s Sun Project Water Sun Cream is one of the few k-beauty sunscreens you can buy in the US market, because it combines three FDA-approved filters (octinoxate, octocrylate and homosalate) with the chef’s kiss Uvinul A Plus, one of the new generation of chemical filters known for its photostable UVA protection. I had originally purchased it from SokoGlam because folks have said it’s similar in texture to the Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel, and I don’t disagree. It has a faint fragrance to cover the filters, but then goes on as smoothly as any k-beauty sunscreen. I’m so pleased with it I actually already bought more from Costco, where it’s two for $32 USD.
Price: $23 USD / 50 mL

Other Skincare

🔴 Cosrx Acne Pimple Master Patches

I wish I could go back and give high school me the Cosrx Acne Pimple Master Patches. I don’t get spots too often anymore, but I Simply Cannot Not Mess With Them when I do. These are gamechangers. It lets me poke and prod at a blemish all I want without, you know, actually picking at it, and the hydrocolloid helps draw gunk to the surface. They’re not medicated, so they stick nicely without messing with your existing skincare routine. I particularly like the size ranges on these.
Price: $4 USD / 24 patches

🧴 Shiseido Urea 10% Body Cream

Some YouTube skincare guru (probably Kelly Driscoll) got me interested in the Shiseido Urea 10% Body Cream, so I had it in my stash and at the ready to tackle the awful rash that flared up this month. Urea is a hydrator and gentle keratolytic, so it can help break up thick areas of skin (think KP, or, in my case, raised rash texture). It’s got a thin texture and a light menthol, clinical fragrance (think Vick’s VapoRub) that subsides quickly. My rash eventually did go down — probably more from daily Zyrtec than anything — but a combination of this with Vaseline over the top — because who said slugging is just for the face — definitely helped tame the red itchies. Also, I think it’s hilarious how unaesthetic this bottle is, considering that here in the US Shiseido is definitely considered luxury.
Price: $16 USD / 120 g