Colorado decided to mostly skip spring and my skincare routine seems to have done the same — May feels more like I’ve been emptying winter products than working my way through seasonal products. May has thankfully been more rainy and less windy, so my skin has been feeling a lot less dehydrated and uncomfortable. Check out my ratings for my empties below, and remember that I always rate based on my own results for my dry skin, so your mileage may vary.

Essences

💧 Sioris My First Essener

Fun fact: if you want to try Sioris, they frequently do giveaways with YesStyle, and I’ve now won two Sioris products through that — the My First Essener was the first. (The other, the cream, didn’t arrive when I used the code so … guess I won’t actually be getting that, alas.) This is considered a combination between an essence and toner. It’s got a slightly thicker texture than a watery toner, which actually made it hard to get out — there were some wild surface tension things going on that made it not dispense by tipping — but still layers up well. This focuses on mugwort and green tea, so if you’re looking for a good antioxidant product and find that mugwort calms your skin, this might be a good pick. For my part, I didn’t find this to help with redness (mugwort just doesn’t do it for me) nor to be particularly hydrating.
Opened: February
Price: $32 USD / 100 mL
Rating: 7/10

🐌 Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence

The Benton Ultimate Snail Bee Serum was my gateway to k-beauty, so I’ve enjoyed using more from the Benton Snail Bee line. I’ve since tried the sheet mask, as well, and I picked up the Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence when I won a giveaway from Nudie Glow US. Despite the name, I would actually argue that this is more like a serum — it’s very gel-like rather than watery, and the sizing alludes to that as well. The hero here is snail mucin, of course, as well as bee venom, which is a natural source of peptides. I struggled a bit with dehydration this spring, but this didn’t feel quite hydrating enough for me, possibly because of the inclusion of willow bark extract. I’d say this would be a great one for those with oily skin trying to heal irritation and PIE from acne.
Opened: March
Price: $20 USD / 60 mL
Rating: 8/10

Serums

🍒 Good Skin Days C’s the Day Serum

I have talked about the Good Skin Days C’s the Day Serum for years, and I feel like I’ve done myself a real bamboozle because it’s been out of stock for multiple months — I sincerely hope that it’s only due to global supply chain issues, and not because Good Skin Days (a Soko Glam brand) is discontinuing it. This is a 10% ascorbic acid serum with niacinamide, licorice root and other plant extracts and it really does bring a glow without being irritating. The only drawback here is because it’s water-based and because of the packaging, it does oxidize within the 4 months it can be open. I kept my open one in a dark bag, and I keep my stashed ones (down to one more ahhhhh) in the cheese drawer in the fridge to slow down the inevitable onslaught of chemistry.
Opened: March
Price: $26 USD / 30 mL
Rating: 10/10

🍓 Mary & May Idebenone + Blackberry Complex Serum

I received the Mary & May Idebenone + Blackberry Complex Serum through the YesStyle in exchange for a review, but this is not that review. Mary & May is a newer k-beauty brand that has a whole antioxidant-focused line based around idebenone, a synthetic antioxidant similar to CoQ10, and blackberry. This serum, in particular, is considered a good vitamin c, antioxidant option for those with sensitive skin who can’t handle ascorbic acid or fragrance. I did see good brightening results from this when I had some fresh PIE, but it did not help to brighten or even my skin tone once that had healed up a bit. That said, I am very curious to try more from this line (the cream) and the brand in general (their sunscreen)
Opened: March
Price: $18 USD / 30 mL
Rating: 9/10

🍍 iUNIK Noni Light Oil Serum

I picked up the iUNIK Noni Light Oil Serum when it was BOGO at YesStyle for Black Friday. I don’t use too much from iUNIK but they got me onto propolis, so I thought maybe they’d get me into noni too — plus I was really curious what a “light oil” serum constituted. This is a milky serum, since it’s 42% noni water paired with emollient oils like macadamia and argan. It’s got a great price point, but I must admit for me there were not clear benefits, or at least not visible benefits I discovered while using it. That said, I think this is a promising antioxidant serum for dry skin, since it does have a variety of plant extracts with those nourishing oils.
Opened: February
Price: $21 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 7/10

Creams

🍃 Isntree Cica Relief Cream

The Isntree Cica Relief Cream was a holy grail from the first use of the first tube I ever got, and this bottle has not diminished that feeling — the only drawback is the price, but if you keep an eye out you can find it for under $20. This has a green tint and a buttery, emollient feel, and I love it as an AM moisturizer to cut down redness and keep my sensitive cheeks comfortable throughout the day. I also love the packaging — the tube makes it easy to use up all the product, and the labeling easily removes for disposal. This is, of course, a cica cream, so it includes centella asiatica extract and asiaticoside, but it’s also chock-full of peptides and other antioxidant extracts, making it a good calming cream that also has additional hydration and anti-aging benefits.
Opened: February
Price: $34 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 10/10

🥛 Banobagi Milk Thistle Repair Sunscreen

The Banobagi Milk Thistle Repair Sunscreen is another YesStyle Black Friday BOGO “for science” pick. This is an SPF 45 PA+++ — I know that some folks insist on nothing less than SPF 50, but considering I gave my goth sister endless teasing for using an SPF 45 in our teens (I used 15 so I could get tan LOL) I figured the protection would be more than enough for sitting at my desk. This a chemical sunscreen with extra skincare benefits from the peptides, niacinamide, panthenol, adenosine, centella, sea buckthorn and, of course, milk thistle extract. This is a very liquidy sunscreen, so I could see acne-prone, oily skin types loving this. I didn’t love it, but that’s more a function of pickiness than anything else. I ended up keeping it on my desk to use it on my face, neck, chest, arms and hands.
Opened: March
Price: $20 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 7/10

👩‍🌾 Thank You Farmer Sun Project Water Sun Cream

It’s rare to find a Korean sunscreen available from US retailers, but if you want a representative experience that you can get from Soko Glam or Costco, Thank You Farmer Sun Project Water Sun Cream is for you. This is SPF 50 PA+++ — usually an SPF 50 will have PA++++, so I’m going to blame that on the US UVA filters. This feels moisturizing without adding any heaviness — it even passed the husband test, and he hates feeling like he has products on his skin. This does leave a dewy finish, but due to the moisturizing feeling I think that more oily skin types could skip the AM moisturizer and thus cut down on the dew factor. This does have an apricot masking fragrance to it, but I actually love it. This tube was from Soko Glam but I purchased two more through a good deal at Costco and already gave one away because nothing says love like skincare.
Opened: February
Price: $23 USD / 50 mL; get two tubes for $32 at Costco
Rating: 10/10

Body + Other

🛢Derma:B Daily Moisture Body Oil

If you’ve been here for a minute you know I love Derma:B and that I love body oil — so it’s no wonder I went through the Derma:B Daily Moisture Body Oil in a month. This is the second oil I’ve tried from Derma:B — the first one being the Intensive Barrier Multi Oil — and I must admit I prefer the other. Both are predominantly sunflower and grapeseed oil, and in proper Derma:B fashion include the MEA synthetic ceramide, but while the pump in this version makes it a bit easier to use, I liked the added ceramides, panthenol and peptides in the other version, all without being that much more per mL. This does have fragrance, though it’s more for masking than for imbuing a scent.
Opened: April
Price: $14 USD / 200 mL
Rating: 8/10

🍉 Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Dream Body Cream

I wanted to love the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Dream Body Cream — wouldn’t have gotten it for myself for Christmas if I hadn’t — and I am astonishingly disappointed. The smell is fine, if you like fake candy watermelon smells (it does smell notably different than their toner), and the texture is nice and thick and buttery. Unfortunately that texture is also its downfall: this comes with a beautiful pump that barely works. I could have finished this months ago but honestly it was just too much of a pain. It was even difficult to repot, since those watermelon, mango and bacuri butters and oils just Do Not Budge. This has AHA in it, but I never really used it consistently enough to see any exfoliation benefits.
Opened: January
Price: $28 USD / 240 mL
Rating: 3/10

🔴 Cosrx Acne Pimple Master Patches

I don’t always get pimples during my period, but when I do: Cosrx Acne Pimple Master Patches. I can’t not pick, when I do, but these let me touch my blemished skin all I want without picking and leaving myself with a red spot. These have three sizes, which is pretty convenient — I usually use the small and medium, but as I’ve been dealing with an epidermoid cyst on my forehead I’ve been loving the big sizes to camouflage it from myself. These aren’t medicated, and stick nicely under or over skincare.
Opened: February
Price: $4 USD / 24 patches
Rating: 10/10