Wow, has it been a minute (nearly 525,600 of them). My last Empties post was the Empties & Openeds for January 2024. Well, here we are in January 2025, and I have nearly a year of empties to go through, which I’ll be breaking into three parts: toners, serums, and then this — cleansers, masks, toner pads, moisturizers, sunscreen, and random one-offs like sleeping masks, eye cream, lip masks and facial oil.
Cosrx Pure Fit Cica Cleanser
I got the Cosrx Pure Fit Cica Cleanser through a brand giveaway a few Januaries ago now. It takes me a while to go through cleanser (which is why there’s only one in these empties) because I only cleanse in the evening. This was my go-to shower cleanser, and to be honest I wound up largely using it on my body, too — it’s a cream cleanser, but a bit too drying for my dry skin. I’m also not entirely sold on how much cica in a wash-off like this can truly move the needle, but I acknowledge it might work for cost-conscious acne-prone folks.
Rating: 5/10
Price: $18 USD / 150 mL
Beekman 1802 Milk Foam Calming Bubble Mask
The Beekman 1802 Milk Foam Calming Bubble Mask is the sort of thing I recommend getting in a mini for fun or if you’re just trying to hit free shipping minimums, but is unlikely to make enough of an impact on your routine to merit splashing out for the full-size, unless it’s on sale. This is a classic bubbling type mask, where with time it foams on your face. This is great skintertainment, but the “it oxygenates your skin” claim that these types of masks tout are just hype.
Rating: 6/10
Price: $13 / 15 mL
Naturium Half Step Flash Facial
I’m a big fan of exfoliating wash-off masks, so while Naturium Half Step Flash Facial has a physical exfoliation component, I was curious to try it. The notion behind this mask is to use this halfway through your double cleanse as an exfoliating, cleansing boost. I found this to be quite gentle and suitable for fairly regular use. It appears that this product has been discontinued in favor of a more traditional, purely AHA wash-off mask.
Rating: 7/10
Price: N/A
Beauty of Joseon Red Bean Refreshing Pore Mask
I once had a comment go semi-viral on DermAngelo’s twitter because I commented that Beauty of Joseon Red Bean Refreshing Pore Mask smells like ice cream but should indeed not be ingested. Do I cling to that? Sure. Is this indeed a really nice mask that can give those of us with dry skin the clay mask experience we’ve been missing? Yes. This never dries down and thus dries out the skin, but it does have some of the aesthetic pore benefits of more standard clay masks.
Rating: 9/10
Price: $20 USD / 140 mL
Missha Super Aqua Hyalron Ultra Toner Pads
You know how I’ve been mentioning that my skin is dry? Well, between that and my inherent laziness, I don’t cleanse in the morning, and use toner pads instead. The Missha Super Aqua Hyalron Ultra Toner Pads are a very basic toner pad that uses a soft pad (important) along with various forms of hyaluronic acid, as well as panthenol and allantoin, to tone the skin. This does include fragrance and some essential oils.
Rating: 7/10
Price: ~ $20 USD / 90 pads (no longer on the US site, still available on CA site and on YesStyle)
Soo Good Feel Soo Calm Toner Pad
The Soo Good Feel Soo Calm Toner Pad is interesting for two reasons: it’s enormous, and it centers cabbage water. This is the previous packaging, but the renewal seems to just use more of the good stuff, specifically said cabbage water. Cabbage water is surprisingly soothing, and this includes other soothing ingredients like aloe and cucumber. These are big enough that it is completely feasible to cut them in half, turning 70 pads into, well, 140.
Rating: 9/10
Price: $24 USD / 70 pads
Mediheal N.M.F Intensive Hydrating Cream
This is technically my second container of Mediheal N.M.F Intensive Hydrating Cream — but that’s because I gave the first one, unopened, to an in-law when they were visiting and desperate for some soothing skincare (going from the Bay Area to Colorado is really fun for your skin). I have long adored Mediheal’s N.M.F. (natural moisturizing factors) sheet masks, so trying the cream seemed like a no-brainer. This has that cooling, protecting texture that I often think of being similar to cold creams, but which gives it a medium weight suitable for most environments. It does have some fragrance, but otherwise is a really great pick for sensitive types, especially given the price point.
Rating: 9/10
Price: $15 USD / 50 mL
Kopari Beauty Moisture Whipped Ceramide Cream
I’ll level with you, I was influenced (by Youtube and by a sale) to buy the Kopari Beauty Moisture Whipped Ceramide Cream. I do love ceramides, of course, and while this does have a fairly nice whipped texture, it didn’t really stick with me as an experience. I can see this being good for the person with a fairly minimal routine who wants to give their skin barrier an extra boost without adding a step — just try to grab it on sale.
Rating: 8/10
Price: $42 USD / 60 mL
Originz GinZing Oil-Free Energy-Boosting Gel Moisturizer
The Originz GinZing Oil-Free Energy-Boosting Gel Moisturizer was a gift with purchase, and I think has since been rebranded as the GinZing Energizing Gel Cream. I used it as a day cream under a moisturizing sunscreen, since, as I’ve already mentioned, I have dry skin. This has caffeine and niacinamide, so I can see it being good for oily skin prone to dark circles — though they have an eye cream in the same line that would be a more targeted treatment.
Rating: 4/10
Price: N/A
Dr. Different Cica Metal Cream
The Dr. Different Cica Metal Cream was a gift with purchase when buying their retinal (review in a future post!) and it took me a while to get to it — it’s a mini, what on earth does it mean by “metal”, you know the drill. I opened it up when traveling internationally earlier this year, though. It’s designed for sensitive, acne-prone skin, because the cica calms and the metal (in this case, zinc and copper) helps control the acne. I didn’t find it drying like other zinc-based products. Alas, however, may have been discontinued, as I cannot currently find a truly reputable site with it.
Rating: 6/10
Price: N/A
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Oil-Free Moisturizer
I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for Glow Recipe’s packaging as much as the next person. I don’t recall now if this mini was a gift with purchase or if I got bamboozled into buying it to hit a free shipping minimum (my ongoing weakness, I’m working on it). This is another oil-free moisturizer, so I used it in the mornings, and occasionally as a PM layer before retinal. This feels fairly hydrating, so I can see why oily skin types would enjoy it.
Rating: 6/10
Price: $21 USD / 25 mL
Beauty of Joseon Red Bean Water Gel
Another product from the Beauty of Joseon Red Bean line, and another oil-free moisturizer! Who am I? Someone who gets oil-free moisturizers for free, apparently — this one was a YesStyle influencer product. I went for it because a Youtuber mentioned it could work as a day cream under a moisturizing sunscreen (how I used it), though I also wound up using it, essentially, as a final water-based serum in my evening routine. The red bean extract is supposed to help with pores and sebum, while this also includes peptides for hydration.
Rating: 6/10
Price: $18 USD / 100 mL
Beekman 1802 Midnight Milk Better Aging Sleep Mask
The Beekman 1802 Midnight Milk Better Aging Sleep Mask is the sort of thing I love: a fun color (purple), a great texture (soothing, smooth and cooling), and chockfull of deliciousness like melatonin, peptides, bakuchiol and, of course, goat milk. My only beef (are we going for a livestock theme suddenly?) with it is the price, so I plan to keep an eye out for decent sales in order to repurchase it — I’m pretty sure I got it initially on a sale, too, because the full price of it makes my eyes water enough that I have to knock it down a rating. I enjoy sleeping masks as the final step of a long, often active-filled PM routine.
Rating: 9/10
Price: $52 USD / 63 mL
Cocokind Resurrection Polypeptide Cream
I really wanted to love the Cocokind Resurrection Polypeptide Cream — after all, it’s both purple and has peptides, like the Beekman 1802 sleeping mask. It is, however, astonishingly drying, in that it literally dries down and feels tight, similarly to a clay mask. I found that I needed to add hydration before and, often, mix in a facial oil, in order to make it usable. I hope that maybe I just got an older tub and it had lost some of its “rich cream” with “dreamy, cushion-like texture” characteristics by the time I was using it, because otherwise, whoof no. Points for prettiness, I suppose.
Rating: 2/10
Price: $27 USD / 50 mL
Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream with Squalane
The Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream with Squalane makes me realize why Kiehl’s had such a strong brand coming into the internetification of skincare. I’ve now gotten two minis as gifts with purchase, and I’ve enjoyed both immensely. It has a fairly similar texture, actually, to the Mediheal N.M.F. moisturizer, but is a bit thicker. It’s a simple, no nonsense moisturizer that I am very happy to use for free, and which I may someday actually pay for.
Rating: 9/10
Price: $42 USD / 50 mL
Klairs Fundamental Nourishing Eye Butter
I’m not a big eye cream person, which is why the only one on this list is Klairs Fundamental Nourishing Eye Butter, I have no eye creams currently in rotation, and I only even have one in my stash at the moment. I actually don’t use them as eye creams, when I do have them in rotation: instead, I love putting eye cream on underneath a lip mask. This essentially helps me balance the occlusion of many lip masks with the hydration and moisture of an eye cream. That was exactly what I did with this. As an eye cream, it theoretically has benefits for dark circles and wrinkles due to various tea extracts and peptides. For my lips, well, it does indeed help.
Rating: 8/10
Pricing: $24 USD / 20 g
Laniege Lip Sleeping Mask
I think I’ve paid for a Laniege Lip Sleeping Mask possibly once, but somehow often get them for free. These small sizes last forever, even using not just before sleep (does anyone actually just use lip sleeping masks before bed? Tell me). This lip mask does indeed soften the lips, though it does not have much occlusion to it.
Rating: 8/10
Pricing: $24 USD / 20 g
Stratia Fortify Facial Oil
We’re Stratia fans in this house (specifically Lipid Gold, of course), but I wanted to branch out so I tried the Fortify Facial Oil. I enjoy using facial oils in addition to or in lieu of sleeping masks, or as a way to make night creams more beefy. This is a blend of camellia seed oil (good for moisturization), tamanu oil (good for inflammation) and squalane (quick absorbing) which would probably be tolerated well by all skin types.
Rating: 9/10
Price: $24 USD / 30 mL
Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel
The Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel is such a staple in our home that we actually went through at least two bottles this year (I don’t know exactly how many, as I tossed all but the one I needed for the photo). As I have previously documented, my husband used to not like skincare, but he actually uses and loves this sunscreen. Indeed, I usually always keep a tube in rotation while I test out other brands we might be interested in using. This uses modern sunscreen filters and has a lightweight feel with a slightly dewy but mostly unclockable finish.
SPF: 50+ PA++++
Rating: 10/10
Price: ~$20 USD / 50 mL (prices vary on k-beauty retailers)
Biore UV Aqua Rich Aqua Protect Lotion
We picked up the Biore UV Aqua Rich Aqua Protect Lotion at a 7/11 on our way to a beach day in Japan. I know, I’m a little jealous of myself just writing that. It took us a while to go through this container (that trip was September of 2023, though in fairness we usually have about three tubes of sunscreen going at once). This has an incredibly liquidy texture, and needs to be shaken regularly to not separate. I think these two factors, unfortunately, make it tricky to use, so I downgraded it to body care because I didn’t feel like I was reliably applying properly.
SPF: 50+ PA++++
Rating: 8/10
Price: ~$14 USD / 70 mL (prices vary on j-beauty retailers)
Round Lab Birch Juice Moisturizing Sunscreen
The Round Lab Birch Juice Moisturizing Sunscreen got very hyped in 2024, and for good reason. This k-beauty sunscreen uses modern sunscreen filters (Important: They have a version with older filters for sale on their website with a lower SPF rating. This is not a review of that.) It has a nice lightweight and lightly dewy finish, and is not dissimilar to the Isntree sunscreen. This sunscreen is part of Round Lab’s birch tree line, which focuses on the ingredient due to its hydrating, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.
SPF: 50+ PA++++
Rating: 10/10
Price: ~20 USD / 50 mL (prices vary on k-beauty retailers)
COSRX Vitamin E Vitalizing Sunscreen
COSRX is a well-known k-beauty brand but they’ve been playing in the US sunscreen filter space for a while, with the Vitamin E Vitalizing Sunscreen being a newer product to their line up. This uses chemical filters approved for sale in the US, and thus not the more modern filters which has made so many k-beauty and j-beauty sunscreens (like the ones above) so popular. Unfortunately, this has all the usual US chemical sunscreen problems: it’s thick, it stings the eyes, and God forbid you get it in your mouth. We downgraded it to bodycare after only a few uses.
SPF: 50+ broad spectrum
Rating: 2/10
Price: $23 USD/50 mL
Everyday Humans Oh My Bod! Sunscreen
It’s hard to find and interesting body sunscreen, so I was intrigued by the Everyday Humans Oh My Bod! Sunscreen. This sunscreen uses US-approved chemical filters, and has some of the thickness of texture that I do associate with chemical sunscreens. However, once on the skin it doesn’t feel heavy — my husband even used it on his face before runs on occasion, and he’s much more sensitive to sunscreens than I am. Some of this lightness might be attributed to the cucumber, green tea and hyaluronic acid that the packaging touts. If you’re looking for a cost-effective body sunscreen in the US that doesn’t suck, this is a great option.
SPF: 50 broad spectrum
Rating: 9/10
Price: $17.50 USD / 100 mL
Lisa Loves Skincare 