K-Beauty Products We Regretted Buying Part 1

Hello everyone! The other day we were just discussing on what skincare items we should buy because we are finishing up on our products. Both of us are die hard fans of K-beauty and we went through quite a few products from various Korean brands, so we thought it would be great to share what are the products we think that do not work for our skins so you could take this as a piece of advice when you’re thinking of purchasing these items and save the burning wallets xoxo!

*Annie’s skintype: dry and sensitive
*Sam’s skintype: combination, oily at T-zone

We will be splitting the post into 2, one for skincare and hair care and the other for makeup items! So here is our Part 1:

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Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Drop

So both of us got this item and both of us are disappointed with this purchase. Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) is highly unstable and oxidizes easily, so most vitamin C serums are placed in dark bottles to prevent it from being exposed to light. The Klairs Vitamin C serum however is placed in a transparent bottle, that is because the formula of the serum is stabilized and would not oxidize when exposed to light. In addition, the packaging is NOT air-tight (unlike drunk elephant packaging). Having to take out the dropper everyday, the product definitely oxidizes even quicker.

I bought the Vitamin Drops in October last year and it only took about 4 months where the first yellow tint appeared. As you can see from the amount of products still left in the bottle, I only used it for a few times. After the yellow tint appeared I didn’t dare to use it anymore. The same thing happened to both of our Vitamin Drops, the product did not last us more than 4 months.

For Sam, she got her bottle in August 2016, she hasn’t even finished half of the bottle after 6 months because a little product goes a long way. Now, this is not necessarily a good thing because the vitamin c oxidises very quickly, which means the effect could have been reduced when you still have half a bottle left. *insert roll eyes emoji* According to Sam whom had use the Klairs Vitamin Drops religiously every night, she did not feel any brightening of scar to her skin. With a low percentage of 5% ascorbic acid, it is no wonder that it would take much longer for any significant improvements to the skin, however the packaging do not last us long enough, therefore this product is top on our list of K-beauty products we regretted buying.

I am still trying out The ordinary’s Vitamin C derivative: Ascorbyl Tetraispalmitate solution 20% in Vitamin F. Might do a review once I see significant results. So far, accompanied with the use of the Niacinamide and AHA by Dr. Wu, my skin is looking good 😀

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Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner

For this product, the reason why I regretted buying is because I thought that the toner would actually ‘clarifies’ the skin with the AHA/BHA content. Due to our lack of research, we assumed that this product would work as well as the single AHA/BHA toners. In fact, it is proven by many that the AHA/BHA content is really low and does very little in exfoliating the skin. Adding to this, when applying the toner on face, it stings a little bit (but this feeling goes away very quickly) so I thought there might be some ‘chemical’ reaction going on and it might brighten my acne scar! But NOPE.

Also, I hate the packaging, the plastic cap is so hard to remove, and the pump has actually made the product used up faster (comparing to my birch sap lotion which I started using at the same time)

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Laneige Water Bank Moisture Cream/Sleeping Mask

The texture of the moisture cream is too thick for my combination skin, it is uncomfortable to wear in the tropical Singapore weather. My face was super greasy the next morning and this product actually broke me out! Probably not suitable for combination skin type, it might be too nourishing.

I have absolutely no idea what is the hype for this item. It is supposed to be a hydrating overnight mask and I expected great results due to all the hype. The result was nothing, I don’t feel any significant hydration the next morning despite me putting a thick layer of it. There was no sense of my skin being ‘plumped up’ either! The container is really small, only 70ml for 42SGD (when I bought it they were the old packaging – 80ml), the product runs out super fast and at its price point I don’t think it is worth the purchase. I bought 2 jars and finished them but they did nothing to my skin.

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Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum & Cream

For this product, I feel that it is not moisturizing enough. Next morning after applying the cream, I woke up to the feeling like “ok, this is just a little bit more moisturizing than me without applying any moisturizer the night before” *shoulder shrug*

Although it’s wallet friendly, it is just not suitable for us in mid twenties where signs of aging are showing and we need better ingredients. Perhaps it will work better on teenage girls?

As you can see I’ve almost finishing up the bottle and I seriously could not wait to finish it and here’s why:

Firstly, I would like the comment on the scent. This is by far the strongest scented skincare product I’ve ever used. The scent is not only strong, it is super pungent and I hated it. When I tried it at the stores, due to the environment I wasn’t able to take notice of the scent. I bought this at full price of 48SGD and now I am regretting and crying over my burnt wallet. 

Next, similar to Sam’s green tea seed cream, it literally does nothing to my skin. I use 2 pumps of the product, put them on my skin and after the product has been absorbed, I don’t feel any difference, except for the lingering smell of course. I think I’m better off in using my RMK Skintuner Moist where I feel immediate hydration and plumping of skin, at least the smell is less pungent seriously.

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Innisfree White Tone Up Eye Serum

Although a little bit of this serum goes a long way, I don’t even know what does this serum do. I don’t see any visible brightening on my eye areas, and hello??? my fine lines still there. The price is not cute either.

Well, although 3 out of 8 regretted products are innisfree, it doesn’t mean that we hate Innisfree. Innisfree still offers a lot of great and super affordable makeup products that we will repurchase *stay tune for our blog post* wink

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The SAEM Pure White Brightening Essence

 

I literally abandoned this product after using it for 2 ~ 3 weeks so I’m not sure whether this works if using it for longer period. BUT FIRST, why did I abandon it? It is because I found out that this serum have some sort of very fine shimmer in it that you won’t notice unless you take a very close look. It scared the freak out of me because shimmer in skincare? NOPE. JUST NOPE. I’m scared that the shimmer will cause me breakout or clog my pores. Or the worst could be that I had purchased the fake product and it is actually fluorescent agent (but it is highly unlikely because I purchased from the official The SAEM shop in Qoo10).

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Nature Republic Argan Essential Deep Care Hair Pack

According to Nature Republic, it is supposed to “Changes damaged hair into silky and shiny hair. No silicone. Nutritional care pack that offers intensive care to damaged hair by blow dry, perm, and hair dying.”

 

Hmmm “intensive care”? What intensive care?? We are not sure about it. Both of us bought this hair pack and to be honest, it feels like a normal hair conditioner to us, if not worst. It does smooth out the hair during shower, but the effects does not last. After blow drying, the hair returns to its frizzy state again.

To be fair, I think that the hair pack actually worked LAST TIME, before they repackaged it. I bought it when I was in Korea and I was actually impressed by it, however once they have repackaged it to the one above, I think the formula also changed and it became a useless product.

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So that is all for our part 1 of disappointing K beauty products! Hope these little reviews have helped you save some money and look out for part 2 coming real soon!