Aritaum Bamboo Charcoal Peeling Gel Review

Aritaum is Korean brand mostly known for make up products. However in May this year they released skincare line Bamboo Charcoal. Products caught my eye and as soon as I started to run out of my Lemon D-Toc Peeling Gel I ordered Aritaum's one.

Product description: Aritaum Bamboo Charcoal Peeling Gel removes old, dead skin cells with bamboo, charcoal & cellulose. Keeps clear skin tone with excellent skin turn over effect. Controls dead skin cells and has moisturising ingredients.
How to use: 1. Wash and dry your face 2. Apply proper amount & spread it to your face all over evenly except the eye & lip area 3. Massage until peels of dead skin cells come out from your skin, then rinse it off with warm water. 4 . It's good to use this product once or twice a week but the number can be adjusted depending on your skin condition. 

Why bamboo and charcoal?

• Bamboo contains silica, that improves skin health by helping the body absorb essential minerals such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Bamboo extract also offers anti-irritant properties, soothing the skin when applied directly through lotions or creams. It also contains anti-oxidants, helping to minimise wrinkles and naturally boost youthful radiance.
• Charcoal has natural detoxifying properties, it draws bacteria, poisons, chemicals, dirt and other micro-particles to the surface of skin. Charcoal powder can adsorb thousands of times its own mass in harmful substances! It's widely used in skin cleansing and purifying products, mostly face masks.

Unpacked bottle

Product comes in 150ml plastic bottle with pump applicator. I must admit that pump is one of the main reasons I've bought this particular peeling gel - so far I was using gels in tubes, when pump is so much more handy! The bottle was wrapped in foil and the pump was protected with blocking clip.

Serial number and date of manufacture

The gel it self is grayish cream, with visible cellulose bits. There are two types of peeling gels - smooth ones like Ginevra Marvel Gel and cellulose ones, like this one. I find that the second type is more popular, from 4 peeling gels I tested so far, 3 of them had visible cellulose bits in it.
Product has lovely, fresh and floral scent.

As you can see on the pictures, after massaging into dry skin cellulose connect with impurities and dead skin cells and rubs of the skin. After washing it off with lukewarm water, skin is smoother and appears brighter. This peeling gel is effective, yet very gentle - I use it every day and it works well for me. Because of my acne I'm not allowed classic scrubs, as they irritate my skin quite badly. Once I had an every day face wash with scrubbing particles and after two weeks I had to stop using it. The cellulose is much more gentle, suitable for use even on sensitive skin.
The downside of it's mildness it that it may not be enough if you have very rough and dry skin. If you need a lot of exfoliation you may try using this every day and support it with scrub once or twice a week.

Now, the problem with cellulose containing peels is that there is always a doubt if they actually cleanse skin on just roll on their own. To check it I always perform my "plate test":

1. I apply peeling gel on clean plate

2. I rub the gel for a minute or so in a clean glove, so it doesn't react with skin on my fingers

3. I check the results:

As you can see the gel didn't roll either on the plate or on the glove, what makes me think that it does really react with impurities in the skin.

Price: around £8 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ handy pump applicator
+ a little goes a long way - I use it every day from two months and I hardly used 1/3 of the bottle
+ mild, even used every day doesn't irritate my skin
+ skins is brighter after use, pores appear smaller
+ nice scent

Cons:
- opaque bottle, we need to take the pump out to figure out how much we got left in it
- if you are looking for heavy duty exfoliation this may be to gentle, even used everyday


 Summary: I really enjoy using this product I would strongly recommend it :) however I'm not sure if I would buy it again, because I like testing new stuff so much ;)

The whole Aritaum Bamboo Charcoal line contains:

From left: mud pack, peeling gel, bubble gommage and cleansing foam. I think that gommage is especially worth attention, as a type of peeling gel suitable even for very sensitive skin with visible capillaries, as it doesn't contain any type of grains (even cellulose), but enzymes that renew skin.

Purebess Snail School Recovery Gel Cream Review

Product description: Natural cosmetic science with snail & EGF to moisturise and regenerate your skin. Contains 90% of Snail Secretion Filtrate. No artificial preservatives, artificial colour, alcohol, mineral oil and paraben. Minimum skin irritation while skin tightening and softening, moisturising and regenerating.

Here it goes, I'm about to say the words that will probably appear in many of my reviews: I wasn't planing to buy this BUT... I actually kept my eye on Benton snail line, but then I read Purebess snail gel ingredients analysis on this blog and it made me wanting to try it This budget snail gel, contains not only the secretion filtrate, but also:

• Tremella fuciformis (also known as snow fungus, silver ear fungus or white jelly mushroom) - a species of fungus, one of the most popular fungi in Chinese cuisine and medicine. It provides several skin care benefits: increases moisture retention in skin, prevents senile degradation of micro-blood vessels in the skin, has anti-inflammatory properties, brightens skin. Anti-oxidant. 
• Human Oilgo Peptide-1 (EGF) - known as a "beauty factor" - eliminating scars and speckles by improving the texture and condition of the skin, anti-wrinkle by rejuvenating skin by stimulating cell proliferation.
• Althaea Rosea (common hollyhock) Flower Extract - emollient, antibacterial, and possible anti-inflammatory properties.
• Aloe vera leaf extract - moisturiser and anti-irritant used for it's rejuvenating, healing and soothing properties.

Full ingredients list: Snail Secretion Filtrate 90%, Water, Glycerin, Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract, Sodium Polyacrylate, Betaine , Human Oligopeptide-1, Butylene Glycol, Althaea Rosea, Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Allantoin, Carbomer, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance
Ingredients analysis [HERE]

Product arrives in cardboard box, inside we will find soft tube with 50g capacity. Tube is sealed.
Gel is clear and unscented. It spreads easily on the skin and take a few seconds to absorb, bu once it's absorbed it leaves skin matte. It's very light - too light to be used on it's own, I use it on top of Hada Labo Kiwamizu lotion and Secret Key Snail+EGH Essence. I have oily skin and this set is just about right for me - moisturising, but not too heavy. It's a bit too light for the nightime though, I like to give my skin a bit more to absorb while I'm sleeping, so I top up my set with Baviphat Snail Sleeping Pack (review coming soon).

What I like most about this product is how calming and healing it is - during the first few days after I got it I had terrible cold and blocked nose, that I have to blow every five minutes. As you know the skin around nose get's quickly irritated, so normally everyone can tell at the first sight that you're sick, because your nostrils are so red. Well, not with this product! As an experiment I was applying it few times daily around my poor nose and guess what - not a sign of red, irritated and dry skin! I was well impressed.
This is another product (next to Secret Key snail gel) that in my opinion completely beats famous Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream. It costs roughly the same, but has more snail secretion filtrate in it (Mizon - 74%, Purebess - 90%) and performs better - my main issue with Mizon's gel is that my skin is really really shiny after using it, while Purebess leaves my skin matte. Overall gel is rather neutral for sebum control.

Price: from £5 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ absorbs completely into skin, no residue left
+ leaves skin matte
+ calming and healing for irritated skin
+ simple ingredients list with high snail secretion content
+ cheap

Cons:
- not enough to be used as only moisturiser - has to be backed up with some other moisturising products, for example essence


Summing up: a good basic skin care product. Definitely worth trying if you are looking for some soothing and light day moisturiser - with that price you can't go wrong ;)

Secret Key Snail+EGF Repairing Essence

I am in love with Secret Key's Snail products. Prestige Snail+EGF Ampoule was good, but the least efficient from all the series, so when I ran out of it I decided to replace it with the essence.

 Product description: Snail Slime Extract together with EGF (Cell Regeneration Factor) act as a skin stain remover, healing and repairing wounds and scars, it also boots your skin's ability to stay hydrated and bright.

Ingredients:

• Snail Secretion Filtrate - protects skin from infection, reduces inflammation, effective in treating acne and scarring, anti-wrinkle
• Human Oilgo Peptide-1 (EGF) - known as a "beauty factor" - eliminating scars and speckles by improving the texture and condition of the skin, anti-wrinkle by rejuvenating skin by stimulating cell proliferation
• Macadamia Seed Oil - contains Palmitoleic acid that is vital for delaying skin and cell ageing, Oleic acid that has regeneration and moisturising properties, Linoleic acid that helps to prevent skin water loss and Plant phytosterols that are calming and healing
• Oryza sativa (rice) extract - increases synthesis of collagen, also provides both short- and long-term hydration to the skin.

Oryza sativa (rice) extractSnow fungus (Tremella Fuciformis) Extract - has anti-aging properties due to allowing the skin to retain more water and helps prevent senile degeneration (the breaking down over time) of micro blood vessels within the skin and keep blood flowing through the skin optimally.

From all the series this product has the most snaily structure. It's gooey and during the application it tends to stretch what is a little annoying, as I like to apply products by first dotting them on the face and then massaging in - this essence creates "strings" between the dots, so it's easy to accidentally apply it in some silly place like eyebrow :P but the good side of this essence is that it doesn't feel sticky on the skin as it absorbs very quickly. It leaves skin slightly moisturised and smooth and it's very lightweight - perfect for oily skin. It has very subtle smell, some floral notes similar to the ones in Snail+EGF Repairing Gel Cream. Product is quite efficient - one pump is enough to cover entire face.

Price: around £6 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ lightweight
+ fast absorbing
+ affordable
+ a little goes a long way

Cons:
- gooey texture

Overall I am quite pleased with this product, I like how light and quickly absorbing it is. I use it twice a day, AM under the snail gel, PM under the Prestige snail cream.

Secret Key Snail + EGF Repairing Gel Cream Review

Review of another Snail Product from Secret Key ^^ Enjoy!

Product description: Take control of your skin, keeping it lightweight, cool and refreshed! Low irritation skin therapy with added hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) extract.

Contains only natural preservatives: extract from Chinese pepper, pasque flower and usnea are good natural preservatives and have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.

Main ingredients:

• Snail secretion filtrate - protects skin from infection, reduces inflammation, effective in treating acne and scarring, anti-wrinkle
• Human Oilgo Peptide-1 (EGF) - known as a "beauty factor" - eliminating scars and speckles by improving the texture and condition of the skin, anti-wrinkle by rejuvenating skin by stimulating cell proliferation
• Witch hazel extract - a strong astringent & antioxidant, has antibacterial & anti-inflammatory properties, effective in acne treatments
• Aloe vera leaf extract - moisturiser and anti-irritant used for it's rejuvenating, healing and soothing properties
• Beta glucan - a natural compound, extracted from plants, that helps to maintain a youthful appearance for skin
• Lemon extract -  a natural source of Vitamin C and antioxidants, protects skin against sun damage and works anti-inflammatory

 Product is a 50ml plastic jar with extra security lid under the plastic screw cap. It comes in cardboard box.

Product is a clear gel with nice floral scent. For me it looks and smell a little bit like a hair styling gel :P The consistency is light, but not runny.

The product is really lightweight on the skin - on the beginning I had problem with finding the right amount to apply and I was using too much , but even generously applied it doesn't make skin feel oily. It's moisturising and refreshing, non sticky. I use it with Secret Key Prestige Snail + EGF Ampoule & Cream (cream at PM and gel for AM) - after two weeks of regular use I noticed a great improvement in my skin elasticity and moisture level. The gel is getting used up a bit quicker than Prestige Cream - I use the series for a month now and I already used up half of my gel and only 1/3 of the cream.
What I like most about this product and what makes me like it much more than Mizon's Snail Gel Cream is that it doesn't leave skin shining. Mizon's gel was well moisturising and took good care of my skin, but after application my skin was madly shining which was soooo annoying. Secret Key's gel absorbs to almost-matte finish:

The other thing that makes Secret Key's snail gel beat Mizon's snail gel is the fact that latter contains silicone (a lightweight one, but still). Secret Key's snail gel has quite impressive no-nonsense ingredient list and contains a few ingredients good for skin. The downside is that in Secret Key's product snail secretion filtrate is not on the first place in the ingredients list and we don't really know how much of a snail there is in a snail product, when Mizon tell us on the label that their gel is made in 74% of snail secretion filtrate.

Price: from £6 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ lightweight
+ well moisturising
+ doesn't leave skin shiny
+ nice smell
+ cheap

Cons:
- the manufacturer doesn't say how much of the snail secretion filtrate actually is in the product

Summing up - I really like this product and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for lightweight moisturising and improvement in skin elasticity :) All the Secret Key's Snail Products are working really well for my skin and I am planing to continue using this series to see what it can do in a long term. Snail secretion filtrate is supposed to be good in scar healing as well, so I hope it will help me beat my acne scars, but it's a ling term process so I just have to continue use and see how it goes.

Ingredients: Water, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Extract, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Snail Secretion Filtrate, Zanthoxylum Piperitum Fruit Extract, Pulsatilla Koreana Extract, Usnea Barbata Extract, Human Oligopeptide-1, Sodium Hyaluronate, Aloe Babadensis Leaf Juice, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Beta-Glucan, Nonoxynol-12, Disodium EDTA, Arginine, 1,2 -Hexanediol, Fragrance
Ingredients analysis [HERE]

Mizon All in One Snail Repair Cream & Snail Repair Intensive Ampoule

Snail secretion is known from it's regenerating properties. The story is that people working on snail farms discovered that any scratches or wounds on their hands were healing quicker when they were handling snails and then it ended up in cosmetics. I already reviewed my very first snail product - Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream, now I would like to follow it with reviews of two other Mizon's snail cosmetics.

The whole Mizon's snail line.

Mizon All in One Snail Repair Cream

Product description: The original snail mucus takes care of your all kind of skin problems in all in one skin care system on your first skin care step. It repairs tired and ageing skin, leaving it refreshed. It also the first protector of your naked skin.

The product comes in brown glass jar with capacity 75ml.

From the whole line, the All in One Repair Cream has the highest snail secretion content - 92%.
The cream is basically unscented and has kind of jelly-cream consistency. It is not sticky, but it kind of stretches, follows the finger a little bit:

It's the first skin care routine step, so it's very lightweight - absorbs in skin quickly and completely. After use skin is well moisturised, smooth and matte. For oily skin it may do the AM job on it's own, specially under some moisturising BB Cream, but for more thirsty skin it has to be followed with other moisturising product. A little goes a long way - the jar lasted for approx. three month of everyday use.

This cream is a great companion of Snail Recovery Gel. Gel provides more moisture and locks it into skin. For my oily skin this duo worked well, but I had to be careful with amount of gel I used - too much would make my skin feel a little bit heavy. If the right amounts were used creams worked well - didn't make my skin more oily. It also worked well for my acne - helped the skin to heal quicker. The only downside of the duo was that skin was shiny.

Price: from £10 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ very lightweight
+ absorbs quickly and completely
+ matte finish
+ a little goes a long way
+ skin is nice and smooth after use

Cons:
 - may be not moisturising enough used on it's own (but it's supposed to be used with other products, so it's not a real con).
- Recovery Gel on top of All in One is more shiny than on it's own

Ingredients: Snail secretion filtrate, cetearyl olivate, sorbitan olivate, cetearyl alcohol, stearic acid, glyceryl stearate, hydrogenate vegetable oil, dimethicone, triethanolamine, carbomer, butylene glycol, PEG/ppg-17/6 copolymer, polyacrylate-13, polyisobutene, polysorbate 20, sodium polyacrylate, caprylyl glyocol, ethylhexyglycerin, tropolone, adenosine, sodium hyaluronate, portulaca oleracea extract, betula platyphylla japonica juice, amica Montana flower extract, Artemisia absinthium extract, achillea milefolium extract, gentian lutea root extract, alcohol, camellia sinensis leaf extract, centella asiatica extract, copper tripeptide-1, human oligopeptide-1, propylene glycol, rubus idaeus (raspberry) fruit xtract, beta-glucan, palmitoyl pentapeptide-4, disodium edta
Ingredients analysis [HERE] 

Mizon Snail Repair Intensive Ampoule

Product description: High content of snail secretion filtrate and EGF* help skin regeneration and improve skin elasticity while moisturising skin.

*Epidermal Growth Factor -  an age-prevention ingredient that supports cell renewal and wound repair by stimulating cells to produce collagen.

The full size product is a 30ml glass bottle with pipette applicator. I was using set of ten sample sachets. One sachets lasts for two applications.

The product has consistency of very runny gel. It's clear and unscented. It has second biggest content of snail mucus in the line - 80%. During application there is some slimy feeling to it - it absorbs quite well and laves skin a little bit sticky, but this fades away when topped with another product.

I tried to use the ampule in as many combinations as possible, so:
- with All in One Cream - skin is a bit shiny, but well moisturised without heaviness, a little bit sticky but in pleasant way; the application of ampoule is much smoother and efficient on the top of All in One, than on bare skin
- with Snail Recovery Gel Cream - gel reduces the sticky feeling of ampule, skin is well moisturised; skin is very shiny, but not much oilier than usual; skin feel smooth, nourished and elastic; have to be careful with BB Cream - to heavy one on top of this two products will make skin oily
- with All in One Cream and Snail Recovery Gel Cream - skin very well moisturised, but shiny; for oily skin it may be too much for AM use; for PM use very pleasant combination - skin feels smooth and elastic in the morning.

Used on it's own ampule gives nice moisture boost to the skin and it's quite lightweight - it could be easily used with any cream. It also works on it's own, just under BB Cream - but only for not very thirsty skin.

Price: from £8 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ nice moisture boost for skin
+ quite lightweight
+ can be used with any cream

Cons:
- a little bit sticky (however it goes away when topped with another product) 
- the whole line used together makes skin very shiny

Ingredients: Snail secretion filtrate, sodium, hyaluronate, butylene glycol, glycerin, alcohol, panthenol, glycereth-26, carbomer, triethanolamine, trehalose, copper tripeptide-1, human oligopeptide-1, palmitoyl pentaopeptide-4, cornus officinalis fruit extract, nelumbo  nucifera flower extract, caprylyl glycol, ethylhexylglycerin, tropolone, sodium polyacrylate, adenosine, coptis japonica extract, disodium edta
Ingredients analysis [HERE]

In general I think that Mizon's Snail Line is worth trying. Each product is interesting on it's own, but I think it's really worth to try them together to feel that "snail power" :D You can easily buy samples of All in One Cream and Ampule on e-Bay (sets of 10 for approx. £3) and the Recovery Gel is cheap enough in full size version (from £3) to give it a go.

BRTC Jasmine Water BB Cream Review

Hello ^^
BRTC seems to be quite popular recently, so I purchased some samples. Here is review of the most popular one, Jasmine Water.

Product description: BB cream that helps soothing and moisturising of dry and sensitive skin.
Wrinkle improving  + Whitening functions + UV protection SPF30 / PA++

The full size product is a 60g tube, I was testing out sample sachets.

I ordered three samples and for the convenience I've emptied them to a little jar container. Samples are quite generous and the cream is veeeeery efficient - I can't even count how many times I already used it, probably somewhere between 7 and 10 times and I still didn't finish the sample off.

Among other BRTC samples.

The moment I open the container I can smell jasmine. I am not the biggest fan of this smell, but it also doesn't bother me much. Fades away during application. The consistency is quite thick, so works well with make-up sponge. When applied by fingers must be pat into the skin. With this you need to be very careful about how much you use - it's very moisturising and nourishing, applied in excess is too heavy, especially for my oily skin. I noticed that when I apply is straight from the container I tend to overdose, so now I scoop out half of a pea size from the container onto top of my palm and apply it on face from palm. When carefully applied my skin becomes oily after approx. 3h, which is my standard time. I need to blot my face approx. three times, with every blotting cream seams to disappear a little. If I apply it in the morning I would have to completely re-apply it in the evening to go out.

There is no much shade difference between Jasmine and other BRTC creams.

 The colour match my complexion quite well. Coverage is nice, evens out skin tone, but looks natural, blends well into skin. It also doesn't roll in my wrinkles which is a plus, however it doesn't conceals enlarged pores very, I think it actually makes them more visible. It's probably because of quite strong "glow effect" - for me leaving the house without the mattifying powder is a complete no-no, but glow lovers will be delighted. The pore covering primer is also a must for me.
As for the whitening - I didn't notice any effect on my skin.

Price of full size product: from £9 on e-Bay. Product is also available in set with vibratory puff applicator from £22.

Pros:
+ moisturising
+ nice shade, blends well into skin
+ a little goes a very long way
+ evens out skin tone, but looks natural
+ doesn't roll up in wrinkles

Cons:
- need to be careful with application - heavy when overdosed
- makes pores more visible
- quite strong shine/glow effect (but it may be a plus for someone) 

I believe that this would be a great product for people with rather dry skin. For me it is a good enough product, however I don't plan to re-purchase, I would rather be looking for something lighter.

Ingredients list and analysis [HERE]