I’ve been a fan of Mizon’s Snail Recovery Gel Cream pretty much ever since I started a serious skincare regimen. Now that I have a larger dose of tretinoin in my Curology prescription, however, my skin tends to see-saw between “I could run a lawnmower off all this oil” and “Sahara Desert”. So I need to be more creative in finding products that layer well on the days that I need the extra moisture, but don’t overwhelm my face on the days where I’m oily. This need for that little bit extra led me to the Sephora website, which led me to the Kenzoki Melt-In Moisturizing Lotion.
Kenzoki’s ad copy for this product says “As light as summer rain yet as moisturizing as a cream! Tokyo It girls’ secret concentrated into a lotion for perfectly hydrated skin? The Melt-in Moisturizing Lotion is inspired by these beauty addicts’ skincare rituals. Barely brushed on the skin, this amazing lotion softly melts in and vanishes. Its fusing actives waste no time deeply moisturizing the skin. It diffuses water through your skin and traps it in the epidermis. The skin is hydrated, soothed, softened, ready for its next face care in the beauty routine. A real bath of freshness.”
This product has a slightly gel-like consistency but is really fairly watery.
The bottle is not a pump-top, but simply a screw-cap with a hole for dispensing. It’s made of plastic, but as I unfortunately discovered while taking these swatch pictures it’s not hard plastic, and if you squeeze it you will get a whole lot of product.
Here is the ingredients list: Aqua, Glycerin, Alcohol, Propanediol, Methyl Gluceth-20, Nelumbo Nucifera Root Water, Phenoxyethanol, PPG-26-Buteth-26, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP copolymer, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Parfum, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Tromethamine, Sodium Citrate, Ophiopogon Japonicus Root Extract, Citric Acid, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Polyquaternium-51, Butylene Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, BHT, Tocopherol.
The worst ingredient in here by far is the BHT, with a safety warning rating of 6 out of 9, but the Tocopherol has an acne and irritation trigger rating of 2 out of 5 in each category as well.
My biggest turn-off with respect to this lotion is the scent: it’s heavily floral, and to me that reads like grandma perfume. The scent is strong enough that my roommate, who is practically noseblind, picked up on it (and agreed that it was unpleasant).
The lotion itself is, like I said, a watery gel. It absorbs fairly quickly, and doesn’t leave a sticky feeling behind. I didn’t find it to be particularly occlusive, so if you’re looking for a product to seal all your other skincare layers in this is not what you need. If you have dry skin, this product is absolutely not going to be enough to re-hydrate you. If, however, you’re combo to oily, this is an okay light moisturizer.
I bought this product without really knowing much about it other than it was designed to be a very moisturizing light cream, and to be frank I’m kind of disappointed. Without the fragrance it would just be kind of a middling product that I set aside for days and nights where I just needed a little bit extra in my routine, but as it is I find myself actively looking for alternatives. I’d say that it’s a decent product – it is a good light moisturizer, although not as effective for me as the May Coop Raw Sauce also available at Sephora – but really the scent is just such a turn-off that I never actively tried to use it, except for when I was testing it for this review. Since then it’s just kind of sat on my desk all sad and unloved.
If you really like floral scents, this may work better for you than it did for me.
The Kenzoki Melt-In Moisturizing Lotion is available at Sephora for $22.
Oh how annoying when a product doesn’t turn out like you hoped it would. And who does like that overly flowery type of smell? I guess somebody must do otherwise they wouldn’t keep adding it in.
I honestly couldn’t tell you who that scent is supposed to appeal to – I feel that even folks who like floral scents will find this one overly strong and kind of fake. But who knows? My tastes are not the same as other folks’.