Summer is in full swing here in the upper Midwest, which means days of higher temperatures and higher humidity than I’d prefer. Even though my skin is producing less excess oil now that I’m on tretinoin and have a solid skincare routine, my t-zone still looks a little shiny at midday, and it’s even worse with this weather. Last summer, I started using Tony Moly’s Wonder Water as my moisturizer in an attempt to combat this issue. I liked the Wonder Water, but I wasn’t sure it was doing an effective job of keeping me as matte as it could. Then I saw a photo in Ryanraroar’s Instagram from A’pieu advertising their Good Morning Sorbet Mask.
The Ad
A’pieu promises that the Good Morning Sorbet Mask is “morning skincare for fresh and radiant skin”. It is supposed to have a cooling effect via an “ice-cream-like sorbet texture” and provide instant moisture akin to what you get from a sheet mask. It is advertised to be lightweight and easily absorbed.
Packaging
First, the Good Morning Sorbet Mask does not come with a spatula. It doesn’t even come in a box – just the tub itself, with a seal on it. I know that some folks really don’t like dipping their fingers in tubs of product for hygeine reasons. I personally not only don’t have that concern, but I also have 7 or 8 leftover spatulas from finished projects that I can use when I feel the need to – but if this is important to you, you may need to purchase a spatula somewhere (or use one of those plastic disposable spoons that every kitchen seems to have in a drawer somewhere).
The tub is a screw top type, and it comes with a shrink-wrapped seal, just like a jar of pickles or something. It’s sturdy and a pretty blue color but otherwise super boring. Since I try so many different products out at this point I’d prefer sturdy, boring and cheap to fragile, beautiful and expensive – at least until I settle on a more permanent routine. It makes it easier to justify buying new products when they aren’t really pricey.
Ingredients
Since this product doesn’t come in a box, I can only go off of the ingredients that are listed on the tub itself.
Here’s my rough translation.
Ingredients: purified water, glycerine, glacial water (10%), pumpkin extract (10%), dimethicone, sodium chloride, hydrolyzed collagen, white willowbark extract, lactobaccilus/soybean fermentation extract, portulaca oleracea extract, cinnamon extract, gold extract, cypress leaf extract, sodium polyacrylate starch, polysorbate 20, ammonium acryloyldimethyltaurate/vp copolymer, ethylhexylglycerin, xylitol, menthoxypropanediol, phenoxyethanol, fragrance.
There’s not a whole lot that’s super objectionable in here. Dimethicone can be an acne trigger, and it’s a silicone based polymer, so if you’re sensitive to silicones or don’t like using them, you should skip this product.
Use
I actually really enjoy this product – even more than the Wonder Water, which is why I (gasp) threw the rest of my Wonder Water away about a week ago. It’s more moisturizing than the Wonder Water – not by a ton, but it’s definitely enough to top off my routine. In the winter, assuming that I’m still using this product then and not testing something new, I would need to add an extra step underneath it to get more moisture, but for the summer it’s perfect.
This product is good at keeping the shiny away throughout the day – I’ve noticed my forehead is a lot less oily looking at midday and even at the end of the work day when I’m using it. Obviously, it won’t keep you from sweating if you’re hot or working out, but it’s great for just keeping extra oil from accumulating. I also haven’t had any problems with my sunscreen pilling on top of it, and I’ve tried two or three different types of sunscreen to make sure of that.
It has a cooling effect, as advertised, and although A’Pieu suggests that you keep the sorbet mask in the fridge, you don’t actually need to do so. I assume that’s due to the menthoxypropanediol, which is derived from menthol. I generally actually dislike menthol-based products, but this is pretty good. A’pieu struck a good balance between “nothing happened” and “oh my god chemical burns from the sheer fakeness of this menthol cooling action”.
The sorbet mask is a not-quite-clear gel formula, so it’s both lightly moisturizing and good to seal in the rest of my skincare routine. Although the ad says this cream is as moisturizing as a sheet mask, I don’t find that to be the case. I also find it to be lightly smoothing. It’s not quite as good as a perfecting or smoothing-type primer, but definitely good enough for everyday use, since I only use a smoothing primer for special events. You can’t really see it super well in the photo above, but I did use the sorbet mask on the part of my hand above the logo.
This mask is great for mornings. I try not to use silicone products in the evening, so I use something else at night. This would be good if you’re oily and trying to keep the shine down a little. If you have combo skin, this will likely be helpful for your oily areas and won’t leave your drier spots feeling parched (unless you have desert areas, in which case you will need to either use two creams or put an extra hydrating product under this one). If you have dry skin and want to use this as a kind-of primer, you will likely need to add something hydrating into your routine in addition to the sorbet mask.
Purchase
One of the things that I think is really great about this product is the price. The sorbet mask is not super expensive, which means it’s easy to justify buying it to try it. You can pick this up for about $6 at TesterKorea or for about $7.50 at KoreaDepart. There’s a version with Shinchan on it for $10 at ibuybeauti which is out of stock.
What are you doing to beat the shiny look this summer?