Here’s a Memebox that totally doesn’t suck! Hooray!
“How to kiss dark spots, age spots, hyper pigmentation and uneven skin tone goodbye! While make-up trends are fleeting, clear and dewy complexion will never be out of style! We tapped into what skin tone brightening and skin tone correcting skincare essentials the trendy ladies in Korea (skin care experts, we swear!), are stocking up on this season, and we’re sharing their skink are secrets with you!”
1. Ariul Spa Water 24hours Moisturizing De-tox Mask
Ariul’s daily cleanser – Spa Water 24hours Moisturizing Detox Mask – creates hydrating and pore clarifying bubbles that penetrate deep into the skin. It effectively removes all pore-clogging impurities and blackheads for good! These sparkling bubbles will not only leave your skin spick-and-span but also deliver deep moisturizing, brightening, and tightening results! Highly recommended for those who suffer from dry and easily irritated skin, this detoxifying mask will detox and clarify without stripping the skin of natural oils.”
This cleanser is clear and viscous. I tested its pH without adding any water and got a result around 6.5, which is higher than I’d like it but I’m assured it won’t burn off my face. Memebox has a rough track record of sending cleansers with ridiculously high pH values, so I’ll keep this and test it out even though it’s not optimal.
2. AHC Hologram Collection Whitening Serum
“This Hologram Collection Whitening Serum consists of a highly concentrated blend of acerola berry, camu camu berry, niacinimide, ice plant, hyaluronic acid, kiwi, and tomato – all effective natural ingredients for moisturizing and revitalizing the skin to bring out clearer, brighter complexion.”
My roommate looked at this and asked me, “Is this a bottle full of macaroons?” In all seriousness, the swirls in here are very pastel.
This product has a LOT of extracts listed in the ingredients: tomato, moss rose, camu camu, common ice plant, acerola, speedwell, cowslip, peppermint, lemon balm, mallow, lady’s mantle, yarrow, lichen, Korean pasque flower, and kiwi. That’s a lot of plants on my face. It has a pump dispenser (hygienic!), and comes out clear. It’s thicker than a toner, obviously, and has a light but pleasant smell. I have to really stick my nose in there to get a hint of it. It did make the skin on my hand feel very nicely moisturized and a little plumper, and it also gives a bit of a cooling sensation.
3. LadyKin Broccoli Super Brightening Cream
“This brightening cream contains 75% of broccoli extract which has antioxidant effect. Strengthened by vitamin C and E, it calms, heals and brightens the skin. This product diminishes the appearance of uneven skin tone, dark spots, age spots and fine lines as it energizes and rehydrates skin. Suitable to be used on both facial and body skin.”
This is a really watery cream. it’s got a little bit of a smell I can’t identify – not like broccoli, but almost sweet? – and it leaves kind of a subtle white cast on my skin. Or maybe it just took out all the redness from dryness and I’m interpreting it as a white cast – I’ll have to test it on my face later on and get back to you.
4. Boscians Cycle Repair Whitening Spot
“This Cycle Repeat Whitening Spot contains green bud complex, which re-activates the skin’s balanced cycle for reducing signs of uneven skin tone and darkened spots and brightening up the overall complexion. Rich blend of hyaluronic acid deeply hydrates dry, dull skin, leaving it supple and soft.”
So this is basically a product intended to be used AFTER acne treatment, on post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation spots and age spots. I don’t have anything like this yet, and I do have a red spot or two, so I’m excited to try it! It’s a sort of milky product, and it dries matte on my hand, which is nice for those of us that might want to wear it during the daytime.
5. WITHME White Perfection Hydrating Cream
“This White Perfection Hydrating Cream contains over 24,000 mg of silk concentrates and ocean complex. The silk formula rich in protein and amino acid effectively detoxifies the skin of melanin pigments while the blend of sea minerals and coral reef extracts deeply relieve and replenish dry, exhausted skin.”
This cream is not really a cream. It’s way too liquidy for its container – I held it over my hand for a second to decide how much of the product I wanted to squeeze onto my hand for a test, and it literally leaked all over my hand like, if you’ll excuse a gross metaphor, snot. It’s scented, not heavily, and I don’t particularly like it, but it’s not a deal breaker.
Out of all of the boxes I’ve received from Memebox in the past couple weeks, this is by far the best. There isn’t a single product in this box that I’m not willing to try, and quite a few that I’m actually excited about. Congrats, Memebox! Maybe you’re back on your game.
When you said the pH for the ‘Ariul Spa Water’ product is too high, you mean you want it to be lower and more acidic..? if it’s at 6.5 it’s pretty much near neutral (at 7) so i’m not sure how much more gentle you’d be able to get than if you just added water..
Yes, I’d definitely like it to be more acidic. SkinandTonics did a great blogpost on why the pH of your products can really make a difference in your skin. You can find it here if you’d like to give it a read-through. Bottom line is, though, that you should be looking for a pH of less than 6 in your cleanser.