Jelly For Yo Face | Missha Super Aqua Ultra Waterfull Clear Cream Review
As I mentioned in my October favorites, 2016 favorites, and multiple Instagram posts-- Missha's All Around Safe Block Essence Sun SPF45/PA+++ is one of my skincare staples. In fact it's one of the first K-beauty products I bought. I remember visiting oo35mm in Chinatown last summer and being overwhelmed by Asian skincare galore. After a very quick browse (because I was with my brother + cousin who don't give a crap about skincare plus the store is super tiny, even by NYC standards) I made one single purchase: the Missha sunscreen. And I've never looked back.
And of course I'm the kind of person who would get sentimental about skincare 😅
The whole point of that emotional ramble was to say that when Missha asked if I wanted to try out any of their products, of course I said heck yes! One of the products they sent over is the Super Aqua Ultra Waterfull Clear Cream, which as the name of this post implies, I'll be reviewing today.
Claims
According to the Missha US site this cream moisturizes skin without any stickiness or greasiness. With an oil-free formula, it helps to balance moisture levels and control sebum product. While it isn't explicitly stated, I think it's safe to make the assumption that this cream is targeted towards those with oily skin.
There's also a whole lotta different extracts which are supposed to help moisturize the skin.
Price & Size
$26.00 for 47 mL available via Missha US (& keep your eyes peeled for the 30-40% off sales they run a few times a year on their site!)
Ingredients
Betula Platyphylla Japonica Juice, PEG/PPG-17/6 Copolymer, Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Pentylene Glycol, Adansonia Digitata Seed Extract, Adenium Obesum Leaf Extract, Imperata Cylindrica Root Extract, Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract, Water (Glacier Water), Sea Water, Epilobium Fleischeri Extract, Camellia Japonica Flower Extract, Citrus Paradisi (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Opuntia Ficus-Indica Stem Extract, Orthosiphon Stamineus Leaf Extract, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, PEG-32, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Butylene Glycol, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, Octyldodeceth-16, Caprylyl Glycol, Arginine, Sodium Polyacrylate, PVM/MA Copolymer, Polyglutamic Acid, Biosaccharide Gum-1, 1,2-Hexanediol, Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Carbomer, Xanthan Gum, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol
The Cos DNA ingredient breakdown found 1 potentially comedogenic ingredient (butylene glycol) and 1 potential irritating ingredient (carbomer.) Both are listed on the bottom half of the ingredient list and both are listed as low hazard ingredients. From my brief googling, it looks like unless you have a specific allergy to those ingredients, it's very unlikely that they will irritate your skin.
There were also a few ingredients which received a 3 on their safety rating (on a scale of 1 to 9 with 1 being the safest)-- PEG/PPG-17/6 copolymer, PEG-32, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, and Sodium Polyacrylate. Again I did some brief googling for these ingredients and all of them turned out to be safe in cosmetics. The only one which received a 4 was Phenoxyethanol which works as a preservative. Even then the research I did on it showed it to be low risk. According to Paula's Choice it's a safe preservative.
Of course if any of these ingredients concern you don't take my word for it, do your own research!
Packaging
As I've gotten more into skincare I've sort of slackened my positioning on jars. For instance if it's a product that contains a sensitive ingredient like vitamin c, then jars would be a no no for me. But if it's something like a simple oil or cream, I really don't mind jars. Honestly I could probably write a short essay on this topic but I'll keep it short: I don't care that this product is packaged in a jar. There isn't any active ingredient (that I know of) that's sensitive to air or light so the jar is fine.
The jar itself is made out of a thick plasticy material. It's got a nice bit of weight to it and hasn't cracked from the few times I accidentally dropped it. It's a light blue see through color that allows you to peer into the jar. Even though you can sort of get a gauge of how much product you've got left with an opaque jar, you never really know until you start hitting the bottom. The clear walls of this jar allow you to know exactly how much you've got left and how close you are to finishing it all up.
My favorite part about the packaging is that it comes with a spatula!! And a long one at that! I usually use the short ones that you can snag from Sephora or most department store cosmetics counters, but sometimes it can be a struggle to reach the end of a larger jar with the teeny tiny spatula.
Texture
I've tried a decent amount of creams and gels and lotions in my skincare journey and I've got to say this has a unique texture. While it looks and feels like a gel, it has the viscosity of a cream when you scoop it out. But the second you start blending it in, it goes right back to acting like a gel and melts so easily.
Smell
Because my Missha sunscreen has such a lovely fragrance to it, I assumed that this cream would too. It doesn't. There's a very faint smell in the jar (which I'm guessing is the smell of birch water which I'll talk about down below) but once I rub it onto my hands or face, it's instantly gone. When I was analyzing the ingredients list I also noticed that there wasn't any "fragrance" listed so the lack of strong scent makes sense!
Results
Before I can talk about the results, I should probably chat about my skin. My skintype is dehydrated and acne prone. Since it's winter, I like having a skincare routine fixed with lots of light layers plus a nourishing moisturizer and sleeping mask (at night) or sunscreen (in the day) to top it all of.
As my skin doesn't get oily in the winter, I can't say if this controls sebum production or not. I can say it does provide moisture without making the skin sticky or greasy.
The first few times I tried it out as a night cream and it simply didn't provide enough moisture for me. While my skin felt moisturized when I went to bed, by the time I woke up I had some flaky patches around my mouth.
Next I tried it as my day cream underneath my sunscreen. Biggest pro is that it wears well underneath my sunscreen (and makeup!) with no piling whatsoever. On the days that I don't wear makeup my skin usually tends to get a bit dry during midday if I'm not wearing a heavier moisturizer. Surprise surprise, with this moisturizer the midday dryness was going strong. Even on days I did wear this under both sunscreen and makeup, I still occasionally got some dryness after 6 or 7 hours 😞
The last way I tested it is in short wear tests. For instance some days I'll decide to come home, remove my makeup, and wait an hour or two to do my skincare routine. It's usually because I have yet to shower or because I'm planning on going somewhere and don't want to go through the whole ordeal twice. On those days I usually use an essence and a light moisturizer to tide myself through the rest of the night until I can do my proper double cleanse and routine. And those are the days that this moisturizer worked for me. For short periods of time this moisturizer keeps the dryness away. My skin is smooth, moisturized, and not sticky-- just like the cream promised!
Basically this cream isn't moisturizing enough for me to wear all through the night or all through the day in the winter. But then again I wasn't expecting it to be. My skin is dehydrated and it needs heavier moisturizer in the winter. This a cream targeted towards people with oily skin and for that I think it would work great! It isn't greasy or oily and literally melts into water when it's applied.
Speaking of water, when I first tried this cream I assumed it had a water base. It doesn't, It actually has a base of Betula Platyphylla Japonica Juice aka birch juice! After some late night googling I read up that birch juice is an up and coming beauty ingredient! I even found another product in my skincare wardrobe that features the ingredient-- hyggee's balance one step facial essence.
According to this post on the Klog (aka e-retailer SokoGlam's blog), birch juice is supposed to help retain moisture and maintain a positive oil-moisture balance. Sounds perfect for oily skin types, right? (Or really all skin types!) It's definitely an ingredient I'll have to keep my eye on and read up on.
Bottom Line
This is a lightweight, fragrance-free, oil-free, denatured alcohol-free moisturizer. It delivers on its promise of moisturizing without leaving skin greasy or sticky. But because it's winter it doesn't deliver the amount of moisture that my skin needs. I'll be retiring this for now but will definitely be bringing it back once summer hits!
It may be replacing clinique's moisture surge as my go to summer moisturizer!
Disclaimer: This post includes products I received as PR but as always, all opinions are honestly my own!
And of course I'm the kind of person who would get sentimental about skincare 😅
The whole point of that emotional ramble was to say that when Missha asked if I wanted to try out any of their products, of course I said heck yes! One of the products they sent over is the Super Aqua Ultra Waterfull Clear Cream, which as the name of this post implies, I'll be reviewing today.
Claims
According to the Missha US site this cream moisturizes skin without any stickiness or greasiness. With an oil-free formula, it helps to balance moisture levels and control sebum product. While it isn't explicitly stated, I think it's safe to make the assumption that this cream is targeted towards those with oily skin.
There's also a whole lotta different extracts which are supposed to help moisturize the skin.
Price & Size
$26.00 for 47 mL available via Missha US (& keep your eyes peeled for the 30-40% off sales they run a few times a year on their site!)
Ingredients
Betula Platyphylla Japonica Juice, PEG/PPG-17/6 Copolymer, Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Pentylene Glycol, Adansonia Digitata Seed Extract, Adenium Obesum Leaf Extract, Imperata Cylindrica Root Extract, Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract, Water (Glacier Water), Sea Water, Epilobium Fleischeri Extract, Camellia Japonica Flower Extract, Citrus Paradisi (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Opuntia Ficus-Indica Stem Extract, Orthosiphon Stamineus Leaf Extract, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, PEG-32, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Butylene Glycol, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, Octyldodeceth-16, Caprylyl Glycol, Arginine, Sodium Polyacrylate, PVM/MA Copolymer, Polyglutamic Acid, Biosaccharide Gum-1, 1,2-Hexanediol, Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Carbomer, Xanthan Gum, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol
The Cos DNA ingredient breakdown found 1 potentially comedogenic ingredient (butylene glycol) and 1 potential irritating ingredient (carbomer.) Both are listed on the bottom half of the ingredient list and both are listed as low hazard ingredients. From my brief googling, it looks like unless you have a specific allergy to those ingredients, it's very unlikely that they will irritate your skin.
There were also a few ingredients which received a 3 on their safety rating (on a scale of 1 to 9 with 1 being the safest)-- PEG/PPG-17/6 copolymer, PEG-32, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, and Sodium Polyacrylate. Again I did some brief googling for these ingredients and all of them turned out to be safe in cosmetics. The only one which received a 4 was Phenoxyethanol which works as a preservative. Even then the research I did on it showed it to be low risk. According to Paula's Choice it's a safe preservative.
Of course if any of these ingredients concern you don't take my word for it, do your own research!
Packaging
As I've gotten more into skincare I've sort of slackened my positioning on jars. For instance if it's a product that contains a sensitive ingredient like vitamin c, then jars would be a no no for me. But if it's something like a simple oil or cream, I really don't mind jars. Honestly I could probably write a short essay on this topic but I'll keep it short: I don't care that this product is packaged in a jar. There isn't any active ingredient (that I know of) that's sensitive to air or light so the jar is fine.
The jar itself is made out of a thick plasticy material. It's got a nice bit of weight to it and hasn't cracked from the few times I accidentally dropped it. It's a light blue see through color that allows you to peer into the jar. Even though you can sort of get a gauge of how much product you've got left with an opaque jar, you never really know until you start hitting the bottom. The clear walls of this jar allow you to know exactly how much you've got left and how close you are to finishing it all up.
My favorite part about the packaging is that it comes with a spatula!! And a long one at that! I usually use the short ones that you can snag from Sephora or most department store cosmetics counters, but sometimes it can be a struggle to reach the end of a larger jar with the teeny tiny spatula.
Texture
I've tried a decent amount of creams and gels and lotions in my skincare journey and I've got to say this has a unique texture. While it looks and feels like a gel, it has the viscosity of a cream when you scoop it out. But the second you start blending it in, it goes right back to acting like a gel and melts so easily.
Because my Missha sunscreen has such a lovely fragrance to it, I assumed that this cream would too. It doesn't. There's a very faint smell in the jar (which I'm guessing is the smell of birch water which I'll talk about down below) but once I rub it onto my hands or face, it's instantly gone. When I was analyzing the ingredients list I also noticed that there wasn't any "fragrance" listed so the lack of strong scent makes sense!
Results
Before I can talk about the results, I should probably chat about my skin. My skintype is dehydrated and acne prone. Since it's winter, I like having a skincare routine fixed with lots of light layers plus a nourishing moisturizer and sleeping mask (at night) or sunscreen (in the day) to top it all of.
As my skin doesn't get oily in the winter, I can't say if this controls sebum production or not. I can say it does provide moisture without making the skin sticky or greasy.
The first few times I tried it out as a night cream and it simply didn't provide enough moisture for me. While my skin felt moisturized when I went to bed, by the time I woke up I had some flaky patches around my mouth.
Next I tried it as my day cream underneath my sunscreen. Biggest pro is that it wears well underneath my sunscreen (and makeup!) with no piling whatsoever. On the days that I don't wear makeup my skin usually tends to get a bit dry during midday if I'm not wearing a heavier moisturizer. Surprise surprise, with this moisturizer the midday dryness was going strong. Even on days I did wear this under both sunscreen and makeup, I still occasionally got some dryness after 6 or 7 hours 😞
The last way I tested it is in short wear tests. For instance some days I'll decide to come home, remove my makeup, and wait an hour or two to do my skincare routine. It's usually because I have yet to shower or because I'm planning on going somewhere and don't want to go through the whole ordeal twice. On those days I usually use an essence and a light moisturizer to tide myself through the rest of the night until I can do my proper double cleanse and routine. And those are the days that this moisturizer worked for me. For short periods of time this moisturizer keeps the dryness away. My skin is smooth, moisturized, and not sticky-- just like the cream promised!
Basically this cream isn't moisturizing enough for me to wear all through the night or all through the day in the winter. But then again I wasn't expecting it to be. My skin is dehydrated and it needs heavier moisturizer in the winter. This a cream targeted towards people with oily skin and for that I think it would work great! It isn't greasy or oily and literally melts into water when it's applied.
Speaking of water, when I first tried this cream I assumed it had a water base. It doesn't, It actually has a base of Betula Platyphylla Japonica Juice aka birch juice! After some late night googling I read up that birch juice is an up and coming beauty ingredient! I even found another product in my skincare wardrobe that features the ingredient-- hyggee's balance one step facial essence.
According to this post on the Klog (aka e-retailer SokoGlam's blog), birch juice is supposed to help retain moisture and maintain a positive oil-moisture balance. Sounds perfect for oily skin types, right? (Or really all skin types!) It's definitely an ingredient I'll have to keep my eye on and read up on.
Bottom Line
This is a lightweight, fragrance-free, oil-free, denatured alcohol-free moisturizer. It delivers on its promise of moisturizing without leaving skin greasy or sticky. But because it's winter it doesn't deliver the amount of moisture that my skin needs. I'll be retiring this for now but will definitely be bringing it back once summer hits!
It may be replacing clinique's moisture surge as my go to summer moisturizer!
Disclaimer: This post includes products I received as PR but as always, all opinions are honestly my own!