Before I start talking about the Pyunkang Yul Moisture Cream let me tell you what I want form my face cream. I do not expect my face cream to work miracles, I have serums and ampules chock full of actives to do the heavy lifting. What I want from my face cream is to be occlusive and lock in moisture and everything else I have put on my skin before it. I want it to be comfortable, pleasant to use and to play nicely with my sun screen and makeup. Pyunkang Yul Moisture Cream does all that.
Pyunkang Yul is the brand launched by the renowned Pyunkang Oriental Medicine Clinic in South Koea, an institution known for treating atopic skin disorders. As they say themselves, Pyunkang Yul believes that cosmetics are a means of protecting the skin. They have removed all unnecessary chemical substances from their products to utilize only the minimum,safest components to protect and provide respite to your tired and irritated skin. Pyunkang Yul is a cruelty free brand.
The cream comes in a dark blue glass jar, whose color is reminiscent of old apothecary bottles. Packaging is minimal, classy and evokes confidence that whatever is inside, it will be good for you. Kudos to their design team. The outer cardboard packaging is the same dark blue with a sticker containing information both in Korean and English including the ingredients list (grammatically and semantically correct English).
Looking at the ingredients list the only "sexy" ingredient is Coptis Japonica Root Extract, an extract of a plant called Coptis Japonica used in traditional medicine. Coptis Japonica Root Extract is said to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-infection properties. Which means its main purpose is to calm and hydrate the skin. Besides the Coptis Japonica Root Extract the cream is chock full of emollients and humectants like Butylene Glycol, Jojoba Seed Oil and Shea Butter.
The cream comes in whopping 100 ml and has no artificial scent. Texture at first glance seems thick and even greasy, however it is exactly the opposite. It is very comfortable cream, lightweight, absorbs easily and leaves no tacky finish. Once you apply it it turns into almost lotion like texture and gives the feeling of skin being quenched in moisture. It is extremely gentle moisturizer which leads me to believe it would be suitable for all skin types, even the sensitive skin. Once applied it leaves the skin soft and moisturized.
I have been using this cream all through past Autumn and Winter and I am very happy with it. I would recommend this cream to anyone but especially to people with sensitive skin. It can be purchased at JOLSE for USD 25.84. This might seem steep to some but it does come in 100 ml while most other face creams come in 50 ml sizes and if you have a hard time finding something that does not irritate your skin I think this one is worth a try. It is 10/10 from me. Great moisturizer that delivers everything you might want form a face cream.
I have this complicated relationship with sleeping packs or masks. Half of my brain thinks they are basically glorified night creams and the other half is going "I am sleeping in a face mask! How awesome is that! Look at me on top of my skin care game!". The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. While sleeping packs are basically the occlusive step of your night routine they do tend to be more moisturizing and more occlusive then your regular run of the mill cream and that is why I religiously use them every single night.
Beauty of Joseon, the company that became known thanks to its Dynasty Cream, that basically went viral on k-beauty scene few years ago. The whole philosophy and aesthetic is based on the "ancient beauty secrets of Joseon royalty". It is a bit gimmicky but at the same time enchanting. As I really like their Dynasty Cream I was keen to try the sleeping mask too.
Same as the Dynasty Cream the packaging is lovely. Heavy, frosted plastic jar that looks just like glass and will look gorgeous on any vanity. Texture of the products is pudding like and slippery. Best to use a spatula to take it out of the jar (it comes with its own spatula). It is contains fragrance but not unpleasantly so. The light floral fragrance does not linger once applied on the face. You get 80 ml of product.
The three marketed ingredients are:
- Black soybean – moisturising, reduces signs of ageing by allegedly improving elasticity, it also has antioxidant properties
- Ginseng – anti-ageing, smooths, brightens and rejuvenates skin
- Orchid extract – antioxidant benefit, moisturising, smoothes and softens skin
Which sounds awesome, however all those ingredients are pretty much on the bottom of the ingredients list so it is questionable in which amounts all these hanbang goodies are present in the pack. That said, this mask pack is rich with occlusives, emollients and humectants. Basically, all the things you want in a sleeping mask.It promises brightening and anti-wrinkle functions. I did not see much brightening and anti-wrinkle is impossible to objectively test. It also promises that you will wake up with with a softer and more supple complexion, and it delivers that. Skin is well moisturized, soft and even a tiny bit firmer when you wake up. I especially enjoyed it during winter as it helped keep my skin moisturized overnight in the dry, central heating air.
It usually costs around 30 USD but currently it can be found for around USD 20 on Jolse. Which is the price I could live with, the full price of 30 USD seems too high for what it offers. If I am going to throw money on a hanbang sleeping pack I would go for Sulwhasoo Overnight Vitalizing Treatment (120 ml for USD 50), which remains my favorite sleeping pack of all times.
