Koreans skincare is always leading the way in terms of new ingredients and technology to keep skin young, even, and glowing. The new TheFaceShop Hwansaenggo Escargot line features snail mucus and 24K gold as the main ingredients! Sounds crazy? I was very intrigued and wanted to see if it lived up to the claim of bringing life, youthfulness, and a gilded glow back into dull skin.
This collection is much more intricately packaged than some of other The Face Shop collections. This luxurious collection contains products ranging from $30-$75. Snail mucus is known for being very moisturizing and nourishing and is a favorite in many Korean skincare products. I didn’t know this before but 24K gold has detoxifying and brightening properties!
Of course as an auditor, I can’t just take it at face value so I did a bit of research on these two ingredients. It seems that most articles agree that snail mucus is nourishing and stimulates cell regeneration. You can take a read here and here for some lifestyle/news articles. And it also seems a common theme that gold is known to be anti-inflammatory and gives a brightening effect in skincare!
Hwansaenggo Escargot Eye Cream – $75 (40mL)
I haven’t been using eye cream for about a year but I was very excited to add this to my routine. I never noticed how I neglect to moisturize right underneath my eyes when I’m just putting on face cream. In addition to escargot and 24K gold, this product contains black ginseng and is meant to regenerate the skin and give elasticity and resilience.
The cream is quite thick and has a slight mucousy texture. It was very comfortable to apply and felt extremely nourishing and comfortable. I didn’t notice any results from about a month’s use (3 times weekly) but I did enjoy the entire experience and I feel like I’m taking preventative measures!
This is the carton for the eye cream and I was very pleasantly surprised that snail secretion filtrate was the first ingredient! Usually I find brands advertise the “key” ingredient and it’s somewhere way down in the bottom.
Hwansaenggo Escargot Cream – $69 (50mL)
The packaging is beautiful and is a treat to display on the vanity. The top has a very ornate design and the bottle feels hefty and luxurious. The Face Shop describes this as a thick formula but I found the cream only medium weight in texture. It absorbs very easily and contains macadamia oil, shea butter and panthenol in addition to snail mucus and 24K gold.
After the first time I used this, I noticed an immediate difference! I had some bumpiness on my skin right under my lip and on my forehead. My skin felt so smooth after I used this for the first night!! I love when I can feel a difference right away and something in this cream just calms my skin and smooths everything out.
However, I have very dry skin so I actually found this not hydrating enough. I had to add in hydrating serums as my skin felt smooth but dry. If you have normal or even just slightly dry skin, this would work really well!
Overall I was very impressed by the cream and the effect it made on my skin! The eye cream was very nice to use but I didn’t notice a visible difference. If you are looking for an effective luxurious skincare to pamper yourself, definitely check this collection out. To round out the collection there is a cleansing foam, toner, serum, emulsion, eye mask and face mask!
EDIT: The Hwansaenggo line is no longer available but check out Dr.Belmeur which is a new collection from THEFACESHOP.
The Hwansaenggo line is available in stores throughout Canada and online at THEFACESHOP.ca