Gifted by the go.picky app and Skin1004 in exchange for review
I am really glad I've gone back to blogging and this review is just great example. Social media platforms with their caption limits sometimes block some of the things I wanted to share and I'm not very keen to add them in the comment section. With some products there's not much to share, you like it or not, they're good or not so good, so some of my reviews are not that long. But when I stumbled across this one it was hard to put everything in limited caption.
Today I wanted to share my experiance with Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Ampule. This is such a viral and loved product. This one and later Hyalu-Cica Sunscreen made this brand known by everybody in skincare community and beyond.
They have it in three sizes: 35ml, 55ml and huge 100ml. The bottle is georgus and really eye-catching. It's a soothing and hydrating ampoule. It has slight scent almost unnoticable, it's very lightweight, runny and absorbs really quickly.
I use it in my exfoliation night routine to add some soothing after potentially irritating steps and in times my skin needs extra sooting and calming. I really like it how my skin feels right after, but frankly I haven't noticed any shocking improvement in my skin condition. Maybe I use it too rarely (regularly only two times a week in my evening routine) to see any drastic changes and because I haven't used up this one this is a subject to change.
Overall I think it's very good if you want to add some soothing ingredients into your routine, but not very deal breaking.
And here we come to the point I wanted to talk the most. The ingredient list. I was so convinced that it contains only one ingredient Centella Asiatica. And it does but Extract. And this changes all the perspective.
It turns out the extract term is not just plant extract, there is bunch of other ingredients and in this case we have them here (it's full INCI based on Skin1004 official EN website):
Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Centella Asiatica Extract, 1,2-Hexanediol, Cellulose Gum, Ethylhexlyglycerin.
So in this case Extract contains Extract... Pretty confusing. Still the proper list is not long, it doesn't contain any Fragrance, EOs or Alcohol. It's pretty simple but it's not just extract.
When we take the outer cartonbox package it states Centella Asiatica Extract (100%) there. The same was on their website but not long ago but because of changes in law Skin1004 updated it with full INCI. The package remains the same. I think is pure misinformation. Because without proper knowlage you may think it's just pure Centella in here. And I thought this too, even though it seems (now) kinda obvious that no skincare can last without any perservatives in it. But being bombarded with this false info all around I naively believed it's pure Centella Ampoule.
Now, is Skin1004 allowed to do so? Yes, they are. They not breaking any law, or technically spread misinformation, because Korean law doesn't state what extract really is. So from one point of view is just extracted plant but extraction process needs some additional ingredients and preservatives and it can be called extract as well. But typical customer needs to have this knowlegde. And most of us don't. What I don't like and aprove are those situations, where out of lack of knowlegde reviewers keep telling us this is one ingredient ampoule and Skin1004 never clarified it. It seems like they were happy with this misinformation because it suit their narrative of this ampoule being clean and one ingredient only.
But there's another thing. If a brand doesn't have to state all INCI on their package, where do you find the truthful list? Before writing my reviews I always check INCI both on official brand website and product package. They sometimes differ, mostly by only couple of ingredients. So I go with the package, because that's what I'm reviewing and INCI may changed a bit during some time. Now I'm not sure it's good practice and don't really hava a clue what to do with that.
Lastly, Skin1004 was my trusted brand. I have almost all of their products (most I bought with my own money). But they somehow feels fishy and shady to me right now. Why do they do this? This ingredient list is so simple, yet they decided to change it into something not entirely true. I'm confused and mad.
I wanted to thank all the Instagram people who helped me understand this intricate situation. Big thank you girls!
If you like my reviews, follow me on IG @skinyoan
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