Missha The First Treatment Essence Review

Hello beautiful ladies,

As some of you may be aware if you’ve been following me for awhile, I’ve discovered Korean skincare in the last six months and have been using the Korean skincare routine both AM and PM (read about the steps here).

I’ve been using this Missha Essence for close to five months to give myself plenty of time to really notice the difference in my skin. I’m giving you a thorough review of this product because it really deserves more than a paragraph in my empties’ post.

• MISSHA The First Treatment Essence
• RRP – $55.95 from Fields of Beauty buy it here

Suitable for? All skin types that have concerns with wrinkles, fine lines, dull and uneven skin tones.

Packaging? The box itself is silver , with the brands’ logo and Time Revolution in light grey writing and with small black writing for the product description. Nothing crazy to write about. The actual bottle is a solid glass bottle with a silver twist off lid. The bottle looks a lot more expensive than it is.

Consistency? It is a very watery consistency that absorbs quickly into my skin.

What are the claims? The box states ‘Highly Concentrated essential essence for the first step of skincare, containing Purple Barley and Fermented Gemmule Yeast Extract, to recover skin balance and basic ability of skin by raising skin moisture from deep inside of skin’.

Ingredients? Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate, Bifida Ferment Lysate, Water, Diethoxyethyl Succinate, Niacinamide, Hordeum Distichon (Barley) Extract, Cassia Alata Leaf Extract, Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Dimethicone, Polyquaternium-51, 1, 2-Hexanediol, Adenosine, Lecithin, Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate.

What does that mean? Saccharomyces ferment filtrate is basically a yeast extract (Vitamin B group) that acts as a humectant, which in skincare, keeps your skin moist. It states on the Missha US website that 80% of the product is this ingredient.

Is Missha cruelty free? Now this is an interesting subject because Missha states on the box that they are against animal testing which seems to be true from the information available to me at the moment, however, all cosmetic brands must be tested on animals to be supplied to the Chinese market. I can’t find any information about whether or not Missha is available in China. South Korea is phasing out animal testing by 2018 so that is great news there, but there’s so many grey areas that I can’t say 100% if they are cruelty free.

Scent? I honestly can’t smell anything, though when I first looked into the product, there was reviews that it had a faint yeasty smell.

My thoughts? Korean women swear by this step as essential and yet, until I discovered Korean skincare, I’d never used it. This step comes after cleansing and toning and before serums. At first, and I’m talking weeks here, I didn’t notice a whole lot happening and we (my fiancé and I) were going through the bottle quite quickly. I was determined to keep this step though and trial it thoroughly before I gave up so I ordered another two bottles. After the second one, and the waste we were noticing from using cotton pads, I read that essences can be patted into the skin like serums, so we switched to applying with our hands. There is still a little bit of wastage, just because it is so watery and absorbs quickly into our hands but no where near the amount from a cotton pad.

By the end of the second bottle, I started noticing that my skin was brighter just in general without makeup and that I no longer seemed to have dry areas that plague my skin as the weather gets colder and showers get hotter. My fiancé though, after being slack for a few days (possibly more with his estimation of a few days being quite broad) with his skin routine, noticed how much his skin had lost moisture while not using it. He said he thought his skin looked less firm, dry and just dull. He said as soon as he started back with the routine, his skin just drunk in the products used afterwards.

Even though I know he thinks of skincare as a hassle, he won’t stop using it again after that experience. I myself, will not allow our last bottle get below half without ordering another as backup.

How long does it last? The first two bottles my fiancé and I used, we were applying with cotton pads and noticed we were wasting way too much. The directions on the box does say to use a cotton puff but after reading more into Korean skincare routines, it is perfectly fine to apply in a patting motion with your fingers. We have noticed a big difference in the amount we are using (not as much).

Pros

• my serums that I apply after this essence absorb faster
• my skin looks brighter without makeup
• my fiancé has noticed his overall tone is clearer
• half the price of the SK-II Facial Treatment Essence

Cons

• cruelty free policy has some grey areas
• there is a lot of wastage when using it with cotton pads as stated
• the price may still be considered too expensive for some

So, is it a necessity? I honestly won’t change this out of my routine now that I have seen the results of not using it on my fiancé. I love how my serums penetrate my skin deeper and my skin is feeling smoother, brighter and just healthier looking.

If you have used this product or another essence you’ve loved, I’d love to know about your experiences in the comments.

Thank you for reading 🙂

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Until next time,

Nyobie