It’s time for another K-Beauty Monday, and today I am writing about a product that not only I have tested, but one of my friends has tested as well. Today, we are talking about a brand that frequently makes an appearance in my skincare routine. This product is the Innisfree Brightening & Pore-caring Sleeping Pack.
Things to know about Innisfree Brightening & Pore-caring Sleeping Pack:
This product is formulated with the following ingredients that are good for your skin:
- Citrus Unshiu Peel Extract is the Jeju Tangerine Peel that is the highlight of this product. It is also the first ingredient on the ingredient list. Jeju Tangerine Peel is known for being antioxidant-rich and full of vitamin C. This ingredient can also help boost collagen production. A note of caution that this is citrus and it can cause irritation to the skin. I have had no issues whatsoever with it and I have sensitive skin, which is a compliment to the chemists that made this.
- Papain is actually Papaya extract. Papayas are loaded with vitamin A & C and when used in skin care can help with removing free radicals in your skin and fight signs of aging. On top of that, it can help build collagen within the skin
- Arbutin is an ingredient derived from the leaves of plants, commonly bearberry, pear, and cranberry it is an ingredient that has been scientifically proven to lighten and brighten skin and assist with hyperpigmentation.
- Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract is an antioxidant that can be linked to reducing the risk of skin cancer. It also has anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, acne-fighting, and hydrating properties. It is a true skincare superstar.
- Orchid Extract is an ingredient that can be used to help reduce fine lines and wrinkles. On top of that, it is an antioxidant and a humectant.
This product is formulated with the following ingredients that are “bad”* for your skin:
- Dimeticone is a silicone-based ingredient that protects the skin, seals in moisture, but the reason it is in the “bad” list is that some are saying that because it is occlusive and seals in moisture that it can cause breakouts. Scientific studies on this are split too. That being said, this ingredient isn’t truly “bad” for the skin, it’s more just that the jury is out.
- Cyclopentasiloxane is in this list simply for the fact that it is silicone. Silicones in skin and hair care have been highly debated in recent years as to whether they should be used at all. This ingredient seals in hydration and helps to dissolve ingredients of a higher molecular weight
- PEG-75 is a polymer of ethylene glycol that comes in various molecular weights. The 75 means that there is an average of 75 ethylene glycol units on the molecule. PEGs are typically used to stabilize and as an anti-caking ingredient in products. The reason that it is in this list is that depending on where it is sourced from, there can be impurities in the ingredient. These can be problematic in incredibly high concentrations but are always eliminated when creating the product. It has nothing to do with the skincare products themselves, as the ingredient itself is known to be non-irritating. I just choose to disclose this here to dispel any misleading information others may have read.
- Fragrance is known to be an irritant to the skin that can sensitize it. This is the last ingredient on the list, and the product doesn’t have any apparent scent. Additionally, my skin can be sensitive to fragrance and have had no issues whatsoever with sensitivity or irritation.
- Phenoxyethanol is an ingredient that is used as a preservative instead of parabens. As long as you do not have a known allergy to this ingredient, it should not be problematic in your products.
K-Points: 9/10
So, for beauty reviews, unlike my album unboxings, I will be much harsher on because this can directly impact your health, where buying K-Pop albums does not. It just impacts your wallet. As such, all of my beauty reviews will be out of 10 points. I will not be going over that number.
I really like the formula of this product. It is effective, lightweight, and still provides lasting moisture to the skin. On top of that, my friend who also tried this product agreed with me that we both saw almost immediate brightening of the skin. My friend also said that it definitely helped her pores to appear smaller. I also noticed that it helped to eliminate some dead skin cells in places that they usually cling to on my face. When you wake up the next morning, you may notice a little bit of peeling in certain areas of the face. In order to tell if it actually helps with reducing hyperpigmentation, that will not have immediate results, and continued use for around 6 months is usually required. (Also I haven’t had a serious breakout in a while, so I may not be the best test for this).
What are the Koreans saying?
I was digging through reviews on 화해**, a Korean skincare app that lists out the ingredients of products from many brands for people to look through as well as post reviews. Koreans were consistently talking about how moisturizing this product is. They also commented on how it has a nice scent. They did note though that the product is quite sticky and that they weren’t necessarily a fan of that and found it a bit frustrating. I don’t think it’s incredibly sticky, so that seems to be a matter of personal preference.
Where Can I Buy It?
Whenever I buy K-Beauty, I do shop at a couple of different places. If you want to see all of the places that I shop at, you can check them all out here. I picked this product up off of Sephora. With Sephora, you can also use Rakuten for cash back off of your purchases on their site.
What is Rakuten?
Rakuten is a cashback site that gives you money for purchases you may have already made. They even have an extension for multiple browsers so when you go to a website that uses Rakuten, it will automatically pop up the cashback button to make sure you are saving money. I use this all the time, and I got over 80$ back from them for purchases I was going to make anyway. That’s about 3 more albums I can buy!
If you’ve never used Rakuten before, you can use this link to get $10 when making a qualified purchase of $25 when using Rakuten. You will also get whatever percent cashback is being offered from the site you are purchasing from. Sephora, typically has 4% cashback, through here. Ulta typically has 3%. These are just some of the companies on the website, but there are other major retailers are on there as well!
Rakuten also has a Google Chrome extension that will tell you as soon as you log onto a site that has cashback with a little pop-up in the corner, so that you can ensure you are saving money!
What brightening products do you love, K-Nuggets? Let me know in the comments down below!
사랑합니다!
–Rachel
*I put bad in quotes here because everything is subjective. Just because an ingredient that may have some amount of research on it that it can cause issues in the skin exists in a product says nothing about how it is processed and refined when making the product. It also says nothing about where that particular ingredient came from and the quality of that ingredient. It’s just like with cooking you can have all the same ingredients to start, but depending on what you do with those ingredients, you can get two completely different end products. Liah Yoo, Youtuber and now the owner of the brand Krave Beauty, made an excellent video talking about this. You can watch that here.
**Note: 화해 still only exists in Korean, but some of the products can be searched for in English.
