End of the year report: 2017 top 3 favorites in toners, emulsions, cleansing products, sunscreens and sheet masks

I know it's mid-January already, but between being sick and working overtime I didn't get a chance to talk about my 2017 favorite products. I hardly ever mention toners and emulsions even though I use them every day; I've tried a lot of cleansing products this year and found a few new favorites. Even though I totally went overboard shopping for sunscreens (and I'm going to discuss sunscreens separately in next couple weeks),  I had a few that I used consistently throughout the year that deserve a honorary mention. As usual, I purchased all the products myself, and all opinions are my own; it's all about my personal experience, so YMMV.

My top 3 emulsions in 2017: 1. Goodal Time Stay firming essence emulsion, 2. Missha Super Aqua Ultra Water-full Control emulsion, and 3. Kobayashi Keshimin emulsion.

Let's start with emulsions. Two of my top 3 favorite emulsions last year, Missha Super Aqua Ultra Water-full Control emulsion, and  Keshimin emulsion, are actually repurchases from 2016. Missha emulsion (cosdna here) is my Holy Grail by now; it has a fairly clean ingredients list and layers perfectly. Whenever I get too many products on my face and it gets too sticky for comfort, or I'll use serum or ampoule that is too rich for my skin, I use two pumps of Super Aqua emulsion for the whole face and neck, and in about a minute I have my face under control. It moisturizes beautifully, I never ever experienced any pilling, it has virtually no smell, and it never broke me out; I'm going to keep repurchasing it as long as they're making it. I never see it mentioned by bloggers or YouTube-rs, and AB Reddit ignores it completely, but in my opinion it outperforms most of higher-priced and hyped-about emulsions that I've tried so far (and I've tried quite a few).

Keshimin emulsion (it's sold on Amazon as Kobayashi Keshimin Milky Lotion) is a niche product for me. It has two forms of vit.C in it (cosdna here), ascorbyl glucoside and ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate. My skin is extremely sensitive to vit.C. Some products with vit.C can cause severe swelling and rash on my skin, and once I had to go to emergency room to get a prescription steroid eye drops after I accidentally got a new vit.C cream too close to my eyes; I ended up with eyes swollen shut. When I find a vit.C product that works for me, I just stick to it, since I don't want to experiment too much. It has a decent ingredients list, except for parabens, but it does not play nice with other products at times. Generally it moisturizes just fine and I do see some skin brightening after using it, but it's not as easy to layer as Missha emulsion. I experienced a lot of pilling last summer when I was using AHA and BHA every day; and it does not sit well on my skin if I apply it over some serums. Despite it's shortcomings, it's a good emulsion and I have no adverse reactions to it; I'm going to continue to repurchase it. If you'd like to read more detailed review, Vanity Rex posted an excellent one (here) last year. She gave it 3.8/5 rating, I would've given 4.3/5; it seems that we like different things about this emulsion, but that's the whole point of gathering different opinions about products, right?

Goodal Time Stay firming essence emulsion PR spiel

Goodal Time Stay firming essence emulsion is a recent discovery for me. I swatched it when I was in Club Clio (official website here), and I was so impressed I ended up buying it immediately despite it being much richer and heavier in texture than my ideal emulsion. For my oily skin it's definitely a winter-time emulsion, but someone with dry or normal skin should be able to use it all the time, since it's not too rich or heavy. It has very mild and pleasant flowery smell that does not linger. It takes a bit longer to absorb fully into my skin compared to both Missha and Keshimin emulsions, but it layers well and it does not make my skin greasy during the day.

Goodal Time Stay firming essence emulsion - ingredients list

Cosdna entry for it does not seem to be correct, so here's the ingredients list from the packaging. As you can see, it has a lot of plant extracts and oils in it; I'm not sure what Goodal means by calling it an essence-emulsion, but dual-fuction products seem to be a trend in K-beauty. I never saw it mentioned on any blogs, just like Missha emulsion, and I'm glad I've stumbled upon it.

Since two of emulsions on my top 3 list are from 2016, I think I should do a couple of honorary mentions. I've tried quite a few emulsions this year, but most of them did not work out for me. Two that I liked the most were Holika Holika Good Cera Super Ceramide emulsion and Erborian Yuza Sorbet.

Holika Holika Good Cera Super Ceramide emulsion

Holika Holika Good Cera Super Ceramide emulsion was reformulated recently and now it has a hypoallergenic formula with pH5.5; it's also 7-free (no artificial colors or flavors, no mineral oil, petrolatum, talk, triethanolamine or benzophenone). It has a nice clean ingredients list with very few irritants (cosdna here), and I never has any adverse reactions to it. Unfortunately, it makes my skin greasy in 2-3 hours after application; to be fair, it's being marketed for dry sensitive skin, so I should've expected it. As is, I really liked it, but had to pass it on, since it's not working for my oily skin.

Erborian Yuza Sorbet

I had the same issue with Erborian Yuza Sorbet (official website here). It's supposed to be a lightweight emulsion, but it's rather rich and oily in texture. It has a lot of oils that are known acne triggers, as well as perfume (cosdna here), so I decided to start with travel size, and I'm glad I did. It made my skin an oily mess in less than an hour after application. It did absorb very well and I had no adverse reactions to it, but it was anything but lightweight. Erborian is a well-known and very hyped-up brand that I'm curious about, but so far I'm not having much luck finding its products that would work for me. Just as Holika Holika, I would recommend it to someone with much dryer skin than mine; it has lovely citrus-y smell and it feels nice on the skin, so I'm sure it has 4+ star rating on Sephora for a reason (Sephora here).

My top 3 toners in 2017: 1.Hada Labo Shirojyun Arbutin Medicinal Whitening toner, 2. Missha Super Aqua Pore Correcting toner, and 3. Swanicoco Fermentation Care skin toner

Let's move on to toners. Hada Labo Shirojyun Arbutin Medicinal Whitening toner is my favorite daytime toner with vit.C (cosdna here). It has a very short ingredients list with only one potential irritant (paraben), and it never irritated my skin, despite having both vit.C in MAP form and arbutin in it. It's a cult product for many people on Asian Beauty (AB) Reddit, and I can see why. It made a visible difference after a couple weeks of use; I've been using it almost every morning last year. It has light watery consistency, and it absorbs in less than a minute; it layers very well, and it's very hydrating. I'm going to keep repurchasing it.

I bought Missha Super Aqua Pore Correcting toner despite it having alcohol in top 5 ingredients (cosdna here); I was able to swatch it in a store and I had no reaction to it. It's perfect for summer; it feels like water on my skin and it's really good at exfoliating. it did not affect my pore size in any way, but I did not expect it to, so I wasn't disappointed. I think Missha has a lot of great products in its Super Aqua line; this toner was reformulated and repackaged recently, and I'm going to try a new version when I'll run out.

I did not like Swanicoco Fermentation Care skin toner at first, but then it grew on me. It was a spontaneous purchase this summer after reading some very positive reviews on several blogs. At first glance it's practically first essence and not a toner (cosdna here); it's main ingredient is Aspergillus rice ferment filtrate. It has a heavier consistency than Hada Labo and Missha, close to traditional Korean skin toners, and it takes a while to absorb; it stays sticky after fully absorbed as well. It's only slightly less sticky than Kikumasamune Moist (cosdna here for comparison), which is my HG first essence type product. It's very hydrating, but it's a given with this type of toner, and it does have niacinamide and some plant extracts; however, Swanicoco does not specify the percentage of any ingredients (official website here), and I did not notice any other effects on my skin but hydration. After a bit of trial and error I moved it to my evening routine, and now I'm using it after my first essences and before ampoule and serums; it gives me enough hydration to last the whole night. I believe it was either reformulated or just repackaged lately; I'm not going to try the new version, since it's not unique or special enough to stick to it instead of trying new products, but I'm definitely going to finish this bottle.

My top 3 oil-based cleansers in 2017: 1. BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel, 2. Heimish All Clean balm, and 3. Cow Brand GYUNYU Non Additive Makeup Cleansing Oil

Let's talk about cleansers, both  first and second - oils and foams. Cow Brand GYUNYU Non Additive Makeup Cleansing Oil was my absolute favorite in 2017. I've tried a few oil cleansers, and I reviewed a few (here), but this one was a clear winner. It has a clean and short ingredients list (cosdna here), and it's very light and gentle on my skin. It cleanses well by itself, but if I'm having some issues with blocked pores or dust and dirt on my skin after running errands outside the whole day (New York air is so polluted!), I can use it either with cottons or konjac sponge. I'm going to keep repurchasing i for as long as they're making it, and thank you, Amazon, for adding it to Prime (seriously, can't beat $10 price tag with free shipping).

I bought Heimish All Clean balm after reading numerous reviews and I wasn't disappointed. Heimish as a brand is totally about clean ingredients without any potentially harmful irritants. I always wanted to use cleaning balm, but most of them contain mineral oil; this one does not (cosdna here). I love it, it's a great oil cleanser, it's perfect for my skin; unfortunately Heimish reformulated it recently, and I didn't get a chance to stock up on old formula... New one is getting some mixed reviews, so I'm not sure if I'm going to give it a try.

BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel - full ingredients list

BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel was more of an experiment. I've tried a few BRTC products (my review of BRTC sleeping mask is here) and I liked almost all of them, so when I saw this product mentioned on Director Pi blog (here, I use either Chrome or Google translate, it's in Korean), I decided to give it a try. As you can see, the ingredients list is in Korean, like most information on the packaging, but I was able to find it in English in BRTC PR materials.

BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel - packaging

Pore Magic Heating gel used not one, but two patents used in this product: Blue Phyto complex (lavender water that alleviates skin stress, dryness, itchiness and softens rouch and scaly skin) and Tannin Pore complex (natural bitter tannin extracts help in tightening enlarged pores and firming the skin).

BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel - PR info

BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel - PR info

BRTC also claims that some some scientific research can support their product, as you can see in following PR picture:

BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel - PR claims

Since Director Pi is always on a hunt for new and innovative products with clean and safe ingredients, I felt curious enough to try BRTC Pore Magic Heating gel even though it sounded somewhat gimmicky at best, and I ended up liking it a lot. I experimented a bit trying to find the best place for it in my routine; I tried using it before, instead or right after oil cleanser, and for me the latter method works the best. Technically speaking, it's not exactly an oil cleanser, but it's a product that makes any oil cleanser that I use better at removing debris from my pores. I use it 2-3 times per week, and I can skip peeling gels on those days. I will definitely repurchase it, and I'm going to try some other cleansing products from BRTC.

I've tried quite a few cleansing foams this year, as you can notice from my reviews, and my top 3 foams in 2017 were Manyo Factory Blue Vita Aqua Gel foam (my review here), The History of Whoo Radiant (Hwa Huyn) Cleansing foam and Sulwhasoo Snowise Ex Cleansing foam (my review here). I've been trying a few new (for me, at least) foams recently, and even some bar soaps, but it's too early to say anything about them yet - I'll need more time to test them out properly.

My top 3 most used sunscreens in 2017: 1. The EBBN Goat Milk UV Sunscreen, 2. Sooryehan Bichaek True Rejuvenating Sun Cream, and 3. Aritaum All Day Lasting primer.

I'm not going to talk about first essences or ampoules and serums here, since I usually reserve separate posts for them, and it's hard to pick just 3 products in such broad categories; lets move on to a must-have products - sunscreens. I got my first sun spot at the end of 2016 thanks to a faulty sunscreen (this experience deserved a separate post, and you can read all about my 2017 sunscreen fails here), and last year my skincare goals were all related to that event - I was looking for a ways to remove my sunspot without lasers, and I was testing new sunscreens. I found a few great sunscreens from Su:m37 and Sulwhasoo (and I will review them soon), but since I wasn't using them consistently for long period of time, it will not be fair to talk about them as year-long favorites; instead I'm going to discuss briefly the sunscreens that I've been using when I didn't feel like testing anything.

My top 3 most used sunscreens in 2017: 1. The EBBN Goat Milk UV Sunscreen, 2. Sooryehan Bichaek True Rejuvenating Sun Cream, and 3. Aritaum All Day Lasting primer.

The EBBN Goat Milk UV Sunscreen was an impulse purchase; one of my favorite eBay sellers listed it, and I can't say no to a conservatively priced product from an indie brand with natural ingredients (it used to be listed under $20, but I've seen under $10 at another seller recently).

The EBBN Goat Milk UV Sunscreen

It had no ingredients list in English on packaging, and I can't find it online, but it feels like combination chemical and physical sunscreen.  It's tinted, so I never had any issues with white cast; it's slightly yellow in color strait out of the tube, but it  it adds no color correction when blended. It was listed as all-in-one product, sunscreen and primer, and it has goat milk, snail mucin, galactomyces, and other natural ingredients (according to seller). It made me think about this wonderful cream from Kate Somerville, but it feels different on my skin. I like it a lot.

Sooryehan Bichaek True Rejuvenating Sun Cream - booklet

Sooryehan Bichaek True Rejuvenating Sun Cream - booklet

I bought Sooryehan Bichaek True Rejuvenating Sun Cream after trying (and failing) to choose a sunscreen from The History of Whoo. Sooryehan is a sister company of The History of Whoo, so I decided to get a look at their sunscreens; turns out they have quite a few. I picked this one because it has vit.C, and since vit.C is a potent antioxidant that helps prevent sun damage, it seemed like a great idea. I've tried another sunscreen with vit.C this year, and I'm going to do review and comparison next, so I'll talk about both in more details in that post. As you can see, the whole booklet is in Korean, and I wasn't able to find the full ingredients list anywhere; The History of Whoo did a complete re-branding recently, and now they have a bit more English on their packaging, but Sooryehan is way behind. It feels like a chemical sunscreen. It's slightly up-toning, and it evens up my skin tone; despite being heavily pigmented, it has no coverage.

My top 3 most used sunscreens in 2017: 1. The EBBN Goat Milk UV Sunscreen, 2. Sooryehan Bichaek True Rejuvenating Sun Cream, and 3. Aritaum All Day Lasting primer.

Aritaum All Day Lasting primer is not technically a sunscreen, but it has enough protection to be used to reinforce my existing sunscreen in the afternoon. It comes in tiny bottle that fits easily in my overstuffed bag; I was taking it with me everywhere. It's more liquid-y than most of my current sunscreens, including The EBBN and Sooryehan, and it applies easily on top of any sunscreen or primer that I have on. I never had any issues with pilling or sliding. I think it was repackaged recently; I hope the new bottle is not bigger than the old one.

My top 3 most used sunscreens in 2017: 1. The EBBN Goat Milk UV Sunscreen, 2. Sooryehan Bichaek True Rejuvenating Sun Cream, and 3. Aritaum All Day Lasting primer.

As you can see, The EBBN and Aritaum have classic matte finish; Sooryehan has more natural finish. I think Aritaum's finish is more matte than The EBBN's; if I was testing some new sunscreen or primer that turned my skin a greasy mess by midday, most of the time I was able to get it under control by layering Aritaum on top. The EBBN and Sooryehan have thicker texture, they don't move much on my skin, even in very hot weather, so I was able to use them around my eyes; Aritaum moves a little bit on hot humid days before setting fully.

My top 5 most used sheet masks in 2017

Last but not least, lets talk about sheet masks. I'm not using them more than once or twice per week (more than that would be overkill, since I'm using sleeping masks every day), and some weeks I just skip them completely. Most of the time I use sheet masks on my days off after applying toners and serums/ampoules, so I will get full benefits not only from the mask's essence, but also from my regular products. I'm not really into fancy multi-step masks, since I prefer to pick products for layering myself according to what I think my skin needs on that day; all I ask from a sheet mask is a clean ingredients and good fit.

Wellage family mask

Wellage family mask - ingredients list

Starting from the top: Wellage family mask is my absolute favorite. I found it on Amazon by accident, and I'm so glad I did. It's a life saver mask for days when my skin is mad at the world and allergic to life. I can use it during a flare-up, when my skin overreacts at almost everything, and it's quite efficient by itself at soothing and pacifying my skin; it also plays well with any products I layer under it for extra calming effect. I will keep repurchasing it in the future; I hope they're not going to discontinue it anytime soon. Recently Wellage came up with a micro needle patch mask (Amazon link here), but I'm not sure how I feel about it; they also have those roll-down masks that come in tubes (Amazon here) that I'm more likely to try. Overall Wellage seems to be a very innovative brand to watch.

I've been using various masks from Leaders Mediu line, and I had great experience with all of them. The one in the picture is Amino AC-free mask that I use for clearing my skin after a flare-up or a breakout (cosdna here), the hydrating one in blue packaging is also excellent (cosdna here); I think I've tried most of the masks from this line, and it's hard to pick an absolute favorite, so I'm just going to mention the whole line.

Mediheal is always a solid choice for sheet masks; they have great selection, and some of the best hydrating masks I've ever tried were from that brand. Mediheal Tea tree Care Solution essential mask EX is my go-to when I'm having issues with redness; it has tea tree, camomile and Centella asiatica extracts (cosdna here), and they seem to work for my skin.

Scinic My Juicy Bottle Mask is my go-to on tired, but otherwise good skin days. I buy them in 5pcs variety packs when they go on promotion in stores in Koreatown; Amazon used to carry them, but not anymore. They have hydrating mask (the one in the picture), soothing mask (cosdna here), some vitamin masks - tbh I can't say I've noticed much difference between them, but overall this line is a good choice for basic budget mask; I've used quite a few of them last year, but if they'll get discontinued, I'll just move on to Mediheal or Leaders.

Beyond Herb Garden is another basic budget mask line for good skin days. You'll get a choice of different plants, like calendula (in the picture - cosdna here), peony (cosdna here), tea tree (cosdna here), and quite a few more. I like them, they got good, clean ingredients and they fit my face well; can't really ask more for the price.