Review and comparison of several Korean sunscreens: HERA, O Hui, Heimish, The History of Whoo and Kicho
Today I'd like to talk about sunscreens again. Last year I've been trying out quite a few; some of them I liked, and some I didn't. I've discussed my sunscreen fails briefly in my post here; I'm not bashing all the products I've mentioned there as bad, but for various reasons they just did not work out for me. I mentioned my three most often used sunscreens of 2017 in another post (here) among my 2017 favorites, and I talked about my sunscreens with vitamin C here. I'm not the most brand-loyal person, but after a shopping spree I ended up with quite a few sunscreens from the brands that usually work for me; Su:m37 and Sulwhasoo will get a separate post (it's here), and today I'm going to review and compare sunscreens from other K-beauty brands that I tend to gravitate to: HERA, O Hui, Kicho, Heimish and The History of Whoo. I'm not going to be doing any full-face swatches, and I'm not planning to elaborate on sunscreen-makeup interactions in this post; I know it's very important for many people, and I think it deserves a independent post. I don't wear makeup every day, so I made it a small research project; I've been trying a BB and a CC on top of various sunscreens, and documented my experiences in a small blog. I'm almost done with it, and when I'll publish it, I'll link in all relevant posts. Before I proceed, let me put it out here that, as usual, this post is
not sponsored; I purchased all the products myself, and all opinions are
my own. I'll be talking about my personal experience, so YMMV.
Let me start by outlining what do I want from my sunscreens. I've sensitive oily skin; I'm not allergic to most chemical filters, so I don't have to discriminate against combination or pure chemical sunscreens when shopping. Actually, I like combo sunscreens, since they tend to be more cosmetically elegant than pure physical ones. Also, clean ingredients are important to me; my skin is sensitive to artificial fragrance and dyes, preservatives, and mineral oil. I can tolerate a very small amount of alcohol in my skincare, but if I see alcohol in top five ingredients, I'm not going to risk it, since it's probably going to irritate my skin. I get sunburns in less than 10 min, so SPF30 is the lowest I can I in winter, and in summer I tend to go up to SPF50. PA factor is just as important to me, since it prevents long-term damage and skin aging; I'm using sunscreens with PA+++ or PA++++ in spring and summer, leaving ones with PA++ for shorter and gloomier winter days. It's nice if a sunscreen has some extra properties; I like the newer sunscreens that act like primers, evening out and brightening my skin tone. However, first and foremost, I want my sunscreen to prevent sun damage; for everything else I can use a separate product. For that very reason I want my sunscreen to stay put during the day, and I prefer waterproof ones for hot weather. Personally, I like creamier formulations better than watery ones; runny, watery sunscreens always manage to get into my eyes, and in most cases it's rather uncomfortable or just strait painful experience. I know I might sound picky, but I don't think I'm unreasonable...
Last year I bought a couple of HERA sunscreens that were the brand's bestsellers for a few years; both have a lot of hype reviews both on YouTube and on blogs: Sun Mate Daily and Sun Mate Leports (official website here). HERA belongs to Amore Pacific corporation that also owns Iope, Sulwhasoo and Primera. I've tried quite a few of their products; I reviewed Hera Aquabolic Mineral Sleeping Mask (here), Hera Age Away Intensive mask (here), HERA White program Cleansing foam and Hera Homme Purifying Cleansing Foam (here) last year.
HERA Sun Mate Daily SPF35/PA+++ is marketed as an everyday sunscreen that also acts as an up-toning peach-colored primer. It's a combination sunscreen, but it has more chemical (Uvinul A Plus, octinoxate, and Tinosorb S) than physical (titanium oxide) filters (full ingredients list on cosdna here). It's not oil-free; it has sunflower oil, like Innisfree Eco Safety No Sebum sunblock that I mentioned in my sunscreen fails post here. Sun Mate Daily has some questionable ingredients like synthetic fragrance, alcohol, PEGs, ethylhexyl palmitate (a highly comedogenic palm oil derivative that is a natural alternative to silicones), and synthetic silicon cyclopentasiloxane, that was linked to cancer tumor formation and environment toxicity. It never broke me out, but I haven't been using it for long time. Sun Mate Daily comes out of the tube peachy-pink, but it blends easily, leaving no white cast and turning almost invisible on my skin; it's slightly color-correcting, but the effect is not too noticeable.
The sole reason I bought this sunscreen was that it's supposed to have a matte to natural finish. Unfortunately, it turned my face into an oil slick. I'm not sure why Korean brands use sunflower oil in sunscreens that are supposed to have matte/natural finish; whatever their reasons might be, they don't seem to apply to my skin. My skin doesn't have issues with sunflower extract, considering that it's in both my old favorite The Face Shop Sebum Control Moisture Sun SPF 40/PA+++ (cosdna here) and its reformulated version that I just bough for coming summer Natural Sun Eco No Shine Hydrating Sun Cream SPF 40 PA+++ (cosdna here); both give me nice matte to natural finish that lasts the whole day. Sun Mate Daily had very glow-y finish right after the application, and it never managed to dry out; it just kept turning on the glow factor the whole day, no matter how many times I tried to blot.
The other issue that I had with Sun Mate Daily was that it never set properly; it's too rich and moisturizing to dry out completely on my oily skin. I would much rather have a mattifying sunscreen that is somewhat drying (I can always use an extra layer of gel or moisturizer under it), than deal with a hydrating mask that thinks it can also protect me from the sun damage. I'm aware that matte finish is not particularly popular at the moment. If you scroll through HERA Seoulista Instagram account (here), you will not be able to find a single matte face; all girls have gorgeous, glowing, radiant skin. I understand that makeup preferences are cultural, and Koreans might not consider natural or matte finish particularly beautiful, but dear HERA, if you're marketing a product as having "soft, shine-free" finish, please, please make it really shine-free, not just less glowing than some other products... I ended up giving Sun Mate daily to a friend with dry skin; she liked it, partially because it's very moisturizing and not matte.
HERA Sun Mate Leports is a waterproof version of Sun Mate Daily with higher SPF protection; mine is SPF50/PA+++, but it was reformulated recently to raise its PA protection to PA++++. The official website states that it's appropriate for all skin types (here). It's a combination sunscreen, and it has exactly the same filters as Sun Mate Daily (cosdna here). It has more silicones and dimethicones than Daily, as well as more moisturizing factors. Also, it has all the irritating ingredients that Daily has, including sunflower oil. On the bright side, both Sun Mate sunscreens got some nice anti-oxidants and vitamins: Sun Mate Daily has beta-carotine/vitamine A, while Leports has vitamin C in L-AA form and coenzyme Q10; both have vitamin E. Unfortunately, HERA does not specify the exact percentage of anti-oxidants in either sunscreen. While my skin hates L-AA with a passion (as I mentioned here in my review of vitamin C based sunscreens), it did not react to Leports; either the concentration of it was too low, or it wasn't stable enough and degraded by the time I started using the sunscreen.
Sun Mate Leports comes out off-white with slight greenish tint to it, unlike pink-hued Daily; I guess it's supposed to help with skin reddening after prolonged sun exposure. It blends well with no white cast. I doubt it has enough green pigment in it to say it's color-correcting, but since my rosacea seems to be improving, I might be an inappropriate test subject for that. Overall, it feels slightly heavier and more emollient than Daily, and yes, on my skin it has the same issues. It was too much for me in summer heat, so I decided to give it another try in cold winter weather. I suppose disco-ball finish is appropriate for Christmas holidays; I tried using it when temperature dropped below freezing point, but it was still too emollient for me, and its finish was just as too radiant and glowing as it was in hot weather. It felt oilier and heavier on my skin than even Sulwhasoo Hydro Aid Protection fluid or Renodigm EX, so after a short struggle I stopped using it completely in favor of other hydrating sunscreens.
Speaking of hydrating sunscreens, let me talk about my current favorite, Kicho Ultra Moisturizing sun cream. I guess there is no such thing in existence as hydrating sunscreen for oily skin that is perfect in all its functions, but Kicho comes as close to the ideal as possible. It took me a while to give it a try, considering that I never had much luck with hydrating sunscreens, but I'm glad I did. I didn't see a lot of reviews for it; a couple bloggers, who received it as a PR sample, raved about it, but other than that, it went under the radar. I would imagine that a cosmetically elegant sunscreen with clean ingredients list should draw more attention, but so it was. It's being sold literally everywhere now, both online (Amazon Prime, iHerb, eBay etc) and in stores. I can't remember where I saw it, either in Whole Foods or in The Health Nuts, but the store had samples; swatching it made me buy it. I did order mine online though, it was much cheaper.
Kicho has the most beautiful ingredients list; the only irritants are cyclopentasiloxane (synthetic silicone, same as in HERA Sun Mate) and sorbitan oleate, an emulsifier than can be mildly comedogenic. For some reason the cosdna entry for Kicho was missing some ingredients (here), so I had to upload a new one (mine's here), adding from the list on its packaging. Let me digress for a moment and say how much I appreciate having an ingredients list in English right where it should be, on the the packaging, and nor somewhere online, hiding where only Google translate can place it, if that; many higher priced Korean skincare brands still can't condescend to that. And Kicho's official website has English version that is fully functional (link here)! Rant over, back to the sunscreen in question; it is chemical, so if you're sensitive to octinoxate, Uvinil A Plus, ethylhexyl salicylate, octocrylene, or homosalate, you might want to swatch it before buying.
Kicho has quite a few plant extracts, including scutellaria baicalensis (baikal skullcap) root extract; according to some studies, scutellaria baicalensis root extract not only has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but also is able to inhibit melanin synthesis and protect against sun damage (Dermascope has a nice and very informative article with a few references here). I discussed at length the benefits of anti-oxidants in sunscreen formulations when I was reviewing vitamin C based sunscreens here, so I'm not going to re-post all the references here; interestingly enough, a couple of vitamin C based sunscreens in my wish list part of that review also use this extract. La Roche-Posay Anthelios AOX Daily Antioxidant Serum with Sunscreen for Face (cosdna here) uses scutellaria baicalensis (baikal skullcap) root extract as one of star ingredients involved in protection from free radicals; Make P:rem UV Defense Me Natural Sun cream (cosdna here) has it among many other plants extracts. It seems to become more popular lately, appearing not only in other sunscreens from Anthelios line (like this one or another one), but also in sunscreens from other french brands like Vichy (this one), as well as Japanese (from Shiseido, Sante Labo, ETVOS, and even UV Protective cream from Cle de Peau) and Korean (Sulwhasoo UV Protector from men's line, new Etude House Soon Jung sun cream, AHC sun cream or this one from Holika Holika) brands. Other notable plant-based anti-oxidants in Kicho sunscreen are green tea leaf extract, a known UV absorber (EWG database); ginkgo biloba leaf extract (WebMD entry here, Paula's Choice entry here); and willow bark extract (TruthInAging entry here).
Kicho comes in a tube with a pump; I use between 1.5 and 2 full pumps for my face and neck. I love its smell; it goes away in a few minutes after the application though. It's bright white in color, but it leaves no white cast whatsoever, like most chemical sunscreens. It blends easily enough, but it better responds to patting it on then to rubbing it into my skin. It's not greasy, despite having quite a few moisturizing ingredients in it; if it's below freezing temperatures, I layer it over a moisturizer, but in warmer weather I don't use any creams under it. It has a true glass finish, and I love it; now, please don't blame me for being inconsistent, because I'm not. Kicho is not making my skin glow-y enough to pass for glass skin while emphasizing even smallest skin's flaws; it fixes the appearance of my skin texture as well. I have some products that Korean YouTubers use in their tutorials for glossy skin, and let me tell you - most of them exaggerate my skin texture; they make every pore and every wrinkle more noticeable. Kicho does not do that; I wish I could figure out that ingredients are responsible for that effect, so I can look for them in my future purchases. This is the product that single-handedly reconciled me with the idea of having glass skin finish on mature oily skin.
Even if I'll decide to be exceptionally critical, I can think of only a couple things that make Kicho sun cream less than perfect in my experience. One would be the sad fact that it's not gluten free (it has wheat sprout extract), so I have to be very careful when applying it around my mouth. It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it's something that I always have to pay attention to. Another potential flaw is its ability to serve as a primer; it's mostly irrelevant to me, but it might be a deal breaker to someone who uses makeup every day. In my experience Kicho was not the most efficient primer; it's just a tiny bit too moisturizing for that, and some other sunscreens that dry up faster and have less radiant finish serve as better primers for oily skin. It's probably perfect primer for dry and normal skin; I thought I might as well mention it just to be fair. As I mentioned above, I'm working on separate post, fully dedicated to sunscreens as primers; I'm using a couple BB and CC on top of several sunscreens that are marketed as primers, comparing finish, longevity, coverage, etc, and I've noticed that some other sunscreens seemed to be better primers than Kicho. I'm going to link it here when it's done.
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| HERA Sun Mate sunscreens: 1. Daily SPF35/PA+++, and 2. Leports SPF50/PA+++ |
HERA Sun Mate Daily SPF35/PA+++ is marketed as an everyday sunscreen that also acts as an up-toning peach-colored primer. It's a combination sunscreen, but it has more chemical (Uvinul A Plus, octinoxate, and Tinosorb S) than physical (titanium oxide) filters (full ingredients list on cosdna here). It's not oil-free; it has sunflower oil, like Innisfree Eco Safety No Sebum sunblock that I mentioned in my sunscreen fails post here. Sun Mate Daily has some questionable ingredients like synthetic fragrance, alcohol, PEGs, ethylhexyl palmitate (a highly comedogenic palm oil derivative that is a natural alternative to silicones), and synthetic silicon cyclopentasiloxane, that was linked to cancer tumor formation and environment toxicity. It never broke me out, but I haven't been using it for long time. Sun Mate Daily comes out of the tube peachy-pink, but it blends easily, leaving no white cast and turning almost invisible on my skin; it's slightly color-correcting, but the effect is not too noticeable.
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| HERA Sun Mate sunscreens: 1. Daily SPF35/PA+++, and 2. Leports SPF50/PA+++; color comparison in afternoon light |
The sole reason I bought this sunscreen was that it's supposed to have a matte to natural finish. Unfortunately, it turned my face into an oil slick. I'm not sure why Korean brands use sunflower oil in sunscreens that are supposed to have matte/natural finish; whatever their reasons might be, they don't seem to apply to my skin. My skin doesn't have issues with sunflower extract, considering that it's in both my old favorite The Face Shop Sebum Control Moisture Sun SPF 40/PA+++ (cosdna here) and its reformulated version that I just bough for coming summer Natural Sun Eco No Shine Hydrating Sun Cream SPF 40 PA+++ (cosdna here); both give me nice matte to natural finish that lasts the whole day. Sun Mate Daily had very glow-y finish right after the application, and it never managed to dry out; it just kept turning on the glow factor the whole day, no matter how many times I tried to blot.
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| HERA Sun Mate sunscreens: 1. Daily SPF35/PA+++, and 2. Leports SPF50/PA+++ |
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| HERA Sun Mate Leports swatch from the official website, if anyone is interested in close-up on better camera |
HERA Sun Mate Leports is a waterproof version of Sun Mate Daily with higher SPF protection; mine is SPF50/PA+++, but it was reformulated recently to raise its PA protection to PA++++. The official website states that it's appropriate for all skin types (here). It's a combination sunscreen, and it has exactly the same filters as Sun Mate Daily (cosdna here). It has more silicones and dimethicones than Daily, as well as more moisturizing factors. Also, it has all the irritating ingredients that Daily has, including sunflower oil. On the bright side, both Sun Mate sunscreens got some nice anti-oxidants and vitamins: Sun Mate Daily has beta-carotine/vitamine A, while Leports has vitamin C in L-AA form and coenzyme Q10; both have vitamin E. Unfortunately, HERA does not specify the exact percentage of anti-oxidants in either sunscreen. While my skin hates L-AA with a passion (as I mentioned here in my review of vitamin C based sunscreens), it did not react to Leports; either the concentration of it was too low, or it wasn't stable enough and degraded by the time I started using the sunscreen.
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| HERA Sun Mate sunscreens: 1. Daily SPF35/PA+++, and 2. Leports SPF50/PA+++; color comparison in direct sunlight |
Sun Mate Leports comes out off-white with slight greenish tint to it, unlike pink-hued Daily; I guess it's supposed to help with skin reddening after prolonged sun exposure. It blends well with no white cast. I doubt it has enough green pigment in it to say it's color-correcting, but since my rosacea seems to be improving, I might be an inappropriate test subject for that. Overall, it feels slightly heavier and more emollient than Daily, and yes, on my skin it has the same issues. It was too much for me in summer heat, so I decided to give it another try in cold winter weather. I suppose disco-ball finish is appropriate for Christmas holidays; I tried using it when temperature dropped below freezing point, but it was still too emollient for me, and its finish was just as too radiant and glowing as it was in hot weather. It felt oilier and heavier on my skin than even Sulwhasoo Hydro Aid Protection fluid or Renodigm EX, so after a short struggle I stopped using it completely in favor of other hydrating sunscreens.
Speaking of hydrating sunscreens, let me talk about my current favorite, Kicho Ultra Moisturizing sun cream. I guess there is no such thing in existence as hydrating sunscreen for oily skin that is perfect in all its functions, but Kicho comes as close to the ideal as possible. It took me a while to give it a try, considering that I never had much luck with hydrating sunscreens, but I'm glad I did. I didn't see a lot of reviews for it; a couple bloggers, who received it as a PR sample, raved about it, but other than that, it went under the radar. I would imagine that a cosmetically elegant sunscreen with clean ingredients list should draw more attention, but so it was. It's being sold literally everywhere now, both online (Amazon Prime, iHerb, eBay etc) and in stores. I can't remember where I saw it, either in Whole Foods or in The Health Nuts, but the store had samples; swatching it made me buy it. I did order mine online though, it was much cheaper.
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| Kicho Ultra Moisturizing sun cream - PR claims |
Kicho has the most beautiful ingredients list; the only irritants are cyclopentasiloxane (synthetic silicone, same as in HERA Sun Mate) and sorbitan oleate, an emulsifier than can be mildly comedogenic. For some reason the cosdna entry for Kicho was missing some ingredients (here), so I had to upload a new one (mine's here), adding from the list on its packaging. Let me digress for a moment and say how much I appreciate having an ingredients list in English right where it should be, on the the packaging, and nor somewhere online, hiding where only Google translate can place it, if that; many higher priced Korean skincare brands still can't condescend to that. And Kicho's official website has English version that is fully functional (link here)! Rant over, back to the sunscreen in question; it is chemical, so if you're sensitive to octinoxate, Uvinil A Plus, ethylhexyl salicylate, octocrylene, or homosalate, you might want to swatch it before buying.
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| Kicho Ultra Moisturizing sun cream |
Kicho has quite a few plant extracts, including scutellaria baicalensis (baikal skullcap) root extract; according to some studies, scutellaria baicalensis root extract not only has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but also is able to inhibit melanin synthesis and protect against sun damage (Dermascope has a nice and very informative article with a few references here). I discussed at length the benefits of anti-oxidants in sunscreen formulations when I was reviewing vitamin C based sunscreens here, so I'm not going to re-post all the references here; interestingly enough, a couple of vitamin C based sunscreens in my wish list part of that review also use this extract. La Roche-Posay Anthelios AOX Daily Antioxidant Serum with Sunscreen for Face (cosdna here) uses scutellaria baicalensis (baikal skullcap) root extract as one of star ingredients involved in protection from free radicals; Make P:rem UV Defense Me Natural Sun cream (cosdna here) has it among many other plants extracts. It seems to become more popular lately, appearing not only in other sunscreens from Anthelios line (like this one or another one), but also in sunscreens from other french brands like Vichy (this one), as well as Japanese (from Shiseido, Sante Labo, ETVOS, and even UV Protective cream from Cle de Peau) and Korean (Sulwhasoo UV Protector from men's line, new Etude House Soon Jung sun cream, AHC sun cream or this one from Holika Holika) brands. Other notable plant-based anti-oxidants in Kicho sunscreen are green tea leaf extract, a known UV absorber (EWG database); ginkgo biloba leaf extract (WebMD entry here, Paula's Choice entry here); and willow bark extract (TruthInAging entry here).
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| Kicho PR from their official website emphasizes clean, natural ingredients |
Kicho comes in a tube with a pump; I use between 1.5 and 2 full pumps for my face and neck. I love its smell; it goes away in a few minutes after the application though. It's bright white in color, but it leaves no white cast whatsoever, like most chemical sunscreens. It blends easily enough, but it better responds to patting it on then to rubbing it into my skin. It's not greasy, despite having quite a few moisturizing ingredients in it; if it's below freezing temperatures, I layer it over a moisturizer, but in warmer weather I don't use any creams under it. It has a true glass finish, and I love it; now, please don't blame me for being inconsistent, because I'm not. Kicho is not making my skin glow-y enough to pass for glass skin while emphasizing even smallest skin's flaws; it fixes the appearance of my skin texture as well. I have some products that Korean YouTubers use in their tutorials for glossy skin, and let me tell you - most of them exaggerate my skin texture; they make every pore and every wrinkle more noticeable. Kicho does not do that; I wish I could figure out that ingredients are responsible for that effect, so I can look for them in my future purchases. This is the product that single-handedly reconciled me with the idea of having glass skin finish on mature oily skin.
Even if I'll decide to be exceptionally critical, I can think of only a couple things that make Kicho sun cream less than perfect in my experience. One would be the sad fact that it's not gluten free (it has wheat sprout extract), so I have to be very careful when applying it around my mouth. It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it's something that I always have to pay attention to. Another potential flaw is its ability to serve as a primer; it's mostly irrelevant to me, but it might be a deal breaker to someone who uses makeup every day. In my experience Kicho was not the most efficient primer; it's just a tiny bit too moisturizing for that, and some other sunscreens that dry up faster and have less radiant finish serve as better primers for oily skin. It's probably perfect primer for dry and normal skin; I thought I might as well mention it just to be fair. As I mentioned above, I'm working on separate post, fully dedicated to sunscreens as primers; I'm using a couple BB and CC on top of several sunscreens that are marketed as primers, comparing finish, longevity, coverage, etc, and I've noticed that some other sunscreens seemed to be better primers than Kicho. I'm going to link it here when it's done.
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Pro sunscreens - the full line |
Let's move on to another recent purchase, O Hui Perfect Sun Pro Black. As a brand, O Hui is fairly similar in concept to HERA, but it's owned by LG corporation; both HERA and O Hui got somewhat comparable product lines. Since I have less experience with O Hui products (I reviewed both O Hui Hydra Formula Vital gel cream and Miracle Aqua gel creams last year in this post, but I haven't tried anything else), I wanted to try some of their products to compare with HERA's. Just like HERA, O Hui has a full line of sunscreens that target various skincare needs - Perfect Sun Pro (official website here), which is a repackaged and reformulated version of their Sun Science Perfect sunblock. Chrysin Pro TM is O Hui's proprietary ingredient that is supposedly similar in structure to vitamin D with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Pro sunscreens - PR info with swatches |
After comparing all three versions of Perfect Sun, I picked the Perfect Sun Pro Black SPF50+/PA++++. Pro Aqua is formulated for dry skin, plus it has lower PA factor than other Sun Pro sunscreens; it's only SPF50/PA++. I was curious about green-tinted sunscreen, but after reading a couple reviews where it was described as both oily and patchy, I decided that walking around with green shiny patches on my skin might be too much for me to pull off. That left me with an obvious choice of Pro Black, an waterproof sunscreen that is also supposed to work as makeup base. It's a combination sunscreen (cosdna here) with both physical (zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) and chemical (octinoxate, Tinosorb S and Uvinul A Plus) filters. It has niacinamide to support anti-skin darkening claims on the tube, and some plant extracts. Overall it has fairly clean ingredients list for a sunscreen; it did not break me up.
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Pro Black SPF50+/PA++++ |
Pro Black comes tinted out of the tube, but it blends easily and becomes invisible. I can feel it as a thin layer on my skin, but I can't see it; it must be the waterproof effect in action. It's water-based and light in texture. I had no issues with bad absorption; it's a very cosmetically elegant sunscreen that layers beautifully on any emulsion I use or even on itself and dries down even in 5-10 minutes depending on how many layers I put on. It does not add any pigment, or at least I can't see it, but it evens up my complexion somehow; it has a glass skin finish. As a primer it fails to cover pores; it's unfortunate, really, since glass finish is unforgiving on skin with less than perfect texture, as it makes every pore and every wrinkle much more noticeable compared to natural or matte finish. Glass skin seems to be a big trend in K-beauty; it's even shinier and more noticeable than previously favored radiant skin, and I believe it's much more flattering on dry skin than on oily skin like mine. It stayed sticky for a couple hours after application, then it gradually become unnoticeable; glass finish survived on average 5-6 hours after application.
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Pro Black SPF50+/PA++++ |
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| Heimish Artless Glow base - PR claims |
I was going to use Heimish Artless Glow Base SPF50/PA+++ as a sunscreen, since most Korean primers and finishers tend to layer very well; easy layering helps with reapplication during the day. Heimish is of the newer, ingredient-oriented K-beauty brands; I had their cleansing foam (reviewed it here) and balm (here), and both worked well for me, so I had high expectations of the primer. I've been using Aritaum All Day Lasting primer as an afternoon sunscreen on sunny days when I spend around 2 hours outside in the morning and needed to reapply my sunscreen for the rest of the day; it layers well and sets very fast over any sunscreen that I used in my morning routine. Artless Glow base has higher SPF/PA than All Day Lasting primer, and its ingredients list (cosdna here) seems to be more suited for sensitive skin than Aritaum primer's (here). Artless Glow is a combination sunscreen, leaning heavily towards chemical; it has only one physical filter (titanium oxide) to five chemical filters (octinoxate, octocrylene, ensulizole, Uvinil A Plus and avobenzone). It has no dimethicone, which is a good news if you're sensitive to it; it does have fragrance though. It also has four plant extracts at the very end of its ingredients list: thyme, sweet marjoram, peppermint and dog rose (rosa canina). According to their PR spiel (see picture above), they "will protect my skin", but I'm not sure if their concentration is high enough to affect my skin in any way though.
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| Heimish Artless Glow Base SPF50/PA+++ |
Artless Glow base is highly moisturizing; it does not dry up fully for a few hours, but stays sticky to the touch. I think it was formulated to be used with cushion foundations; Heimish actually came up with Artless perfect cushion (this one) as a part of primer + foundation set. It layers well on top of my skincare, and I can even layer it on itself despite its stickiness. It's slightly pink in color, but it blends well without over the top up-toning effects. Its finish was my biggest disappointment. The base does have "Glow" in its name, but I did not expect a disco-ball levels of shine; I was hoping it'll have softer, less obvious finish, something close to ONL Dear Style Real Skinny Make up base, more of a candle-lit kind of radiant finish. I saw a couple reviews, as well as the very detailed description on StyleKorean (here), the official distributor, and the radiance did not reach dangerous levels in any of swatch pictures. I guess it does not photograph well (and it does not look as radiant in my own swatch picture as IRL), because Artless Glow base gave me one of the most pronounced, seen-from-across-the-street kind of radiant finishes I ever had. I know it'll be a bonus for some people, but for me it was more of a nuisance, since Artless Glow base does not seem to have any ability to soften my skin's texture. It accentuates every pore to such a degree that it makes my skin look like an orange peel dipped in oil. It's not one of those primers that can be used by itself, and as I don't use makeup every day, it's rather useless for me. Also, my skin seem to dislike it for some reason; even though I don't see any triggers in its ingredients list, I ended up having small red bumps on my cheeks and jawline almost every time I used this primer.
Lastly, there are bonus first impression reviews for a couple sunscreens that I didn't buy in full size; I got samplers of both with my eBay orders and decided I might as well talk about them briefly, since these sunscreens are hardly ever mentioned on YouTube and/or blogs.
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| The History of Whoo Whitening Essence sunscreen SPF46/PA++ |
Let's start with The History of Whoo Whitening Essence sunscreen SPF46/PA++ (official website here). When I went on my sunscreen shopping spree last year, I really wanted to try one one from The History of Whoo; they have only two sunscreens, this one and Jin Hae Yoon Sun cream (official website here), plus a couple sun cushions and sun powder (here) that I wasn't interested in. Both sun creams have very low PA rating, only PA++, and neither of them has the full ingredients list, or even the active ingredients list (filters) posted on their website. Someone was kind enough to post the full ingredients list for Whitening CC Sun cream (2013), which has the same SPF/PA rating as Essence sunscreen and might be it's previous version (cosdna here); it's combination sunscreen with both physical (titanium dioxide and zinc oxide) and chemical (octinoxate and ensulizole) filters. I was more interested in Jin Hae Yoon Sun cream, since it claims to be able to "prevent skin aging caused by heat", just like Sulwhasoo Renodigm EX; however, when I checked its reviews, every blogger who used it mentioned just how heavy and rich the sun cream was, and how greasy it made their skin, etc. That left me with Whitening Essence sunscreen, which I decided to skip in favor of Sooryehan sunscreen (and I'm glad I did). The 2013 version had over 10 different perfumes in it, and I wasn't able to find the full ingredient list for the current version anywhere; I just didn't feel like gambling.
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| The History of Whoo Whitening Essence sunscreen SPF46/PA++ - PR claims from their official website |
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| The History of Whoo Whitening Essence sunscreen SPF46/PA++ is slightly up-toning |
Whitening Essence sunscreen comes out pale lilac pink, almost white in color; it's slightly up-toning after application. It has light, almost liquid-y texture, and it does not feel greasy on my skin. When I tried it on, I had very radiant finish the whole day; it felt slightly creamy to the touch even after a few hours after application. It has no pore coverage whatsoever, so it'll require a separate primer to be used under makeup. Unfortunately, I had a couple blemishes next morning after using it.
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Water Span SPF50/PA+++ PR info from the official website |
I had O Hui Perfect Sun Water Span SPF50/PA+++ in my shopping card on eBay, so I was very happy when I got a few samplers of it with some purchases. It's a combination sunscreen (cosdna here) with both chemical (octinoxate, ensulizole, Uvinil A Plus, and Tinosorb S) and physical (titanium IV oxide) filters. I thought that sunscreen in cushion form would be perfect for reapplying in the afternoon; there is much to be said about carrying a gorgeous-looking cushion compact around instead of big tube or a decant jar of sunscreen. Yes, I know what you're thinking - despite always talking about ignoring products' packaging, I was about to pick my sunscreen partly because it comes in beautiful compact - and you're right. However, cushion sunscreen would've saved me some time and effort when reapplying; I saw a couple videos on YouTube about decanting sunscreens in old used-up cushion compacts for reapplication during the day, and it seemed to work just fine.
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Water Span SPF50/PA+++ |
After I tried the samplers, however, I'm glad I didn't purchase the cushion. O Hui website suggests that it should be used under their Second Skin foundation (link here), and there is no color swatch next to it on the Perfect Sun line overview (see above), so I thought it's just a sunscreen that also functions as a primer. I did not expect it to be actually quite pigmented. When I squeezed out my usual amount of sunscreen and started applying it with a dry sponge (it's a cushion after all, so I felt that to test it correctly I should at least try to mimic the way it would be applied), I was shocked. I started with a cake-like face, and it took me a long white to pat it in down to tolerably acceptable, but still high coverage. I suspect that a lot of product migrated from my face to my sponge, so I'm not sure if the end coverage was sufficient.
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Water Span SPF50/PA+++ - color and coverage |
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| O Hui Perfect Sun Water Span SPF50/PA+++ - color and coverage in direct sunlight |
I strongly believe that if I were starting not with a sampler, but with the cushion, I'd never put as much product on as I usually do; it's just too pigmented. Unfortunately, that means that I would never had a proper amount of sunscreen on. Don't take me wrong, if Water Span were a CC or BB, I'd be in love with it - it matches my skin color well, it does not oxidize, and it does not transfer too much even though it takes a while to dry up completely. I even like its finish; while it's definitely glow-y, it does not accentuate my skin texture. Sadly, it gets oily throughout the day, and it feels a bit heavy on my skin, but those are not major flaws. This being said, the initial idea was to use it as a sunscreen; in order for it to be effective, I have to apply a certain amount of it, and if I can't do that, then this sunscreen is doomed to be a failure, no matter how many other things it can do on top of being a sunscreen...
TL;DR
HERA Sun Mate Daily and HERA Sun Mate Leports were too oily for my skin; they did not set and their finish was too radiant for me. WNR.
Kicho Ultra Moisturizing sun cream is my favorite of all the sunscreens I mentioned in this post; it's very hydrating, but it's not too heavy; while it gives me glass skin finish, it's not accentuating any skin texture, pores, or other flaws. WR.
O Hui Perfect Sun Pro Black worked well for me in transitional weather, but it's less flattering than Kicho when it comes to skin texture; it's much lighter than Kicho and both HERA sunscreens. I'm going to see how well it works for me in hot weather, but it wasn't emollient enough for cold winter. Might repurchase.
Heimish Artless Glow Base was very moisturizing; it made my skin super shiny, and it accentuated every pore and wrinkle. WNR.
The History of Whoo Whitening Essence sunscreen broke me out; I wasn't able to find its ingredients list, so I can't say what could've caused that. Also, it's PA rating is too low. WNR.
O Hui Perfect Sun Water Span was too pigmented to be used as a sunscreen; it makes a decent makeup though. It's comparable with some CC and BB cushions I've tried. WNR.
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