HANBANG SKINCARE

(Oriental Herbal Ingredients Skincare)

Frankly, I believe oriental formula skin cares are created for Asian skin type. But why? Why is it so unique and why do many Asian consumers (especially Chinese and Korean) love it?

There are representative Korean skin care brands that contains oriental herbal ingredients including Sulhwasoo and The History of Whoo.

My mum is a big fan of Sulhwasoo so I was friendly with most of Sulhwasoo ranges. However our team in Korea highly recommended the story of whoo that brings my curiosity out.

There are many different ranges under each brand. But as I am a beginner of using oriental herbal ingredient skincare, I am starting with basic lines.

Oriental formula skin care brands put an emphasis on several key points.

• Natural herbal ingredients
• Fermented formulation
• Royal and Premium quality product

The History of Whoo

The history of Whoo is a famous, supreme skincare brand born in 2003 by LG Cosmetics. Brand says it uses secret beauty formulae of the royal court and Gongin bidan, a formula presented exclusively to emperors and empresses. Gonginbidan gives elegant and fresh looks even without putting on a makeup.

The name of this brand gives me the image of royal and high end. The story of Whoo is also known as China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan’s favourite skin care item.

Review

The first impression of The History of Whoo Gong Jin Hyang series is very Asian like package. Dark brown hard case and gold accents are luxurious. I could smell the strong Chinese herbal medicine scent when I opened the bottle. 

My favourite item out of Gong Jin Hyang series is Qi & Jin Cream. It comes with 5 different travel sized miniatures that gives me the chance to try out other products from Gong Jin Yang series.  

Texture is rich but light once it is absorbed. As I pat it, it absorbs instantly. To me scent is too strong but as I applied the last step of skin care, I feel like my skin to be healthier and nourished with high quality products.

The story of Whoo maintains skin’s balance. They are developed in an effort to comprehensively resolve problems experienced during skin again rather than a specific skin problem.

Sulhwasoo

Sul-Hwa-Soo is a well known brand worldwide. They were established in 2010 by Amore Pacific and this label nailed Amore pacific to be the top cosmetic brand in Korea. They follow the Eastern principle Yin and Yang within the body to achieve optimum skin health, combining rare and indifenous natural herbal ingredients known to restore energy essential for youthful skin.

Review

Personally I love Essential First Care Activate Serum and Essential Clarifying mask. Essential First Care Activate Serum (in Korean 윤조에센스) is a boosting serum. At this stage, have you ever heard about a boosting serum? It is a common term in Korea. Basically a product that you apply before you apply the rest of your skincare, so that it boosts the efficacy of your skincare. I definitely see the difference after a week of using this product. It refines my skin and allows my skin to be balanced before I apply rest of the items. It is also good to use before applying a sheet mask.

The second recommended item is Essential Clarifying mask (옥용팩) which gives an instant result in my case. It was a bit complicated to use at the first time. It says to apply a thick layer of gel type of mask straight onto face and after 20 mins, peel it off to lift impurities and dead skin cells off, in order to detoxify and clarify. I could feel the honey textured mask and felt the coldness on my skin. Scent was not that great but of course, I could not hold my breath for 20 mins. After I peeled the mask off, my skin was glowing and gave a mosturized finish. I rated this item 10 out of 10 !

Once you peel the mask off, you can see dirts & white heads