Saturday, April 28, 2018

Skincare review: Tony Moly "I'm Real" Broccoli Vitality


When I lived in Seoul, I may have dispensed a rather ridiculous amount of my discretionary spending on sheet masks, then gone through the bother of hauling them back in my hilariously (and expensively) over-stuffed luggage. If you've never heard of them (are you living on Titan?), sheet masks are face-shaped cloth or paper masks saturated with serums and ointments meant to give your skin an intensive dose of healing goodness. There seem to be as many sheet masks in existence as there are sea shells scattered along a beach, each purporting to be the best at whatever it claims to do. Need a brightening super-dose of vitamin c to wake up your skin? There are countless options. How about some snail mucin to soothe anxious, irritated skin? Boy howdy are you in luck! Every skin care/cosmetics company in Korea seems to be in on the sheet mask game, and compared to what I'd have paid for them stateside they are SUPER cheap to purchase when in Korea. When in Seoul... 


Each company throws out new and innovative products trying to get an edge on the competition, so you'll often find some surprising inclusions in the serums. Snail mucin is old news and not particularly shocking to me- in fact, it's an ingredient my skin seems to absolutely adore, so I seek it out. Broccoli essence is a little more novel... but does it work?


Tony Moly is one of the more well-known Korean Beauty brands in the US, or was one of the first I was introduced to through beauty blogs, at least. They have adorable hand creams shaped like bananas or Pokemon, and their aesthetic seems a bit more young and youthful than some of the other brands. That can be a good or bad thing depending on what you're looking for. As much as I love clever, cute details in the packaging of products, if it's not doing it's job or serving practical purposes I'm not going to love it. This sheet mask, as you can see in the photos above, didn't fit my face very well. It clung on my forehead and cheeks alright, though it tore near one of my eyes when I tried to adjust the fit slightly. The serum was very watery, which I didn't particularly mind because the serum itself felt nice and soothing on my skin. I woke up with a nice, calm glow that wasn't greasy, so the serum worked well enough. The mask itself felt cheap, though, and didn't add any real sense of luxury to the self-care ritual. Also, that package is kind of obnoxious to me. I get the uniqueness and shelf-appeal of having the unique shapes jutting from the top as opposed to the standard pouch, but it makes it harder to store. I like to keep my sheet masks in the fridge because they feel that much nicer going on chilled, and I imagine it helps to preserve any volatile or less shelf-stable ingredients. It gets hot in Vegas, and even with our air-con on it doesn't prevent our bathroom from getting warmer than I really care to make my cosmetics. Fitting this in with the rest of my sheet mask horde means that there's a weirdly shaped end sticking out somewhere, and makes it longer/taller than my other masks, so some of the places the others would have fit no problem can be meddlesome with this shape.


As far as this mask goes, I don't think I would repurchase it. You can find a set of Tony Moly sheet masks with this one included for about $18 on Wal-mart's website, which isn't a terrible price for 11 masks. If you're looking for an affordable way to pamper your skin and get into the sheet mask game, it's not the worst possible place to start, but it's not the best, either. 


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Overall I'd give it a 2 out 5.
I like the serum, but the mask feels cheap and doesn't adhere to the face well. Any adjustments to the fit once it's on could cause it to tear or lose adhesion, and it never really clung to my jaw to begin with. There are much better options out there.

Thanks for stopping by!

πŸ’–
XOXO,
NAU


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