Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Hanyul Optimizing Serum

Bringing back an old post from my old blog ^^;; My first actual review! Impressive right? ^^~ I actually tried a sample of this first and loved how it felt and decided to take the plunge for the full sized version. It's recently been repackaged but this review is for the older version. They've actually repackaged it again. Although I swear, the packaging is getting uglier and uglier -_-
Originally when it launched, Jun Ji Hyun was the spokesperson...which helped me bite the bullet





It says that the Optimizing Serum is 83% oriental medicine concentrate for clearer, healthier skin. It:
  • Repairs skin that has been thrown off balance 
  • Strengthens regenerative ability through the extract of the brown pine needle
  • To give boosting effects to help regain skin's circulation rhythm
The 1-10s of Hanyul Serum:
  1. Your Skin's #1 Hanbang (Oriental Medicine) Boosting Serum
  2. 2 sectioned brown pine needle
  3. 3 weeks later toward healthy skin
  4. 4 times the active ingredients of green pine needles
  5. 55% Increase in skin luster
  6. 6 types of raw oriental medicine material prescribed
  7. 7 types of skin improvement effects
  8. 83% hanbang concentrate
  9. 9 hours of fumigation
  10. brown pine needles harvested in Oct (10)

 Front of the Box

Back of the Box

I like the elegance of the packaging.

The leaflet also gives you tips on how to best apply

You're supposed to use about 2~3 pumps right after you wash your face. It's supposed to be the first serum/essence you use, even before toner. It's supposed to help other serums absorb and strengthen the effects of other serums/essences. I can't really speak for the anti-aging/anti-wrinkle benefits yet.

This is one pump of the serum.

I love the faint smell of hanbang (oriental medicine). The serum is a light brown like the bottle and it's not super liquidy but it's not super thick. It absorbs fairly quickly which is good for layering.

you can see the texture as it gets spread
before absorption

after it dries


Here's a link to the ingredients on CosDNA

Packaging: 5/5 
The pump works well enough and I find the design simplistic and elegant.

Product: 5/5
I actually love the smell of this serum and I love how it makes my skin feel. My skin was fairly rough and felt extremely imbalanced overall but I feel like it did a good job in soothing and calming my skin and helping my other products work better. Although if you are sensitive to alcohol, please keep in mind that it does seem to have a high alcohol content.

Value: 4/5
At ~$65 for 70ml, it's not cheap but considering it has similar function to Sulhwasoo's First Care Serum which retails for 85,000 for 60ml.

Overall: 5/5
I have repurchased this and consider this HG status. I feel like it does improve my skin texture (roughness) and clarity (although not permanently) and doesn't cause my sensitive skin to breakout. In addition, I can tell that my skin condition isn't as great when I don't use this product and will continue to buy this product as long as they continue to make it.