Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream

12:11:00 AM mandy 0 Comments

K-beauty has some really interesting and bizarre ingredients: horse oil, donkey milk, goat milk, snake venom, bee venom, and snail slime. Nothing ever really piqued my interest since I took them all as marketing gimmicks. I would probably never have tried the Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream had my friend not passed a tube on to me. The concept and promises of snail mucus are appealing but I am not 100% sold on it from this product alone.



Mizon's description:

Containing of Snail Secretion Filtrate 74%.

Mucin in snail secretion helps to repair damaged skin and give clear and smooth skin. The snail gel cream absorbs quickly thanks to the fresh and lightweight formula and reinforces skin repairment.

Hyaluronic acid in the formula gives skin rich moisture and keeps skin smooth all day long.

Centella, portulaca, and green tea extract prevent skin troubles and protect skin from the outside harmful factors while soothing skin.

Adenosine, the certified wrinkle care ingredient, improves fine wrinkle problems.

Peptides and 5 kinds of vitamins firm skin.

* The formula is free of artificial coloring, fragrance, and paraben to minimize skin irritation.

Directions
Apply an appropriate amount on face after cleansing, dabbing until absorbed.

Ingredients
SNAIL SECRETION FILTRATE, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, GLYCERIN, BIS-PEG-18 METHYL ETHER, DIMETHYLSILANE, POLYSORBATE2-, SODIUM HYALURONATE, CARBOMER, GLYCOSYL TREHALOSE, HYDROGENATED STARCH HYDOLSYATE, TRIETHANOLAMINE, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, DIMETHICONE, HYDROXYETHYLCELLULOSE, CAPRYLYL GLYOCOL, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, SODIUM POLYACRYLATE, CENTELLA ASIATICA EXTRACT, PORTULACA OLERACEA EXTRACT, CAMELLIAS SINENSIS LEAF EXTRACT, NELUMBO NUCIFERA FLOWER EXTRACT, BETULA PLATYLPHYLLA JAPONICA JUICE, TROPOLONE, COPPER TRIPEPTIDE-1, ALLANTOIN, PANTHENOL, OLEA EUROPAEA (OLIVE) FRUIT OIL, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL, PALMITOYL PENTAPEPTIDE-4, ADENOSINE, DISODIUM EDTA

Cream 45 ml

Mizon (Korean retail): ₩19,000
RoseRoseShop: ₩19,000 (sale ₩6,080)
Peach & Lily: USD $18.00
Amazon: USD ~$8.00-10.00
iHerb: USD $8.34

Packaging

The box that the cream comes in doesn't have any information in English to help sell the benefits of snail slime. I tried to Google translate the Korean; it mentions something along the lines of how the slime has the ability to "restore skin strength and vitality" and "provide smoothing effects" for skin texture and wrinkles. There are many beauty blogs, beauty/fashion editorials, and Western-catering e-commerce sites that claim snail mucus to have impressive healing capabilities while having great moisture holding power.

For a product that retails close to $20, the packaging is surprisingly basic. I presume the price is due to the "74% snail secretion" that makes this cream so special. I can only imagine how many snails and how much time is needed to produce the number of gel creams people demand.

The packaging looks and feels like an inexpensive drugstore lotion that come in a standard plastic tube with a twist off lid. If something comes in a tube, I generally prefer it to have a flip-top lid; one less thing to fumble with during my morning and night routines.

At 45ml/1.52oz, it is a great size for traveling, especially via air since the tube comes in under the 100ml/3.4 oz limit. The Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream seems to be on promotions often so I wouldn't count the price tag as a disadvantage. Heck, my friend generously gave me this tube saying she purchased a set of two for ~$12.

Color, Texture, Finish, & Scent

Since the product is formulated without synthetic colors and fragrances the gel cream is cloudy-clear straight out of the tube and scent-free. It turns more transparent as it is worked into the skin. There is an initial tacky sticky feeling one would assume snail secretion to have, but that sensation doesn't last. It doesn't even look glossy for long. The gel absorbs pretty fast and I can barely feel any residue once my skin drinks it up.

How I Apply

Moisturizer // Generously applied all over the face and neck. First rubbed the cream between my palms and then patted it in.

Spot treatment // Very generously dabbed onto scabs, dried-out burn wounds, and pimples.

Thoughts & Recommendations

As a moisturizer for combination skin with a lot of flakes, there are better products out there. It isn't deeply moisturizing no matter how much I apply or even if I combine an oil with the gel cream. The more normal and oily parts of my face felt alright, but the drier and flakier areas have a tendency to feel a little tight and even look flakier as the day progresses. It doesn't work well under any mattifying makeup.

As a spot treatment, I was pleasantly surprised. It does seem to heal wounds and blemishes a little faster than if I had not use the cream. The concentrated spots of dry skin around scabs came off more easily and any bumps flattened out a smidge quicker. Nothing is instantaneous, however. The scabbiness doesn't go away after only one spot treating session...more like multiple times a day for several days.

The gel cream is nice to use on wounds if it's sitting on my vanity. This product just isn't so amazing that I would go out of my way to repurchase it for the sole purpose of treating burns and blemishes. I won't miss it when I finish up the tube. However, I am slightly more interested than before in trying higher concentrated snail creams. We'll see...