I’m super excited for this review because I really like this products and enjoyed using it in the past weeks: the Hwajin Cosmetics Yeblang Special A Star Essence. What makes this essence so special is the formula and the ingredients, one of them being Astaxanthin.
Hwajin Cosmetics is a Korean brand mostly new to me, but it seems they have a range of skincare and household items. I reviewed the Homme Terrior All in One Lotion before, and my bf still uses it occasionally. I read some few reviews on the Yeblang line before (from fellow BNTgirls), so I was super excited to receive this product this time.
The Yeblang Special A Star Essence is an anti-aging and hydrating product. It contains the powerful anti-oxidant Astaxanthin which is also responsible for the bright orange color of the essence. Also the packaging design refers to the ingredients by being completely orange aswell. The bottle containing the essence is made of glass and looks really elegant and mature. It is also orange of course. The bottle also comes with an included dropper, which is used to take out the essence. I had to squeeze it a couple of times before it started working.
The first thing you’ll notice is the bright orange color of the serum and as I said it is related to the ingredient Astaxanthin. Astaxanthin is a strong antioxidant, so it helps the skin to recover from sun induced damages by influencing the Melanin activity. Astaxanthin is said to be 100 times more effective than Vitamin C or E. But the essence contains even more ingredients and most of these are plant derived essences and oils. The ingredients can be checked via COSDNA. The product also contains some potential acne triggers and irritants, so please check for the ingredients and make a patch test before you try it out if you are curious. Also, to mention one negative point, the ingredients list Benzophenone, which is listed as harmful ingredient.
The texture of this orange essence is really thick and jelly-like and I first associated it to be heavy on the skin too. Compared to other essences the Yeblang Special A Star Essence one looks more like a serum or Ampoule here. Surprisingly, once you apply it you feel how it melts and how moisturizing the product is. The texture also changes into a moist and watery product which will hydrate your skin. It also does not feel heavy or greasy and it is not sticky either. I also have the feeling that it makes the skin feel firmer on the next day after using it (I’m using it in the evenings) in combination with the other products I’m using at the moment (if you are curious about my routines, I occasionally post them on Instagram).
All in all the Yeblang Special A Star Essence is super great and I love it. I reviewed the Chico you Chica Astazet cream before which also contains Astaxanthin and my skin liked it very much back then. Having a new Astaxanthin product in my skincare routine seems to be the right way to go. The only downside of the Hwajin Cosmetics Yeblang Special A Star Essence is, that it is quite expensive and retails for 49800 Won which is round about 50 US $. I’m using a couple of drops of the essence and I hope this will last as long as possible and therefore compensate for the price. The cream was cheaper, but I went through it very quickly, too (I think I just have a bit left, because I stopped using it in order to try so many new products).
This product was provided to me by BNTnews for reviewing. Don’t forget to visit the other BNTGirls Kim, Bella, Mary, Celine,Alene,Joanne,Chermaine,Mitha, Blair and many more…check out their reviews for the June BNT Beauty Box. You can find my previous reviews for BNTnews >>here<<. And visit BNTnews for the latest Korean news and trends:
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Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by http://www.bntnews.co.uk/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.
That’s great that your skin responds to the astaxanthin. I experimented with it once but didn’t see much of an effect. I’d give it another chance with a more vetted product~
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Which product did you try? Maybe you need a higher concentration of Astaxanthin…with the chico y chica cream I mainly saw how the Astaxanthin in combination with the other products reduced my freckles, but this time I didn’t test it long enough to observe the changes directly. It is mainly my inner feeling that my skin likes the product and feels more hydrated.
Great review and great pics too. I agree its kinda expensive for this product. But its interesting indeed.
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Oh wow this product truly is very orange! Once my stash of vitamin C products are used up I’ll have to take a look at Astazanthin.
Sophie | MapleTreeBlog
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