When I went to Sasa to stock up on my usual daily dose of Cellnique’s Pro Sebum Gel, I was surprised to find that it was no longer available. There I was, looking all over for the bright pink box (that was how it was packaged), but to no avail. When I asked the sales assistant if they’ve stopped stocking the product, that was when I found out that Cellnique had actually renamed and repackaged the Pro Sebum Gel under the brand B-Liv by Cellniq.

Just to be sure, I contacted Cellnique regarding this rebranding. A few weeks later, I received a reply from Ms Joey Chin, a Cellnique representative. She has kindly allowed me to quote her reply here.

Our Pro Sebum Gel has been re-packaged under b.liv by cellniq. It was an exercise which we had planned since Jan 08. The reason behind the re-branding is because we have done some researches & found out that the youngsters nowadays, like something fun, even for their skin care products. Hence, we have re-vamped the whole brand to suit to their requirements.

We have also found out that they (what we called the Gen-Yers) like something easy to use, do not require much hassle & saves time. Hence, we have developed a range of products that only have 2 steps: cleanse & treat. If you notice, all of our products only have 2 steps. Currently, we have 4 range of products:

1. Hydration range (Blue)
a) Drench Me – cleanser
b) Quench Me – moisturizer for hydration

2. Comedone Reducing (Orange)
a) Squeaky Clean – cleanser
b) Off With Those Heads – treatment for black/white heads
c) Got Me Covered – a complementary product. It is our sun-block + natural foundation that acts like a make-up base

3. Pore Reducing (Purple)
a) Glow & Shine – weekly masque that has triple function: deep cleanse + brightening + cell renewal
b) Shrink & Tighten – a complementary product for open pores

4. Blemish Control (Pink)
a) No Spots Bye Dots – cleanser
b) Spots Got Shot – treatment gel for spots

So there you go. The Pro Sebum Gel was simply repackaged and renamed to B-Liv Off With Those Heads Pro Sebum Gel.

Although I have to say, I wasn’t at all keen on the rebranding though. Even though the objective of the rebranding was aimed at appealing to the younger generation, I couldn’t help but wonder if they’ve taken a step too far into somehow downgrading the outlook of the product.

The original Pro Sebum Gel came in a pink plastic box. This was another version in packaging.

Methinks the original packaging looked a whole lot better, and classier too. Cellnique is not a very popular skincare brand, and the products aren’t cheap. The Pro Sebum Gel costs RM139 per bottle in the original packaging. The rebranded B-Liv Off With Those Heads costs the same. If I’ve never heard of Cellnique’s Pro Series range before, and see it on the shelves of Sasa, I might be swayed to give it a go despite the hefty price tag on an unknown product.

However, when I saw B-Liv, the range looked as though it was targeted more towards teenagers. And teenagers would hardly pay RM139 for a single piece of skincare product. The bottles looked plasticky, resembled sunscreen bottles and looked as though they belonged in a drugstore. It’s definitely not something I’d pay that much for at first glance.

I’m disappointed at the change. Even though I will continue to buy B-Liv’s Pro Sebum Gel as it works very well for me in controlling pimple outbreaks, somehow I feel shortchanged 🙁

Bring back the long cylindrical bottle and pink box!