A couple of months ago, I shared with you this super awesomesauce facial I had with SK-II in Sydney. A week later, I was kindly given the opportunity to trial four SK-II products that were recommended to me during the skin consultation prior to the facial.
Now if you remember, I had my skin analysis done using the Magic Ring and my results weren’t as well as I expected. I had poor scores on Spot Control and Texture Refinement and an overall skin age of 30*. I was disappointed with the results and repeatedly questioned my own skincare routine. What the heck was I doing wrong? I wasn’t looking for a skin age of 25 but at least something less than 30 would be nice, wouldn’t it? The number 29 looks better than 30! 😛
Anyway, back to the products I was given to try out. The only SK-II product I’ve used prior to this was the Facial Treatment Essence. Now I used that for almost a year quite some time ago and while it did produce good results at first (smooth and soft skin), a few months down the road and there was no more improvement. I was disappointed at the lack of results and haven’t used it since.
A couple of years later, here we are again. The skincare regime starts out with the Cleansing Gel, then the Facial Treatment Essence, the Whitening Spots Specialist serum and finally the Stempower moisturiser.
How did it go? Were the results still the same as before? Was my skin age still *gulp* 30*?
Ingredients: Mineral Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate, Water, Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, Polysorbate 60, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Butylene Glycol, Triethylhexanoin, Sucrose Palmitate, Sucrose Distearate, Diisostearyl Malate, Butylparaben, Sodium Benzoate, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Crithmum Maritimum Extract, Disodium EDTA, Tocopherol, Ammonium Silver Zinc Aluminum Silicate, CI 77019, CI 77891.
This cleansing gel works like an oil cleanser. It goes on dry skin, you massage it on the skin for 30 seconds, watch it emulsify before using a cloth or cotton pads to wipe it off. You can even rinse it off if you want. Oh I like this one. It doesn’t strip the skin of moisture at all and whilst it doesn’t remove every trace of makeup (mascara requires a separate makeup remover), it does a good job as a cleanser. I use this in lieu of an oil cleanser and still double-cleanse in my skincare routine. You don’t need a lot of gel per cleanse so one tub can last quite a while.
Ingredients: Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, Butylene Glycol, Pentylene Glycol, Water, Sodium Benzoate, Methylparaben, Sorbic Acid.
This is what I call the “smelly water”. The pitera in all SK-II products makes them smell like yeast and this one has the strongest scent of them all. When I first started using this many years ago, it stopped showing results after a couple of months. Now that I’m using it again, I didn’t have very high hopes that this will work well. Well, it’s been 2 months, and I’ll have to say, so far so good. My skin is still soft and boing boing.
Ingredients: Water, Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, Niacinamide, Butylene Glycol, Pentylene Glycol, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Inositol, Dimethicone, Isohexadecane, Phytosteryl/Octyldodecyl Lauroyl Glutamate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, PEG-20 Sorbitan Cocoate, Methylparaben, Aminomethyl Propanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Dimethiconol, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Disodium EDTA, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Palmaria Palmata Extract, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Extract
The category that pulled my skin age score down was my growing hyperpigmentation. I checked with the skin consultant on whether I should try out the whitening serum or the Cellumination Essence (which gives the skin radiance). She said that as I should be targeting my problem areas first, I’m to tackle the hyper pigmentation with the whitening serum first. I’ve been using this for 2 months and I wouldn’t say it lightened my hyperpigmentation much. It looks like it’s slowing down the production of more spots but I’m still keeping a very close eye on them. While there wasn’t a signficant amount of lightening on the hyperpigmentation, they do appear slightly lighter than before I started using the serum. Overall, my skin looks brighter and more radiant after using this so yay! Thumbs up! 🙂
Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Butylene Glycol, Isohexadecane, Pentylene Glycol, Dimethicone, Isopropyl Isostearate, Polyacrylamide, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Acanthopanax Senticosus (Eleuthero) Root Extract, Cynara Scolymus (Artichoke) Leaf Extract, Sodium PEG-7 Olive Oil Carboxylate, Sucrose Polycottonseedate, Panthenol, Dimethiconol, Methicone, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Methylsilanol Tri-PEG-8 Glyceryl Cocoate, Behenyl Alcohol, Benzyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Cetyl Alcohol, Laureth-7, PEG-100 Stearate, Stearic Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Ammonium Polyacrylate, Sodium Hydroxide, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Polyquaternium-7, Disodium EDTA, Ethylparaben, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, CI 77492 (Iron Oxides), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).
This replaces the Skin Signature Cream and is my favourite product of the four that I tried. The texture of the cream is oh so light and smooth (like smooth single cream) but emollient enough to keep my skin hydrated all night in winter. It makes my skin feel so smooth and soft the next morning. I’ve been using this in the evenings for the past 2 months and I haven’t even touched 1/4 of the 80g jar yet! So, in terms of cost per use and all that, the $200 price tag isn’t actually too bad. That’s the justification I’m sticking to when I purchase this when it’s finished, thank you very much!
After 2 months of being on the SK-II skincare regime, it’s time to see if there’s any improvement to my skin. I only use this in the evenings though; since they aren’t cheap to begin with, I thought I’d only use them before bed to make them last as long as possible :P. I went to the SK-II counter at MYER in the city and had my skin analysed again with the Magic Ring. I kept my fingers crossed for good results this time. Anything less than 30 years old, hell I’ll take it!
When I saw the results on the laptop, my jaw dropped. Now I don’t think the Magic Ring nor the laptop was faulty so I cannot tell if these results are 100% accurate but if they are, son of a gun! My new skin age is now a whopping 23! 😀
Wonky equipment or not, I am super-duper chuffed with the results. Even if I didn’t have my skin analysis done again, there is a significant difference to my skin ever since I started on this regime. My skin is now softer, brighter, the hyperpigmentation slightly lightened and it’s all round just better.
On the other hand, now that I know this works so well for me, I’m also kinda screwed. How the hell am I going to keep up with this skincare regime?? Oh boy, looks like I’m going to need to really save up to keep on with SK-II! 😛
What I like about it: Mighty impressed with the overall results from using the recommended products above. I believe I can do without the cleansing gel but the rest, so far so good. Even the “smelly water” is holding up well. The Whitening Spots Specialist serum is the star of all the products I’ve tried but honestly, I still like the Stempower moisturiser best just because it feels oh so good on my skin. 😛
What I do not like about it: Well, it’s SK-II so you know it ain’t cheap. Sigh.
Have you tried any of these SK-II products before? What did you think? Did the famous “smelly water” work for you?
*30 is a very good skin age if you’re in your late 30s or 40s. Not so much when your actual age is 33.
Note: These products were provided for editorial consideration.
