Unboxing Beauty

Disclaimer:  This product was sent to me for review purposes.  All opinions are my own and unbiased.  Contains affiliate links

 

Muse-esque, Ha Ji Won, a Korean actress who starred in K-drama hits like “Secret Garden” and “Empress Ki” has created her own cult skincare product.  I am a Memebox Ambassador and I was sent  J.One Hana Cream  for review purposes.  Let’s see what I thought of it!

 

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Description: We’re revealing one of South Korea’s Top Actress’ Ha Ji Won’s secret to her ever youthful skin! This unique, anti-wrinkle capsule cream provides intensive anti-aging care to keep the skin moist, firm and elastic. Encapsulated in every 40g spherical capsule are high concentrations of pure and natural premium ingredients with exquisite skincare effects. These ingredients include collagen-boosting peptides, sunflower seed oil, macadamia seed oil and zhi mu plant extract. It works in complete synergy to optimize each one’s nutrition content to be able to deliver great results. This gives the skin a visibly smoother and softer texture with healthy, pinkish radiance.

This has some pretty standard ingredients, very potent antioxidants that help combat free radicals and reverse the damage caused by them, such as softening fine lines and wrinkles and damage caused by UV rays:

• Moisturizing/Hydrating/Humectant: Macadamia Seed Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil,  Palm Oil, Shea Butter, Beta-Glucan, Ceramide, Anemarrhena Asphodeloides(zhi mu) , Betaine, Tocopheryl Acetate, Beta-Sitosterol, Biotin

• Brightening: Niacinamide, Tremella Fuciformis 

• Anti-Inflammatory: Adenosine, Tremella Fuciformis, Beta-Glucan, Tremella Fuciformis, Tocopheryl Acetate, Beta-Sitosterol, Ubiquinone, Thioctic Acid, Phytosphingosine

• Anti-Bacterial/Anti-Acne: Centella Asiatica, Salicylic Acid, Phytosphingosine

This product is packed full of good ingredients, but it does have a couple of warning ingredients ~ it does contain comedogical ingredients, which means it can clog up pores.  There are a few good anti-bacterial and anti-acne ingredients to counter that, but depending your skin’s reaction, it may not be enough.    There is also an ingredient called fullerenes that I am not familiar with, so I decided to do a little research on this

Fullerenes, or carbon buckyballs, are a patented technology and they are microscopic hollow spheres that are stable and will carry active ingredients into your skin.  These are nano-particles and they are reported to help reduce wrinkles and tone your skin, making it firmer and smoother.   Fullerenes act as a free radical sponge, by breaking up the bonds and adding an electron to the free radical molecules.  Are fullerenes safe?  There has been conflicting studies that were not tested using humans,  and this technology is fairly new and long term studies obviously haven’t been finalized.   The rapid usage of fullerenes and nanotechnology in skincare has been greatly improved, but also causes concern about the health and safety of using such products long term, as they easily penetrate skin.  From what I understand with my limited scope as a non-scientist, fullerenes can have positive effects and act as antioxidants when used in skincare.  That said, since I am not a scientist,  I would suggest reading more about fullerenes yourself, using not only Google but Google Scholar. 

What to learn more about free radicals?  Check out Understanding Free Radicals and Antioxidants by Health Check Systems

 

 

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Ingredients: Water, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Propanediol, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Dipropylene Glycol, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Oil, Shea Butter, Niacinamide, Centella Asiatica Extract, Tremella Fuciformis (Mushroom) Extract, Anemarrhena Asphodeloides Root Extract, 1,2-Hexanediol, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Beta-Glucan, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, Agar, Panthenol, PEG/PPG-17/6 Copolymer, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Pentylene Glycol, Betaine, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Cyclopentasiloxane, Hydrogenated Poly (C6-14 Olefin), Glyceryl Acrylate/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, Sodium Polyacrylate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Adenosine, Salicylic Acid, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Dimethiconol, Potassium Hydroxide, PVP, Dimethicone, Sorbitan Laurate, Hydroxypropyl Cyclodextrin, Cyclomethicone, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hydroxyethyl Ethyl Cellulose, Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester, Beta-Sitosterol, Cholesterol, Propylene Glycol, Glyceryl Linolenate, Glyceryl Linoleate, Glyceryl Arachidonate, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Ubiquinone, Caprylyl Glycol, Ceteth-24, Choleth-24, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Thioctic Acid, Brassica Campestris (Rapeseed) Sterols, PEG-5 Rapeseed Sterol, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Riboflavin, Ceteth-3, Ceteth-5, Palmitoyl Dipeptide-5, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Ceramide 3, Phytosphingosine, Fullerenes, Biotin, Tocopherol, Folic Acid, Pyridoxine, Alcohol, Xanthan Gum, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance  cosDNA.com analysis

Initial Impressions

This cream is certainly unique in its “shape”.  The little white balls are very bouncy and there is a “spoon” included to scoop them out of the jar.  I have dropped a few cream balls to my bathroom floor as they are slippery little suckers.   I was disappointed that the balls are more like a firm pudding texture, and not encapsulated with a hard shell, which you would have to break.  I know that sounds weird, but I was hoping for something like a vitamin E capsule, so that I could actually toss these in a plastic baggie and travel with them that way ~ instead of hauling around a jar.  I guess I could still do that, but they would get all mushed up in the bag.  The jar is quite classy looking ~ a frosted white with black lettering and the lid is a bright white with J.One logo.  This product comes with a little spoon as well to help scoop out the cream balls.

This is one heavily scented product ~ it smells like baby powder and it is really is annoying.  I am not allergic to baby powder, but it is a cloying scent to my nose. Now I know many people love the scent of baby powder, so this would be a positive attribute, but for me, it is not.  In fact, I did stop my testing on this cream due to the scent, as it was too much for me to have on my face.  I am not adverse to scents for the most part, but this is one scent I do not care for.

To get over the scent, I do mix my cream with some other product, such as  beta-glucan or serum for daytime and an oil for night.  It does seem to help cut down on the scent a bit.  In the photo below, I mixed Hana cream with my favorite oil, The Face Shop Jeju Tangerine Dry Oil ~ and yes, that oil smells like tangerines 😀

 

The following photo is with the product alone ~ you can see it is very rich and moisturizing.  When I initially swatched this on my hand, I didn’t feel it was that greasy, as my hands are drier and more rough in texture than my face.  However when I used this on my face,  there is a stickiness and tackiness to this cream and it doesn’t absorb well with my naturally oily skin. This cream sits on my skin and my face feels filmy and not very clean.  It melts like butter, but it also leaves a film just like butter on my face.  

This is a moisturizing product ~ my tests on average with my digital skin analyzer did show a dramatic improvement in both lipids and moisture levels by about 50%.    The images below are from J.One’s online shop and they show the decrease in wrinkles on your skin.

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Final Thoughts

I can appreciate that this cream is probably best for those with very dry and dehydrated skin, of which I have neither.  My skin is very oily and these types of creams do not absorb quickly into my skin and it feels like a film of oil is just sitting on top.   This cream did not work for me as a day cream at all, due to its greasiness, so I did try it as a night cream.  That was better, as I did cut it with my warm scented tangerine oil to cut down on the scent, but since it is now spring in Boston, this cream is too heavy for me in the warmer months.  Honestly, this is a product that just doesn’t work for me, despite its stellar ingredient list.   It is just not appropriate for my skin type.  I also don’t care for the “ball” formula.  It makes no sense to me as one ball was not enough for my whole face and needed two.  It was also a bit of chore to have to grab my little spoon, scoop out a ball and then smush it on my face.. and repeat.    It just seems too much work for me for a cream that doesn’t work for me!

You can purchase J.One Hana Cream at Memebox for $40.00 for a 40 gram jar.   Have you tried this cream yet?   Did you have a different experience? Let me know in the comments below!  I do appreciate that Memebox sent me this jar for review purposes.

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[ Disclaimer:  This product was sent to me for review purposes.  All opinions are my own and unbiased. ]

[ Contains affiliate links. Description in italics from Memebox ]