Saturday, July 14, 2012

Review: Etude House Darling Cream (Snail Healing)

I'd heard that snail products were the latest rage in Korean skin care products so of course, I had to pick up at least one item to try while I was in Korea! In general, snail mucin is supposed to be beneficial for skin due to its anti-aging and acne-reducing properties. Naturally I was both curious and eager to see if it would actually work for me. Most Korean skin care brands carry at least one snail mucin product so there are many options to choose from. I decided to try the Etude House Darling Cream (Snail Healing).


Description

Nourishing facial cream specially formulated to regenerate and protect skin cells damaged by stress and environment. This product is void of artifical dyes, paraben and alcohol.

Key Ingredient

 70%+ natural snail mucin/snail secretion filtrate

Ingredients

Please click on the image below to enlarge and read the ingredients list.


Use

Dispense onto toner pad and use pad to wipe facial surface. (I actually just apply it directly on my face.)

Price:

 23,000 krw for 50ml/169oz (about $20 usd)

Where to Buy:

Etude House shops, Gmarket, Amazon, etc.


Pros

♥ affordable
♥ moisturizing
♥ only need to use a small amount
♥ does not irritate my dry and sensitive skin
♥comes with spatula and has English on packaging

Cons

♥ sticky but most of it absorbs
♥ the peachy scent reminds me of drugstore body products (but that could just be me)


My Thoughts

At first, I did feel a little squeamish at the thought of putting snail mucin aka snail mucus on my skin, but I got over it and now this cream feels like any other. Luckily the cream is not very slimy in texture. It is on the rich and heavy side, and feels a bit sticky so I like to use it only as my night cream but you can use it for daytime also. It's really a matter of preference and depends on skin type, climate, humidity, etc. I've been using it for about two months now.

I don't experience any dryness with it, but truthfully I don't see much improvement in my skin other than retaining moisture well. I was hoping it would fade small blemishes and smooth out my skin texture more but no such luck. I don't get a lot of pimples so I can't comment on it drying out any pimples. Aside from not being an amazing miracle product for me, I have nothing bad to say about this product.

Would I repurchase?

If I'm out of options, then yes because it is affordable and a good moisturizer. However, I feel that there are other moisturizers out there that can offer more visible skin benefits so I'm sure I'll try other products, especially since I have a whole slew of moisturizers waiting in queue to be used.

What's your take on the snail mucin skin care trend? Have you tried any and did you see improvement with acne, blemishes, wrinkles or experience any other visible effects?

22 comments:

  1. Great review...not sure if I am brave enough for snail mucus!

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  2. I didn't even know this trend existed! Snail mucus! Ahahahaha! XD It sounds very interesting...

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  3. Very interesting. How nice that Amazon carries it. It's probably not at most drugstores. Judging from your experience, I might have to pass.
    Beauty, Fashion and Seattle

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  4. oooh now i understand! i've been hearing lots about "snail cream" and just thought "hmmm snails in face cream?". the mucin is the active ingredient! i hope no snails were harmed, though....
    i prefer relying on not-so-natural ingredients like AHA BHA retinol, etc for visible result. i know old school...
    i am not afraid to try some snail cream but i will look at others since you provided us with this useful review! ;)

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  5. I have heard so much of the snail healing and Tony Moly provided me some samples to try on their snail cream line. Unfortunately, it reacted bad on me. It turns out I'm allergic to one of the ingredients so after that incident, I never tried any snail related products anymore..=(

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  6. I don't know what to think about having snail mucin in my products *sigh*. I'll read reviews until I find one that really works, then I might try it. :X

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  7. So awesome. I have to add this to Momomango.com! We actually just had a customer requesting for this today too. I guess snail is IN :D

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  8. Stickiness is the beauty of the snail cream. I can't believe I didn't see this product when I went to Korea!! ><

    It is a good product. I got one from The Face Shop, but there's not much in the product unfortunately.

    http://lifelivinginlondon.blogspot.co.uk/

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  9. Snail infused products are the latest craze in Korean products aren't they? A best-selling skincare product in Japan is actually horse oil as a moisturizer. That makes my skin crawl too but my Jap gf said it worked wonders for her skin in winter.

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  10. ohmahgawd snail slime! HAHAHAHA but im glad they make it smell peachy wahahaha

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  11. Bahh, I had high hopes for the Etude snail cream! We should look elsewhere for a proper good one.

    I just started using my snail eyecream so no visible improvements yet so far. Think it'll end up in a corner somewhere if it continues in this vein.

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  12. Thanks! I think it depends on the texture for me, hehe. I've read that some are more slimy and watery, I wonder if I could get used to that. Then again, I guess I'll try anything within reason for my skin! :P

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  13. Ahh I didn't know either until a bit before my trip. Then I started reading more blogs on it and was surprised it'd started last year. I always find it so interesting to see what the beauty trends in other countries are!

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  14. I'd wondered too at first! I would not have guessed it was the mucin. I'm really curious to try other snail creams since I'm still curious and I feel the Etude House one was a little vague in description (basically just anti-aging and regenerating). Hehe if I still can't find amazing results, then I'll probably turn to other products with AHA BHA retinol etc. =)

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  15. Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that. I still find the whole snail mucin benefit thing a bit mythical since some reviews say it's amazing but I'm not entirely convinced yet. But, I will keep trying. I think your skin already looks nice and translucent even without any snail healing products!

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  16. Hehe luckily for me, the Etude House cream just feels like slightly sticky cream so I don't even think about the snail mucin content anymore. Just hoping to see more of visible improvement. Sometimes I do like my skin looks better but then other times not. Let me know if you do end up trying something and which one! I'd love to hear your thoughts on it too.

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  17. Definitely! It was surprising to me at first but once I started looking into it, I saw lots of snail mucin products and reviews everywhere. =)

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  18. Aww sorry you didn't seen this when you were in Korea. Did you go into any Etude House stores? I instantly noticed advertisement of SHINee's Onew holding the cream, lol. I hope the one from the Face Shop works for you!

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  19. Oh wow, horse oil? Is that like from the horse's skin? Ahhh I'm skeptic of these beauty miracle products but then someone always knows someone who swears by them and so I must try to find my HG products too, hehe. I'm such a sucker, aren't I? lol

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  20. Come here so I can put it on you! Slimy slimy snail!!!! JK. Lol the peachy scent definitely doesn't make it seem like 70% but I'd read that number online. Hope it's true! *fingers crossed*

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  21. Aww. I wonder how long it takes. I'm going to try another snail cream and if that doesn't yield much visible improvement, then I guess I'll give up hope and stop believing, lol. At the least though, I just want a good moisturizer. Then again, we always want everything they promise, from whitening to anti-aging etc.! =)

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  22. Is this available for teenagers ?

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