AmorePacific Moisture Bound Refreshing Essentials

RRP: $50

contains: 1.0 oz Moisture Bound Refreshing Hydra-Gel, 1.0 oz Treatment Toner, 0.25 oz Treatment Enzyme Peel, 1.0 oz Treatment Cleansing Foam

available at: Sephora US

--What does the promo say?--
"AmorePacific Moisture Bound Introductory Collection Refreshing Essentials for Combination and Oily Skin is a limited-edition ensemble of handy skincare must-haves. These luxurious products are all you need to make your oily skin healthy, resilient, and age-resistant. Keep your complexion youthful and glowing—at home and on-the-go!"

--Packaging--
Very plain and bland, and not in a "wow, this looks really expensive and sophisticated" way (even though it is certainly the former). The whole design just looks like it has had little to no effort and time spent on it, and the bottles themselves look like something you'd find in a hotel room. Even just looking at it, you don't feel like this is going to be worth $50, especially since the sizes of the products are very small (when I was sent this, I thought this was just the sample size, but nope - they do actually want you to pay $50 for these tiny things [they are the size of what you get in a hotel room, too]).

--Application and usage--
No problems here. The cleanser lathers up well with a little bit of water and you only need a pea-sized amount. Rub onto damp face and then rinse off. The toner, again, just needs a little dabbed onto a cotton pad and you're away - sweep over face and neck and then wait for it to dry off a little before applying the moisturiser.
The enzyme peel is a little more unusual: tip a little into your hands, perhaps at the same time as the cleanser, mix with a little bit of water, rub over your face, and then rinse off.

--Appearance--
The cleanser is a stiff, slightly opaque white cream/gel containing tiny blue exfoliating particles, and makes a white lather when mixed with water. The toner is an unusual rose pink colour, and the moisturiser is an equally unusual duck-egg blue, slightly opaque gel. None of these leave any visible residue on the skin after use. The unorthodox enzyme peel consists of a creamy yellowish powder, which washes off clear.

--Scents--
The cleanser, enzyme peel and moisturiser just smell slightly soapy - a surprise given all the good stuff they contain, such as ginseng, green tea, and bamboo, which you'd think would give the products a more distinctive smell. The toner comes up to expectations, smelling as it looks (slightly rosy).

--Texture and consistency--
All of the products are really nice to use, with the cleanser being smooth and luxurious, the enzyme peel being satisfyingly scrubby, and the toner and moisturiser proving cooling.

--Effects on the skin--
Sadly, despite all of the botanical stuff this line contains, my skin just did not like this range. I suffered breakouts and my skin has been worse while using this than it has been for a long time. In the more detailed press release I was sent, I was promised "healthy, radiant, vibrant skin" and that pores would be unclogged, the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles would be reduced, and that undamaged skin would be revealed to me thanks to the enzyme peel. Unfortunately I saw none of this and was gagging to get off this and back to my usual products.

--Value for money--
As already implied in the packaging section, you do not get very much for your money in terms of product volume, although saying that, the pack will easily see you through a holiday and beyond. I do not think that the brand image correlates well with the price of the products and certainly, for me at least, the results do not either. For better value travel products, American buyers would be better off steering clear of this and going for travel sizes from Liz Earle, Clinique, or Molton Brown. If, however, you do decide that any of these products might be for you, US buyer or not, the larger sizes of the individual products are likely to provide better value for money, as well as being more widely available.

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