February-March Skincare: Scinic and Some Snail Slime

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Back in January I picked up the Scinic Memebox ($35), which contains 6 different items:

• Prelab Toning Peeling Tap ($15):  a highly-concentrated essence that cleanses, moisturizes and exfoliates the skin.   
• Snail All-in-One Ampoule ($25):  an all-in-one essence formula that contains snail slime filtrate, peptides, and aloe vera extract.
• Snail Matrix Cream ($13):  a cream designed to aid in the process of skin care renewal with a formula featuring 23% of snail slime filtrate blended with peptides, adenosine and EGF.
• Peeling Solution Kit ($5):  a 2 step peeling (AHA) and moisturizing kit (whitening ampoule) for glowing skin.
• Black Dual Mask Aqua White ($3): 2 masks for your T-Zone and V-Zone to relieve dryness with it's Black seed complex with charcoal powder formula.
• All Day Fine Pore Clay Mask ($15):  Clay mask with 5,000 mg of Amazon Clay blended with Carbonic Acid to effectively absorb sebum and impurities from the skin.     

For February and March I decided to integrate the All-in-One Ampoule and Snail Matrix Cream into my day time skin regimen, so now it's time for a review.  For reference, I've got aging, oily, congested skin that is marked by under the skin bumps caused by sebaceous hyperplasia and hyperpigmentation caused by sun damage.  Now, on to the review!

A little leakage happened in transit

Some background:  I already know I like snail slime as a skin care ingredient, based on my use of the CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence (review here).  It contains 96% of snail slime compared to Scinic's 50% snail slime content. However, ampoule's are designed as multi-purpose products, which means a variety of ingredients are in order.  In addition to the snail slime, which is great for sun-damaged skin, the Scinic ampoule also contains botanicals with anti-inflammatory and soothing properties as well as peptides for collagen production.

Look how big this bottle is!  Seriously, I'm only about an inch down after 2 months of usage.  Having said that, I'm not a huge fan of the packaging, which did leak a bit in transit.  I find it somewhat cumbersome removing the top, dipping in the plastic spatula, smearing it on my skin, and then replacing the top. First world problems, I know, but I prefer pump bottles for ease of use and the lower risk of contamination.

This ampoule absorbs easily into my skin, even with a heavy application.  I end up applying it to my face, neck, decollete, and back of my hands because invariably the spatula picks up a fair amount. There is a peachy/floral fragrance that dissipates quickly.  I can't say it's offensive but I don't really care for it and wish companies would quite putting uneccessary fragrance in their products.

I follow up the ampoule with the Scinic Matrix Cream, which contains 23% of snail filtrate, and the cream does have that stringy quality I associate with snail slime. This uber reasonably priced cream has some other interesting ingredients as well:

I was happy and surprised that, given the variety of oils included in the formula, this did not leave my skin overly moisturized or shiny.  Considering I was using this prior to makeup application and I've got oily skin, I'm sufficiently impressed. Neither product caused irritation or breakouts, and my skin felt hydrated and smooth after use.  Considering I was using these during the colder months, I thought they did a good job of moisturizing without feeling heavy.

Overall, both products worked well for me and I think the Scinic Memebox is a great buy (it's still available at Memebox, by the way). I do prefer the CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence due to it's ease of use but the Scinic All-in-One Snail Ampoule is good.  Given it's size, I'm going to start using it on my body after showering so that it doesn't go to waste. My skin in general is looking really nice and it's been great identifying ingredients that work well for me, namely manuka honey (see here) and snail slime.