With Korean skincare taking the beauty world by storm in the past few years and with the larger retailers such as InnisFree and The Face Shop taking precedence in the Singaporean market, it is always a joy to find less known brands.
I’ve dived a little into the company when I posted my thoughts on the D’ran Overnight Sleeping Pack but from my pleasant experiences with their facial oil and sleeping pack, I was excited and hopeful to try out the Joyoon skincare range.
The Joyoon Saeng Gi Series incorporates 20 different (yes, 20) types of selected herbs based on the philosophy of oriental medicine. Before you start worrying, do not worry, these products do not smell overpowering or anything close to the scents of traditional herb shops.
Just in case if you are curious, like I was, the Oriental 20 complex (present in all the products in the range) consists of :
1. Milk vetch root
2. Red Ginseng
3. Wilfordi root
4. Ginkgo leaf
5. Mulberry
6. Ganoderma Lucidum (mushroom)
7. Rice
8. Pine Mushroom
9. Pomegranate
10. Phelllinus linteus
11. Barley seed
12. Fig
13. Bean
14. Mungbean
15. Oats
16. Oats kernel
17. Lycium
18. Liquorice
19. Royal Jelly
20. Various active ingredients (not stated explicitly)
As I looked through the various ingredients lists for all the products, I did notice some similar ingredients present as well, such as Niacinamide (responsible in helping to brighten skin tone and improving skin resilience) and Allantoin (helps to clam the skin and improve its ability to hold moisture).
Overall, the ingredient list do pack a punch but ultimately, results are the most important factor. I’ve used this whole range religiously for a good month or so now, and here are my thoughts.
Generally, all the products do have a light flowery, herbal scent which is not strong nor overpowering. In fact, it is pleasant in my opinion and I do like it. No complains about the packaging as well, as you can see in the pictures, the bottles are beautifully designed and the plastic used to make them is sturdy. The toner, essence and lotion all have pumps too, which is perfect for clean, convenient and hygienic dispensing of product.
The first product in the range is the Joyoon Saeng gi Toner. Unlike many toners which I am used to, this toner is more viscous in texture and is translucent (read: I was used to toners which are watery and clear, so my first usage was a tad confusing). Despite its thicker formulation, I found that it should still be used with a cotton pad (even though I do find that the cotton pad does absorb more of this product than the typical watery ones). As the first step of my entire routine, I will put 2 pumps of product onto a cotton pad and wipe it onto the skin after cleansing. This toner does leave a slight tackiness to the skin for about 10 seconds after application which I was not used to at the beginning. For me, using a toner in the past was to remove any remaining residue on the skin to prep the skin to absorb the goodness of the following skin care products. However, all the tones I’ve used before are that of Western beauty brands. Perhaps Korean skincare has another take on toners? I can’t guarantee but being a good girl, I followed the instructions.
Toners are well known to restore the skin’s pH balance after cleansing as cleaners can raise the skin’s natural pH to a level that isn’t too good for the skin. However, with many cleaners keeping this notion in mind, formulations have been altered to match a pH level of 5-7 so this is no longer an issue. A toner, then, can be used to instantly give the skin a dose of beneficial ingredients (in a way that moisturisers can’t as lotion and creams work differently than liquids).
The second step would be the essence. I see this step as the adding your typical serums to the skin to add more beneficial ingredients to the skin and boost the skin’s ability to absorb the benefits from the subsequent steps. I do find that the texture of the essence to be quite similar to that of the toner, except the toner is a tad runnier.
According to the website, the next step after the essence would be the lotion and then followed by the cream. However, I do find that this would be too heavy on the skin, especially in Singapore’s humidity and weather (which is insane these days. 35 degrees, really?). Thus, I decided to opt for the lotion in the day and the cream at night.
The lotion is a slightly watery liquid that does get absorbed by the skin pretty quickly. I do like that it is pretty lightweight and doesn’t feel thick or heavy on the skin. I usually give it about 5 minutes before applying my makeup. My makeup goes atop it smoothly and I do not see any dry patches being formed throughout the day (which means that the lotion is moisturising enough).
I turn to the cream for my night time skin care routine, and omit the lotion. I do not sleep in air conditioning (yet) and I do find that the cream is quite heavy on the skin. The cream itself isn’t too thick – unlike those creams out there which resemble a thick mousse – and applies easily onto the skin. As it blends and gets absorbed pretty well, there is minimal tugging.
However, I do find that it leaves the skin a bit tacky after it sets. I am not a fan, as I do not like my skin sticking to my pillow case when I sleep, if you know what I mean. Despite this, this cream does moisturise pretty well and my skin looks really hydrated and supple the next morning. Thus, I have kept using it.
There is also an eye cream in the range. It comes in a tube (much larger than most that I’ve encountered) so that makes dispensing of product really quick and easy. The texture of the eye cream is pretty dense and thick, so I only used a little (size of a small pearl) and warm it up between my fingers before tapping it onto my undereyes.
A little really does go a long way. My first time using this, I applied too much and woke up with a pimple at my temple area. Oops. Moderation is key here.
Overall, this range is pretty decent and it does work in terms of providing hydration. In term of the effectiveness, I do notice that my skin is less oily (especially at the T zone area), which can be attributed to the increased levels of hydration to the skin (as the skin will produce excessive sebum to make up for the lack of moisture within the skin).
Considering the packaging, the impressive ingredient list and the amount of product, I expected the price range to be way higher than it is. Currently, KoreanUp is the exclusive distributor of D’RAN and the products can be found on the site.
Prices and links to product page are stated below:
Toner (130ml) : $21.53
Essence (40ml): $35.21
Lotion (130ml): $21.53
Cream (50g): $40.25
Eye Cream (25g): $28.01
Pretty affordable, am I right? I’m not entirely sure why the prices have awkward cents, but it could be due to the sale that they are having currently. No better time to check it out, I suppose!
For 10% off your order of minimum $20, use the code BEAUTYBYRAH. Code is valid till 5th June!
Hope this review was useful and thanks for dropping by!
