The K-beauty Product That Converted Me

The universe hasn’t been kind to me in the skin department. My skin is naturally dry and sensitive — I’d often develop scaly patches from eczema as a kid. When I got older, my skin decided it’d be cool to throw some hormonal acne and hyperpigmentation into the mix. I couldn’t win! Or that was the case until I decided enough was enough and actually put some effort into learning about skincare. Apparently there was more to it than cleansing, like toning and moisturizing — two things, I’m embarrassed to say, I’d never done before. With a new hydration mission in mind, I searched the internet for “the best” moisturizers and eventually fell down the K-beauty rabbit hole.

From serums and emulsions to ampoules and sleeping packs, there’s about a million ways to hydrate parched skin in K-beauty. For someone who barely had a skincare routine, the world of K-beauty should have been intimidating with all the new terms that get thrown at you along with its head-spinning innovation and skin-perfecting trends, but reading about all of those different varieties got me excited to expand my beauty arsenal in pursuit of #skingoals.

Of course, being sensitive and acne-prone meant I had to be careful with how and what I applied to my face. My solution to this skincare snafu? Cut out the “non-essential” items to avoid overloading my delicate skin (and wallet). Essences were one K-beauty staple I decided to skip, only because they didn’t seem like a worthy purchase when all my sheet masks were soaked in treatment essences anyway. Those, plus heavier moisturizers could do the trick just fine. Or at least that’s what I thought until I got my hands on the Make P:rem Safe Me Relief Moisture Essence.

It was a case of mistaken identity honestly. Working with so many K-beauty lovers that mist their skin day in and day out, I watched everything they did in an effort to emulate their covetable complexions. I grabbed the white cylindrical bottle the second I saw it, thinking it was the Safe Me Relief Mist. Once I realized my mistake, I decided I might as well give it a go — it would be a waste not at least try it, right?

My skin was looking rather dull and congested with the changing season. Although I wasn’t expecting a miracle, the Safe Me Relief Moisture Essence proved me wrong in a big way. The second I used it, my skin felt hydrated, soft, and looked dewier than ever before. This single essence made it look like I’d just done a whole Water Glow routine. And it wasn’t a placebo effect or my eyes playing tricks on me — anytime I applied this milky liquid on my skin I received comments from everyone around me about how “glowy” I looked.

What on earth was in this thing? The front of the bottle read “Weakly acidic moisture barrier essence for mild skin” with a label stating it measured a pH of 5.5, an exact match of your skin’s existing pH. The ingredient list was as uncluttered as the bottle’s understated appearance: glycerin, sage oil, ceramides, lavender extract, madecassoside — all soothing compounds that are perfect for my reactive complexion. Add in the fact that the Safe Me Relief Moisture Essence was able to deeply hydrate my skin with an ultra-lightweight consistency, and it became harder for me to deny the effectiveness of K-beauty essences. Maybe, just maybe this wasn’t a clever marketing ploy to get my precious coins and my skin actually needs an essence. Prior to this I had been skipping to thicker and richer creams to address my persistent dry skin, which worked for me most days but occasionally it’d feel like product was sitting on top instead of absorbing all the way. Adding the Safe Me essence in-between those steps solved that problem for me by sinking in deep and boosting the absorption of my favorite moisturizers. I no longer felt tackiness at the end of my routine.

Although I could see the magic Make P:rem’s essence was working before my very eyes, as a devotee to science I had to erase any lasting doubt. After all, it’s hard to believe a single product could make such an impact – especially when radiant, breakout-free skin had been out of my grasp for so long. What would the hydration measuring Wayskin Skin Analyzer say about this light as air moisturizer? To test out the efficacy of the essence, I scanned my face with the device for a week. After cleansing, I used the Wayskin to check my moisture level and again after applying the essence. In a span of seven days, my skin delivered consistent post-cleanse scores ranging in the low- to mid-50s and post-essence scores in the high-90s. That, my friends, is all the convincing I needed. The Safe Me Relief Moisture Essence not only surpassed my expectations, but it’s also helped me get one step closer to my glass skin goals – something I never thought possible with my problem skin. It’s a “gwang” gamechanger.

Which product converted you to K-beauty? Share your miracle worker in the comments.