REVIEW: Mizon All in One Snail Repair Cream

If you didn’t know, snails are a big big thing in South Korea and have been for the past couple years. When I used to fly, crew would associate going to Seoul as a chance to pick up snail skincare. Of course, many people are still grossed out by the idea of putting snail slime on their face but it is definitely spreading and gaining more popularity around the world. The Daily Mail have even done a few articles on snails, in particular one about how Katie Holmes using snail slime cream caused it to fly off the shelves.

While Holland & Barretts have their own snail line, I was interested in trying a snail product from South Korea where it originally earned its reputation from.

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Mizon Multi Function Formula All in One Snail Repair Cream

Product:

This is a repair cream with 92% snail secretion filtrate that promises to take care of all your skin problems. It claims to:

• Repair tired, aging and damaged skin
• Reduce fine lines and wrinkles
• Brighten skin tone
• Reduce acne marks
• Increase elasticity
• Protect from environmental damage
• Moisturise

Price:

I purchased this from Amazon UK just because I didn’t want to wait for delivery from Korea. Got it for about £15 but it has annoyingly since dropped to about £11.

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Packacking:

Comes housed in a 75ml glass jar in a metallic golden orange/brown box packaging. Not the most travel friendly since its heavy and could break but it is very sturdy and thick for a small jar. Has a white protective seal over the opening. My only gripe is that the jar is either bigger than 75ml or they don’t put 75ml of product inside because the cream wasn’t filled to the top when I first opened it so it looks like I’ve used more than I actually have.

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Ingredients:

The main star ingredient is obviously the snail secretion filtrate that makes up 92% of the cream. This high content surprisingly doesn’t mean the cream is super slimy as you might expect. Snail secretion supposedly has a whole heap of skin benefits. It contains proteins and antioxidants that helps the skin to regenerate and heal making it a good treatment for bites, burns and wounds. It reduces inflammation, redness, scarring and acne as well as stimulating the production of collagen to repair and firm dull aged skin and reduce wrinkles. In addition, it is able to retain and lock in skin moisture.

It also has a nice inclusion of plant extracts such as green tea leaf extract that provide antioxidant, anti-irritant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Sodium hyaluronate (aka hyaluronic acid) is a humectant that is great at attracting and maintaining water in the skin which makes it a great addition to moisturisers.

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Smell:

Doesn’t really have a discernible fragrance.

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Application:

Very liquidy and runny white cream. I grab a big dollop and massage into all over face and neck. It is very lightweight and absorbs into the skin very quickly and doesn’t leave any greasiness on the skin. I think there are many ways in which people use this cream. The box says to use it as the first step of skincare after you’ve cleansed your face. If you have the whole mizon snail line then it would probably work to put it in that order. However I choose to apply my toner, first essence, essence and serum before this cream. I use it in the place of  a moisturiser. In the mornings I sometimes just apply this as the last step before makeup or sunscreen. In the evenings I will usually double up with a more occlusive cream after this to lock in the moisture.

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Results:

I have been using this twice a day for a month to test out. As a moisturiser I think it suits my oily-prone skin well. It doesn’t make me more oily during the day if I use it under makeup and it absorbs very quickly which I like because in the mornings I don’t have time to wait around before I apply my next product. Even in winter it’s still hydrating enough for the day when I apply generously. In the evenings I do like to layer up more hydrating products since I’m not wearing makeup and it works well in combination with thicker creams.

Those with dry skin probably won’t be a fan of this because it isn’t the most moisturising. Normal-oily skinned people however, will love this for the summer because of how quick it absorbs and doesn’t leave you looking shiny. It almost looks and feels like you’ve applied nothing at all. I will definitely be reaching for this in the warmer months.

As a treatment, it works to an extent. I don’t see this having any results on the tiny fine lines I do have and my skin isn’t tired or aging enough for me to see any visible effects. Also not seeing much on the claim it brightens skin tone. I don’t have acne so I can’t comment on whether it helps with that but I have some scars from old spots and they haven’t really done much to lighten their appearance. Other products I have, do more in the way of making my skin less dull and more soft and plump.

However, what I have found this cream works wonders for is healing damaged, irritated skin. The funny thing is that when I started using this the first day, it broke me out in 2 small itchy rash patches. I assumed it was my skin getting used to snail slime so I continued to use it. I applied more over the 2 red itchy bumps and immediately the redness and itchiness subsided. Few hours later and the bumps had almost disappeared! Over the first week I continued to get a couple small itchy bumps and each time they would be 99% on their way to disappearing after a few hours. Normally, if I get red rash bumps they take a couple of days to subside if I leave them untreated.

Now, with everyday use, my skin isn’t having an allergic reaction to the cream anymore but still works on calming my skin down when it has other reactions. It works so well on cooling inflammation and redness too. During the month I’ve been testing I also got a small flare up of rosacea. Mine isn’t severe and quite rare but occasionally my cheeks get sensitive and thread veins will become more apparent followed with a red bump that feel hot to the touch. I put a big dollop over the affected area and it calms and cools it down straight away. It stops it from getting more inflamed and helps it disappear quicker than it otherwise would.

Does it do everything it claims to do? No. But I didn’t really expect it to and those who get this cream expecting it to be a 1 stop solution to solving all their skin problems will be disappointed. I like it primarily as a lightweight moisturiser that also calms inflammation and irritations. What it does do, it does well and my first foray into snail cream has been a good one.