Review: Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Skin Treatment (toner)

I got two of these from my Missha purchases in Korea and another one from my recently purchases from Missha.ca summer sale. They were coupled with a sample of Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Essential Moisturizer which sadly I can't use because I'm allergic to it. I was actually a bit afraid of using this snail skin treatment in the beginning but fortunately I didn't get an allergic reaction.

Description (taken from sasa.com):

• Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Essential Moisturizer is enriched with Snail Slime Extract 30% and Botanical Stem Cell Extract. These ingredients can brighten up your skin.
• The Baobab Extract 2% can soften your skin, leaving your skin feel sleek and supple. Wonderfully moisturized, deeply nourished and plumped, skin emerges infinitely regenerated. Your skin can be renewed, refined, resilient and radiant upon using it.
• Apply in the morning and at night after cleansing. Moisten cotton pad with toner and smooth over cleansed face and neck with gentle upward strokes.

My impression:

I will skip all the great effects on how snail mucin helped my skin because I've talked about it in my Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Sleeping Mask post and Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream post. Instead, I'll compare this treatment's effectiveness with the sleeping mask and cream and also talk a little bit about in what situations this treatment may come in handy.

This 'treatment' is actually the toner for this snail line. When I opened it, it's a clear liquid. However, it's consistency is thicker than what you see with toners. I would say this is in between water and gel, whereas toners usually have the same consistency as water.

I didn't use this as my toner because I know even if I keep using this, I will never use it as a toner. This is because pores are a big problem for me and I need a proper toner to minimize and clean my pores from whatever impurities my cleanser did not get rid of. I've been using Etude House Wonder Pore Freshner with great results so I put the treatment on kind of like an emulsion after using the toner.

Just using this treatment alone in the morning, I observed effects similar to the cream and sleeping mask, but at a much less noticeable degree. I guess it is a toner after all. Perhaps it's because this one only contains 30% snail mucin extract whereas the cream contains 70%? But then the sleeping mask only contains 15% and I thought its effects were comparable to the cream. But maybe that's because it's a sleeping mask so the other ingredients are richer and the skin does its repair during sleep? Who knows.

Using this treatment at night along with Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Sleeping Mask, I didn't notice any additional effects in the morning. As in it was the same as just using the sleeping mask alone.

Right now I'm using Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream in the morning, and I often find that if I put my Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Protective Emulsion SPF 15 (because the snail cream does not include sun screen and UV rays lead to wrinkles), it gets a bit oily for my skin for daytime (though I haven't broken out yet). It's a bit better if I put on Skinfood Fresh Apple Smooth Pore Cream as my primer for oil control, but I often forget because I'm rushing in the morning. So theoretically, if I use the treatment and the sunscreen, then the oil control will be better, BUT then my skin won't look as great as the cream and sunscreen combination. Will I make such a sacrifice? No lol

So, in short, when used alone, it's less oily than the cream but the degree of effect on my skin is halved. And when used with the sleeping mask, I don't notice any additional benefit. So I won't be purchasing this in the full bottle. But for those who may think the snail cream is not moisturizing enough for them, this may be an option to add to your regimen.

Summary:

Less oily than the snail cream but effect is halved
Does not lead to additional benefit when used with the sleeping mask
$30 for 130ml on eBay

Quality: 3.5/5 because it's a less oily and there is an effect but it's half of the cream's effect

Value: 3/5 because it's pretty expensive for half of the cream's effect and it didn't give any additional benefit when used with Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Sleeping Mask

Repurchase? No, but if I get free samples again along the way, I'll still use it :D