Review: TonyMoly Intense Care Snail Cream

I love snail cream. My skin has always looked jaundiced (an unhealthy yellow looking tan). Before I dived into the world of Korean cosmetics, I've tried tons of whitening products (I emptied my wallet and savings to buy the whole Shiseido white lucent line, I've also tried Clarins and Origins before) to attempt to make my face more bright, more vibrant, more radiant, but nothing really ever worked. Then I tried my first snail cream, Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream, which miraculously brightened my face and I have been using this cream as part of my morning routine for the past 2 years. But I've also heard about TonyMoly's snail cream and have always wanted to try it. I finally got to buying some samples.

Description (from eBay.com):

• Highly nutritious regeneration cream helps skin recover and regenerate itself when damaged by various aging factors
• The cream contains 70% Korean snail mucus extract which is known to have an excellent ability of recovering injured skin
• As this soft-textured lecithin cream is similar to the structure of the skin, it works deep into the skin
• The complex ingredients of nicotinamide and sorbaria kirilowii extract make dull skin clearer and brighter

My impression:

This cream contains 70% snail mucin extract, which is the same as Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream while the Mizon Snail Repair Cream contains 92%. I would say that TonyMoly's snail cream has a thick, elastic consistency more akin to Mizon than Missha.

I have some deep acne scars from my last acne bout 2-3 years ago, but I have a feeling these scars will never go away because even without cream, the scars would've been gone by now but they're still here if you look close enough. So I'm not going to rate this cream on its effective for scars. I only had 10 samples anyways. This cream gave a matte appearance so I could use this in the morning as well as for my night cream. 10 samples lasted me around 2 weeks.

This cream does brighten well. I think it has around the same brightening effects as Missha. It had some instant brightening effects as well, which reminded me of Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Sleeping Mask. So far so good! However...

This cream appeared to be more moisturising at first due to its thickness and so I used it at night. But when I feel my face in the morning I don't feel that it was any more hydrating than Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Sleeping Mask. And unfortunately, after a week I started having clogged pores, especially those near my hair line. These unfortunately led to pimples eventually. So even though this cream was more oily, it wasn't hydrating. Whatever moisture/oil there was, it just ended up clogging my pores and not hydrating my face.

Summary:

Gives a matte finish so can be used as a day cream
Does give instant brightening and overnight brightening effects
Clogged my pores leading to some pimples but didn't hydrate my skin
$50 for 45ml with 15g eye cream

Grade: 3.5/5 because this cream did brighten my face but clogged my pores while not moisturizing my face

Value: 3/5 because Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream works better AND is cheaper

Repurchase? Nope. I'll be sticking with Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream