Laneige Perfect Renew Essence Review

 

Since I'm already half way through this essence in a month, I thought that I should get this review done earlier rather than later. I like this essence, but don't love it. It's great for hydration and firming, but I'm just looking for different things for my skin right now.

By the way I'm moving to a different country in about 8 hours.  More after the jump.

Where to buy:

testerkorea.com - $51.02
koreadepart.com - $47.43
roseroseshop.com - $33 (on sale at the time of writing this)
beautykat.com - $51.99
cosmetic-love.com - $51.98

Description: Laneige Perfect Renew Essence containing a variety of high antioxidant ingredients, such as pomegranate extract, which can enhance skin’s elasticity and slow down the aging problem. Also, this product is rich in Vitamin C and minerals, to further brighten the skin, and you can have a healthy and tender skin.

Claims
 prevents signs of aging- gives skin an 'elastic' feel
 contains ceramides for deep hydration
 Almond extract, pommegranate extract, cocoa extract
 Vitamin C for brightening

Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Betaine, Arbutin, Bis-Peg-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, C16-16 Alcohols, Propylene Glycol, Dipropylene Glycol, Glycerin, Caffeine, Palmitic Acid, Hydrogenated Lecithin Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Seed Extract, Polyacrylate-13, Punica Granatum Extract, Theobroma Cacoa (Cocoa) Extract, Polyisobutene, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acryrate Crosspolymer, Adenosine, Butylated Hydroxytoluene, Disodium Edta, Polysorbate 20, Secale Cereale (Rye) Seed Extract, Ctfaid:21876, Beeswax, Polyglyceryl 3-Methylclucose Distearate, Hydroxypropyl Bispalmitamide-Mea, Inulin Lauryl Carbamate, Phenoxyethanol, Methyloaraben, Propylparaben, Fragrance

Just a quick look through the ingredients shows that Arbutin and Caffeine and both fairly high up on the ingredients list- the caffeine would explain the firmer/tighter skin, and I guess they included Arbutin because why not?

Scent: Those sensitive to scented products, beware! This is definitely a pretty scented essence, and the scent sticks around for around a minute after application. It's a very nice scent- the emulsion smells exactly the same. Very refreshing and cool (like the temperature, if that makes sense). At first I was neutral towards the scent, but now I really enjoy it. It's become one of those small things that makes me feel relaxed.

Packaging: Nice and suitably Laneige-y. Whenever the product is new, you can see the gradient pattern on the bottle more clearly, but even with half the product gone you can see it well. The bottle is a thick plastic, good quality. It doesn't feel flimsy or unnecessarily bulky. The shiny gold lettering does make it a bit hard to photograph, but it's nice and subtle in real life and looks pretty ~ high quality ~. The pump is great, you can control how much you want to pump out easily. My only minor complaint would be that the plastic top can come off a bit more easily than I'd like... so like when I have it in a bag, the top might come off and you could risk losing some (expensive!) product due to things jostling around.

Swatch: This essence is a medium weight gel essence- not watery at all like some serums or essences. Laneige recommends using the emulsion first, which is definitely the lighter of the two. It spreads easily and leaves your skin looking dewy and hydrated. I use about 2 and a half pumps for my full face, 3 if I want to cover my neck as well.

Results: For awhile I was kind of obsessed with Laneige- I really wanted to own a skincare set by them, and I decided on the Perfect Renew line... but then I read about a cream and a toner that were even better than the Perfect Renew ones, so I ended up only getting the essence and emulsion from the Perfect Renew line.

And... I like it! I quite like it. It's a solid essence. After over a month of using it, I can definitely tell a difference in the firmness of my skin. Sometimes when I apply a different product to my face I get surprised by how 'tight' it is- not in a bad way, mind you! Just it's very firm and youthful feeling. That 'firm' feeling would lessen if I stopped using it for more than a couple of days, so you need to consistently use it to see results! I would imagine that this would be great for those of you that are beginning to experience the first signs of aging. I'm not quite there yet, so I think I'll wait a few more years before rebuying this.

Also- you can see how much product you have left, because of some neato pump packaging that I can't explain the mechanics of. Unfortunately I'm over halfway done with the product, and it's been about 5 weeks... so you'd have to rebuy it fairly often if you wanted to keep using it. This is definitely a more expensive product, as it ranges from $33 on sale to $52 regularly priced. At this point in my life, it's not worth repurchasing.

Conclusion: Final Score: 4/5

Pros:

• nice packaging
• nicely hydrating
• leaves skin dewy
• firmer skin while using it

Cons:

• used up quickly
• expensive