In a previous post, I gushed about my first Korean skincare *love*: Mizon’s All in One Snail Repair Cream.  While this cream worked great for me, I was a little concerned about several acne-inducing ingredients in it, so I decided to switch to Mizon Snail Repair Intensive Ampoule.

Unfortunately, even after using this ampoule for about a month, I didn’t get the same dramatic, visible results, so I made the switch back to my beloved All in One Snail Repair Cream!

While I loved the All in One Snail Repair Cream, and got almost immediate and serious reduction of both acne and sensitivity in my skin, I was a little worried about some of the acne-triggering ingredients added to it.  So I decided to do a little bit more research and found this ampoule, which boasted 80% snail mucin, and NO acne-triggers for ingredients.

Ingredients: Snail Secretion Filtrate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Alcohol, Panthenol, Glycereth-26, Punica Granatum Extract, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Extract, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Trehalose, Copper Tripeptide-1, Human Ogliopeptide-1, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4, Cornus Officinalis Fruit Extract, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, Caprylyl Glyocol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tropolone, Sodium Polyacrylate, Adenosine, Coptis Japonica Extract, Disodium EDTA

Besides the inclusion of alcohol, there’s nothing else in here that’s particularly troublesome for acne-prone or sensitive skin.  And as you can see, there’s an amazing list of star ingredients that are great for your skin like the snail secretion extract, sodium hyaluronate, cocoa extract, peptides and other extracts!  And I just have to mention that ingredients like these are the reason why I love Mizon.  They always put such high percentages of quality star ingredients in all their products.  80% of snail mucin (even though it’s lower than the 92% snail mucin they put in the All in One Snail Repair Cream) is damn impressive!

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Closer look into some of the star ingredients:

Snail secretion filtrate: AKA snail mucin, is what snail secretion is made out of.  Through their mucus, snails have an amazing ability to recover themselves quickly when their skin or shell gets hurts or broken.  Snail mucin has an array of proteins and antioxidants, and it is also antimicrobial.  On human skin, snail mucin has the ability to heal acne and other skin blemishes, tighten pores, smooth skin, improve fine wrinkles, and improve skin’s resilience.

Sodium Hyaluronate: aka hyaluronic acid, is a very effective humectant moisturizer.  It does a great job attracting and maintaining water in the skin, holding 1,000 times its weight in water.  It also promotes blood circulation and nutrient absorption.

Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Extract: Rich in antioxidants, and it also helps to increase blood flow to promote healing.

Copper Tripeptide-1: This peptide has great antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.  It also been proven to increase production of elastin and collagen in the skin.  A true powerhouse of an ingredient!

Human Ogliopeptide-1: This peptide also helots to increase production of elastin and collagen in the skin.  It also helps to increase cell growth, and is helpful in treating wounds on the skin.

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The product comes in a beautiful little dark brown bottle, with a high quality glass dropper.  Plus, the inner rim of the glass bottle comes with a little fitted plastic seal to prevent leakage.  This is a really smart design, that’s prevented any waste or unintentional leaking of the product.

While there’s only 30ml of product (roughly 1 fluid oz), I find that a little goes a long way.  I used a little less than one dropper full for my entire face each time (morning and night), and I found that this product easily lasted me over a month.  Which is a really great value for the price!  I bought this on Amazon for around $18.

I don’t really know how to describe the product itself, it’s nothing like anything I’ve used before.  It’s both liquidy and gooey.  But even though it’s gooey, it absorbs well into the skin and doesn’t leave it feeling sticky.  It’s slightly yellow, with no smell.  I definitely find it to be more moisturizing than the All in One Snail Repair Cream.  I did not notice any problems with my skin with the added alcohol in this product.  And while I appreciated the lack of bad ingredients and the fact that it was more moisturizing, I did not find that this ampoule performed as well as the All in One Snail Repair Cream.

Maybe it’s the additional 12% extra of snail mucin in the Cream, but the All in One Snail Repair Cream worked for me so much better than this ampoule!  I used this ampoule for almost a month, and I noticed gradually that my skin was looking slightly worse as the weeks passed by.  I started getting more whiteheads and cystic acne along the jawline.  Each week, my pores looked like they were getting bigger again.  The redness in my cheeks didn’t seem to get any worse, but overall my skin was looking a little duller.

And when I switched back to the All in One Snail Repair Cream, within three days I noticed my skin looking better and brighter.  My whiteheads started to disappear and I didn’t get new ones.  My pores started looking better too!  I don’t know what is in the Snail Repair Cream, but after going off of it for a month and going back on it, I am now absolutely convinced in the power of the Cream!  Will never be without it again.  My skin just looks brighter and healthier with it, and unfortunately not even this ampoule was a good substitute for me.

Overall:

Great ingredient list and more moisturizing, but unfortunately this ampoule did not give me the same amazing results as Mizon’s All in One Snail Repair Cream.  This might work great for some people, but it wasn’t the best for me.

Pros: Great ingredient list, moisturizing.

Cons: Did not provide the same results as the Snail Repair Cream.

Total score: 7.5/10

Ingredients: 8/10 (Fantastic amount of star ingredients, but I knocked it down a couple points because this ampoule only had 80% of the snail mucin, as opposed to the Cream’s 92%.  This difference in the percentage is the only reason I can think as to why I didn’t get the same results using this ampoule.)

Quality: 6/10 (Unfortunately did not live up to its promises like the Snail Repair Cream.)

Wear: 8/10 (Absorbs easily into the skin and feels great, is definitely moisturizing, but left my skin a little shiny.)

Price: 8/10 (Good value because a little goes a long way, but I’d rather spend the same amount of money for the Snail Repair Cream that gives me more results.)