Locsamhyo™ boosts skin turnover

Made by fusing Korean red ginseng with green tea, Locsamhyo™ creates a moisture barrier on the skin’s surface which locks in hydration and protects the skin, helping to maintain skin health.

Gives skin a natural radiance and brightens skin tone

This finisher brightens your skin tone and makes it smoother, leaving a natural glow, as if you’ve just stepped out from a spa.
Fundamentally strengthens the skin by providing beneficial moisture and nutrients

A new type of product to complete your skin care routine

The finisher veils the skin with a soft radiance and helps maintain smooth, youthful-looking skin all day long.

IN SEOUL - I can count with one hand the number of times a beauty product totally enraptured my heart. Being a beauty writer means you get to try almost everything on the market way before it’s launched.

Sulwhasoo’s Luminature Essential Finisher was no different. The brand was so confident that this product was going to work, it flew me to Korea to put it to the test.

A brand based on balancing ‘qi’

Sulwhasoo started way back in 1966 when its founder Sunghwan Suh created the first ever ABC Ginseng Cream. Since then, the brand has tapped into the anti-ageing properties of Korean ginseng and traditional herbs, creating a plethora of products that promise to balance your skin’s "yin” energy from the inside out.

But how can you tell that a product really works? Sulwhasoo sent me to its award-winning spa to put the product to the test.

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Nestled in the heart of Seoul’s Lotte Hotel, Sulwhasoo Spa is a quiet haven that promises to give you the most luxurious treatment possible. The spa is spacious yet intimate, and I get the feeling that every detail is deliberate and planned. For example, before my treatment began, I was tasked to pick my favourite scent from the brand’s signature collection. This scent then accompanied my entire treatment, which added a personal touch to the experience.

To kick start our journey, I underwent Sulwhasoo’s signature Brightening Boost treatment: A ginseng-infused facial that promised to leave me with radiant skin like never before. Sulwhasoo assured me that this facial was like no other, but to be completely honest, I still had my doubts. After all, the best facials I’ve been to could never make me glow.

The real deal
After being escorted to a private facial room (which was huge, by all standards), I was given a ginseng foot massage. At this point, I began to notice that the room was filled with the same scent I had picked earlier. Coincidence? Probably not.

Unlike facials in Singapore where rooms are filled with nifty gadgets and machines, Sulwhasoo’s spa was minimalistic to say the least. There were no equipment to help with exfoliation or steamers to open up pores. The brand relied heavily on its own products to rejuvenate the skin - and I have to say that it worked.

The brand’s concoction of ginseng products was carefully layered onto my skin in between massages. This meant that my skin was given enough time to rest between products, while also ensuring that my face wasn’t being massaged the whole time.

At the end of the whole facial, the therapist gently applied a generous dose of Sulwhasoo’s Luminature Essential Finisher, and I couldn’t wait to see what I looked like in the mirror.

The true game changer

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Sulwhasoo’s Luminature Essential Finisher literally made my skin glow. It wasn’t just the blissful short lived glow we sometimes get from good facials, it was a glow that lasted the entire afternoon. One that you get from a great facial.

Let me prove my point by posting a photo of myself without makeup (with the rest of the glowing media) when we went for the Sulwhasoo’s Luminature Essential Finisher’s event in the afternoon.

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All of us glowing. I'm the girl with the squinty eyes and sunnies on her head.

I tried to prod the Sulwhasoo R&D team behind the secret of this product, but no matter how I asked my questions, they just didn’t budge. Sulwhasoo has managed to use the modernity of science to bring out the best in traditional Korean medicine. The result is truly spectacular.

Although I’ve recently started experimenting with SK-II products, I still retain my never-dying love for Sulwhasoo. Here’s one of their newer products which I fell in love with at first sight (on their website). When I reached the counter in Lotte and tested it out slightly , I was totally sold. Yes yes, sucker much, I know.

Sulwhasoo Luminature Essential Finisher – KRW90,000

Can you still blame me for wanting to buy this (even though the first time I saw it, I didn’t know what the hell it was used for. heh). It’s really so pretty!

The side of the box is pretty toooooo. I see rainbowwww.

Instructions on usage differ from what the counter staff told me – basically, she (and now I) use it as a primer / base.

Read more about the product from their official website here.

A relatively creamy pearl-sheened drop…

…spread it out and watch it get absorbed quickly into the skin…

… leaving a nice subtle glow.

I say…

First and foremost, I have to stress that there’s not much visible effects -i.e. you won’t suddenly morph into Suzy after applying this. It’s actually more of a consumer experience – continue reading to find out what sort of Sulwhasoo-crazed mumbo jumbo I’m spewing.

The bottle is ridiculously pretty – a pearl sheen with smooth finish and a textured cap. The bottle is also pretty heavy (which I suppose is because of the density of the cream inside), so be careful not to drop it.
The pump delivery system dispenses just enough for the entire face with just one pump., so yay for no product wastage, or having to estimate what’s a 75% pump.
I apply it as the last step of my skincare in the morning (ie IOPE Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning, Belif Numero 10 and then this – I don’t like to leave my house with too many things on my face)
Once applied, it’s spread easily even though it’s more creamy than watery.
It smells nice – a good balance of herbal and fragrance.
It’s also absorbed pretty fast. It kinda feels like a daytime leave-on sleeping mask – In fact, it kinda feels like there’s a loving film of skincare wrapped around my skin. It’s not sticky or greasy though’ in fact, my skin actually feels firmer.
My skin also looked slightly more radiant, but it’s just a 10% increase in radiance (kinda like how your face looks after applying a sheet mask). It doesn’t up your skintone significantly like the Hera Age Away Primer Base either.
It leaves a nice subtle dewy glow, but it’s not the obvious types for example the Burberry Fresh Glow).
Now comes the awesome part: It actually helps my makeup stay on longer the entire day! -mindblown-
It also extended the lifespan of my makeup – instead of it oxidising / melting off after 4-5 hours, my makeup now lasts till at least 7-8 hours, and this includes the time I’m trudging out under the hot sun to get my lunch.
Somehow, it felt as though the Luminature Essential Finisher was acting like a makeup magnet, keeping it close to my skin at all times.
I did try going off this product (zomg now I sound like an addict), but my skin suffered cold turkey and went into withdrawal – there goes my makeup like -that-.
Because it’s a skincare product, my skin also feels less dry and tight during the hours that I’m sitting in the super-cold, super-dry airconditioned office.

Now you see what I mean by an experience? There’s nothing else I can say except – tis time to go out and get yourself a jolly damn good experience nao nao nao!

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