Today, let’s continue to explore the wonderful world of hanbang, this cosmetic trend inspired by traditional Asian medicine with my mini-review of the Missha Misa Geum Sul Vitalizing Eye Cream!
I feel like the range Misa Geum Sul of the South Korean brand Missha is not super well known outside of Asia.
Missha has 3 ranges in its catalog inspired by traditional Asian medicine, they’re considered as the brand’s signature lines.
First of all, the packaging feels definitely more high end than its other collections. It’s inspired by the bottles of old products used by members of the royal family of the Joseon dynasty, excuse me for a moment.
In Korea, there are indeed several brands like that, with this very luxurious packaging style and generally, they’re very high-end brands, with the price that goes with it (Sulwhasoo, The History of Whoo, Sooryehan…).
Missha’s hanbang collections are certainly the most expensive from the brand but they remain quite affordable compared to their competitors. Perfect if you want to discover this type of products worthy of an empress without having to sell a kidney!
The hanbang formulas are also quite specific. Their ingredients list are quite “old-school”, i. e. formulated with many, many active ingredients (it feels like the more, the merrier) and these ingredients are usually inspired by traditional Asian medicine.
Note: this type of formulation is losing ground in Korean cosmetics these days. There is a desire for simpler and “safer” formulas amongst younger people.
Mini-review:
Missha Misa Misa Geum Sul Vitalizing Eye Cream is a perfect representation of this trend with its XXL list of ingredients!
In this cream, you can find plants, herbs, mushrooms, fermented ingredients, roots, spices, but also ingredients of animal origin not necessarily very accepted culturally in the West (here, deer antler extracts) (I have to clarify: deer antlers fall naturally and there is no harm done in the process of obtaining them but I suspect that it will still disturb some of you!).
Does this formula remind you of a magical recipe with all these “forest-based” ingredients? Because for me, it does! I think that’s probably why I’m so fascinated by the hanbang, because of my love for Merlin the Magician 😉
I read some raving reviews about this cream before going to Korea, so I bought it while I was there and have been using it since last year.
Yes, you read that right, I’ve been using this cream for more than a year now (thank you, preservatives ^^)! First, the jar is huge (30ml) and the texture is so rich that you don’t need much. I only use it at night, too. But it’s clearly the best price for quantity value ever!
I was interested because this cream claims a result on hydration, wrinkles and dark circles, which are my main concerns regarding my eye contour.
Of course, I didn’t have crazy expectations, I know that no product can correct my very deep dark circles for example. They’re genetic and they were already there when I was 15. But I’m quite interested if this product is able to lighten their color, on the other hand!
And I must say that for this particular claim, the Missha Misa Misa Geum Sul Vitalizing Eye Cream has been quite effective. I know that the product I use in the morning has also played its part on the result (I’ll talk about it in the future #teasing ) but since I’ve only been using the latter for a shorter time, I’ve already noticed some progress with this Missha cream alone.
I also appreciate the comfort it gives me, and this without giving me puffy eyes when I wake up, which is always nice (knowing that I don’t have a big natural tendency to have eye bags anyway, just to clarify).
In conclusion:
In short, I’m happy with this product, I think I will repurchase in the future. The only thing that bothers me a little bit is its lifespan. I’m a serial cosmetics tester, so a whole year with the same product is a bit too long!
The retails between $27 and $32, according to the retailers, for 30ml.
And you, have you tried this eye cream? Are you tempted by hanbang cosmetics? Tell me more in the comments!
I just bought a jar from bodynseoul.com soooo excited to start using