It’s Saturday, do you know what that means? It’s time for some Korean beauty! Today I wanted to share my thoughts on Amarte Skincare which came highly recommended by fellow bloggers. Amarte began in 1994 as a skin care initiative within a prestige Korean dermatology clinic. Feedback from the clinic’s patients was overwhelmingly positive, and by 2004 Amarte had become an established supplier of high end skin care products throughout East Asia. In 2006 these incredible formulas were discovered by American dermatologist and DermStore.com founder, Dr. Craig Kraffert, who decided to form an international corporate partnership. Today Amarte skincare is known all over the world, but their products are still manufactured in Korea according to the highest industry standards.
I finally had the opportunity to connect with the company who kindly helped me pick out a few products to try. I’ve been testing them for just over one month, which I think is sufficient to make the first impression. To get the full picture I chose a cleanser, a day cream, and a night cream, but let’s start with the cleanser first.
Amarte Daily Wonder Cleansing Foam [$40 for 5.1 oz, available here] is a basic daily cleanser that comes in a tall pink bottle with a pump dispenser. This whipped mousse features a mix of concentrated brightening botanical actives, purifying and pore tightening nano-sulfur, and intensely moisturizing hyaluronic acid. I really like the idea of loading a cleanser with so many amazing ingredients, however, I feel like all that effort literally goes down the drain. In my experience, a product that stays on my skin for 30 seconds at best and then quickly washed off is not doing anything. I’m not asking for much, just a gentle formula that can break down my makeup and dirt without raising the pH over 5.5. I definitely don’t mind paying premium for pretty packaging, light pleasant fragrance that doesn’t seem chemical, and maybe a luxurious texture.
Unfortunately, Daily Wonder Cleansing Foam didn’t work for me because when I tested it with my pH strips the result was too alkaline. Mixed with water and whipped into foam, this cleanser scores pH9.0, and even higher if tested straight from the bottle. Since I try to keep my cleansers strictly between pH5.0 and 5.5, that is definitely too drying. Then again, I’m not an expert and skincare is a YMMV topic in the first place, so I’m sure there are people out there who love it. I decided to pass it on to a family member who isn’t too fussy about the pH of her cleansers. Even though I think she’s making a mistake, I can’t just force my skincare ideologies onto other people, so I hope it makes her happy.
Amarte Aqua Lotion [$75 for 1.7 oz, available here] was recommended to me because I love brightening products. People with medium and dark skin tones, and those who regularly tan can get away with a few imperfections and discolorations here and there. That won’t fly for me, because I am very fair-skinned so every tiny blemish, post-acne mark, scar, and hyperpigmentation will stand out like a sore thumb [think color splatters on white canvas]. That’s the real reason behind my obsession with brightening products. Fun fact: in Asia they often like to call them “whitening”, although most of them don’t actually make the skin whiter.
Aqua Lotion sounded like it would work well for me for various reasons. First of all, it’s loaded with melanin-inhibiting arbutin derived from pears and blueberries. Arbutin, Vitamin C, and Niacinamide are my favorite skin brighteners, so I was thrilled to see it at the very top of the ingredient list, in third place just after water and moisturizing glycerin. Just with the top 3 ingredients the formula already looked promising! Another reason why I thought I’d love it is the inclusion of beeswax, also high up on the ingredient list. Beeswax makes a wonderful skin softener and also has antibacterial properties. Sounds perfect for my combination skin! Finally, I also spotted the purifying elemental sulfur that I couldn’t appreciate in the cleanser, and skin-safe fatty alcohols that are completely different from the drying Alcohol Denat which I try to limit my exposure to.
I’ve been using Amarte Aqua Lotion in the AM followed by my favorite sunscreen, and it performed well as a daytime moisturizer. The formula of this gel-cream is lightweight and watery, and I think it can even work for someone with very oily skin, because it never feels greasy and pore-clogging. Remember what I said about the fragrance? I really don’t mind it in beauty products as long as it’s tastefully done, and I love the scent of this lotion.
Amarte Aqua Cream [$93 for 1.7 oz, available here] is a richer version of Aqua Lotion [although it’s also a lightweight cream-gel] and features slightly different ingredients. It contains nano-encapsulated 1% retinol, and my skin drinks it up overnight! Thing is, retinol usually doesn’t play well with certain antioxidants and sunlight, unless it’s encapsulated. So technically I could even use this cream in the AM, but I already had my Aqua Lotion and there was no need. Other noteworthy ingredients include brightening arbutin, softening argan oil, and caviar extract all high up on the list. The formula also includes a different type of fatty alcohol that actually helps the skin.
I used Aqua Cream nearly every night, and even though it contains retinol I never experienced any redness or irritation whatsoever. Few brands can boast that kind of results, and I personally only tried a couple of other retinol products that didn’t make my skin all red and peeling like crazy. This cream has the same fruity-floral fragrance as the lotion, which I am happy about because I love it. Is there even such a thing as a “fancy” fragrance? That’s what these products smell like to me.
Bottom line: Even though the cleanser was disappointing, I am thrilled to have discovered Aqua Cream and Aqua Lotion. I had a blast using them for a month, and there’s still a lot left in the bottles to last me another 3-4 months easily. I am certain that active ingredients in both products contributed to the diminishing of my post acne scars. I don’t get very bad breakouts these days, but the ones that do appear can be very nasty. I admit, sometimes I pick a pimple or 2 when I’m feeling particularly stressed, and I always regret it for the next few months while my skin tries to repair the damage. There are many truly great brightening products on the market, but now Amarte Aqua Cream and Aqua Lotion are up there among my personal favorites. They will not suit someone who prefers unscented skincare, but for everyone else they’re worth a try.
You can buy Amarte skincare at amarteskincare.com and Dermstore.
Have you tried Korean skincare before? Do you use products with retinol? Let me know in the comments below!
Disclosure: This post features products received for editorial consideration and may contain affiliate or referral links. For more details about my product review policy, copyright, and information about affiliate links, please refer to Disclosures & Content Use page.
