Can dry skin survive with COMMONLABS. Vitamin C line?
Product photography by Perkin Gohio.
This story is brought to you by COMMONLABS.
Despite the name, COMMONLABS. is a Kbeauty brand that has a decidedly uncommon approach to skincare. When you visit their website, they describe their products as skin kinetics trainers that “stimulate healthy and balanced movement of the skin cells”. The approach is that of working from the core to ensure that skin is healthy on a fundamental level. And their skincare focuses on formulations that can battle skin concerns such as “urban pollution, various pollutants, and stress”.
But aside from their intriguing philosophy, their product lineup is also not what you'd expect. Each of COMMONLABS.’ collections often consists of just 2-4 items at a time, categorized according to the benefits you can get from specific vitamins. For example, the Vitamin B line is about strong moisture. The Vitamin E line is extra calming. And the Multi Vitamin line is for anti-aging and balancing. Meaning, you can mix and match products from different lines to create a custom skincare routine depending on what specific concerns you want to address. But that's an exciting discussion for another time.
Today's review looks into their Super Brightening Duo, from the Vitamin C line, which is beneficial for brightening. Let's start with the Vitamin C Glow Boosting Face Mask (120g). Aside from the pure Vitamin C content, you get AHA (0.3%), BHA (0.1%), PHA (0.3%) and… 20,000ppm of lemon peel powder. I know a lot of you get nervous at the prospect of citrus ingredients being too harsh on the skin. Same! But to satisfy my curiosity, I gave it a try anyway.
The instructions indicate using the mask after cleansing and drying the skin. You slather on a thick amount, avoiding the eye and lip areas, and leave on for 5-10 minutes. Then you massage the mask into the skin before rinsing it off.
I tried it after showering, and used a thicker layer on my T-zone (the gunk-prone areas) and went lighter on my dryness-prone cheeks. The gel mask with ground-up bits of citrus is highly spreadable, with a slightly gooey feel that lets you know that it's richer than a moisturizer. Surprisingly, the scent that I'm picking up is an effervescent lime rather than lemon. Kind of like Sprite or 7-Up! The Vitamin C mask is gentle, producing only the slightest tingle on the sides of my nose, but nothing uncomfortable or stingy.
After 10 minutes, the mask has fully dried to a satin finish, save for a dewiness on the thickest points of application. Massaging the face causes the dried-up gel to pill, creating a gommage exfoliating effect. The citrus bits add to the manual exfoliation you get out of it. Rinsing off the excess is easy as the rehydrated mask melts away without much effort. My skin is left smooth and clean without feeling tight or scraped.
Next up is the Vitamin C Brightening Gel Cream (70g). This moisturizing gel, containing 1,100ppm of pure Vitamin C and 30% Sea Buckthorn Water, has a soft pudding consistency that glides across the skin and smells like orange Jell-O. It dries in a minute or two, producing just a hint of tackiness.
To see if the hydration I'll be getting is sufficient, I decided to put on the Vitamin C gel cream after cleansing and nothing else. No toner or serum to introduce extra moisture. Lo and behold, I woke up the next morning with the gel fully absorbed by the skin but without feeling dry and flaky, especially on my cheeks. Of course, I'd still recommend not skipping those other skincare steps. But I'm glad to report that this moisturizer is enough for the bare minimum.
