Korea UGB Collagen Mask, Aqua Cream and Peeling Gel

Posted by: beautyknot on: December 2, 2011

• In: Exfoliator | Mask | Moisturizer | Product Review
• 27 Comments

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My sister gave me a sample kit of Korea UGB which consisting of Peeling Gel, Facial Essence Collagen Mask and Aqua Cream. I read about this brand online before because some beauty bloggers had done review on the Aqua cream but when I asked my counterpart in Korea, she actually never heard about this brand. Sounds like some cosmetics brands in Korea are mainly targeting foreign market only.  f(“ .)^??

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According to Korea Tourism, UGB is a house brand of Ani Place, using Korea ginseng as their main ingredient. The brand is also available in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. I got the latest (Sept 2011) Korea retail prices from a Hong Kong forum, from their discussion the price was soaring nearly 27% within this year!  (” w)

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UGB Facial Essence Collagen Mask (KRW38000/8pcs)

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The mask sheet was very wet and adhered to skin extremely well. I was wearing the mask and doing my work in front of my laptop, and did not realize the time had passed by so quickly. My goodness, I wore this mask sheet for nearly an hour! Still it well-adhered to skin, only the mask sheet became more drying. Although skin was a little bit sticky touch right after removed the mask sheet, the skin was very nice hydrated and soft, the pores also looked slightly tighten due to hydration.

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As my sensitive skin had not sensed any skin irritation at all, I paid extra attention to its ingredient list and trying to figure out why. Noticing it contains several skin calming ingredients, one of them is Centella Asiatica Extract which is an oriental herb that used to treat variety of ailments, promote wound healing, improve blood circulation and scar appearance. The Centella Asiatice (a.k.a tiger herb or gotu kola) is also the main ingredient of Kiehl’s Centella Skin Recover Salve and Clinie Teatree series mask (no wonder I felt very familiar with this ingredient, haha)

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I massaged the remaining mask essence until it absorbed and then followed by applying a light BB cream, the mask essence kept my combination skin moist all day long. Overall I am happy with its excellent moisturizing effect and the quality mask sheet.

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Ingredients:

Water, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Centella Asiatica Extract, Chrysanthellum Indicum Extract, Morus Alba Bark Extract, Gingko Biloba Leaf Extract, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Natto Gum, Wheat Amino Acids, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Collagen, Betaine, Sodium PCA, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Niacinamide Amylodextrin, Calcium Pantothenate, Maltodextrin, Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Pyridoxine HCL, Silica, Allantoin, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Disodium EDTA, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Methylparaben, Parfum.

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Aqua Cream  (KRW38000/50g)

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This aqua cream simply reminded me of Bihada Ichizoku Finishing Aqua Gel Cream. The aqua cream is gel liked and becoming dewy upon massaging on skin. Comparing to Bihada Ichizoku’s, this has strong ginseng scent (dissipated after few minutes) and apparently  it generates smaller water droplets on massaging.

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The cream became fairly watery after breaking into droplets and sank in skin rapidly, leaving a smooth veil. Since I used it once, thus I would not be able to comment more. I personally did not fond of this type of aqua cream, I felt it was too light that cannot protect my sensitive, easily dehydrated skin. I applied Biore sunscreen and compact powder after using the aqua cream and my skin felt uncomfortably dry after few hours. It might work better for oily skin.

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Peeling Gel (KRW38000/50g)

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The product claimed to gently peel the dead cells off with cellulose and vegetable ingredients. It is very lightweight and has ginseng smell too. This is to be used on cleansed and dry skin, apply appropriate amount and gently massage on skin. The gel would quickly turn dewy and become flaky as shown in my below pictures.

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Frankly I have kind of feeling of rubbing many rubber particles on skin since my skin soaked up the gel hydration quickly. As my skin was not dull that could not justify the peeling result, so I also tested this on the back of hand. I must admit the instant result did impress me, the hand appeared a shade lighter (temporary only) than the other hand. As I have no ingredient list of this peeling gel, that was no way to tell what made the skin appeared whiter. In addition, I felt my skin was quite drying afterward and those annoying blackheads on my nose bridge were still sitting there gloatingly.

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This type of exfoliator was nothing new to me because that was main reason of why Ginvera marvel gel was so popular in SEA region many years ago. Please do not mistake the white flaky particles as skin dead cells (though they look similar), the concept of this kind of exfoliator is actually using those soft particles for physical exfoliating.  This type of exfoliator cannot work on dampened/wet skin else it will not generate those rubber-like particles, while dead skin cells can actually be rubbed off easily by fingertips from wet skin, which my mom always asked me to do in shower when I was a kid.  Some cosmetic brands also included humectants to soften skin or fruit acids to loosen the binding in between dead cells so the subsequent physical exfoliation can be done more easily.

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As a whole, I think UGB is a nice trial and loveable for oily skin. The reason of its soaring price is unclear, anyway, according to the HK forum, UGB is always on promotion “Buy 5 Get 1 Free” in Korea so for those who like this brand, it is really a big saving if you happen to shop in Korea.

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