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Essence for face application. A sip of moisture: what is a beauty essence and how to use it

How sometimes you want to give in to temptation and buy something new, unexplored. Therefore, seeing a certain facial essence on the shelves of a cosmetic store, a female person will obviously want to buy it for herself. But not everyone needs this product. How to buy a truly necessary cosmetic product without throwing money away?

What is a facial essence?

Another product without which daily facial care will be more complete is essence. A cloudy liquid that has a slightly viscous texture - this is how you can characterize the appearance of this product. On sale you can find it in small bottles (about 50 ml) with a dispenser, less often - without them.

This miracle development appeared thanks to Korean manufacturers; now these cosmetics are relevant in many countries. The essence not only penetrates the layers of the epidermis, but acts at the cellular level. This innovative product has long been part of the step-by-step process of facial care among Korean women.

The cosmetic product cannot be compared with conventional skin care products:

with tonic (its task is to tone the skin, remove remnants of impurities of various origins from it, while the essence is aimed at saturating the dermis with active components, filling dry skin with moisture);
with serum (as opposed to serum, the choice of essence is justified if a high concentration of active ingredients is needed. Thanks to the oil-free base, it penetrates deeply into the skin cells, giving it the necessary hydration and basic care);
with cream (although it contains many necessary substances, it has one important drawback - slow absorption; the essence in this characteristic is many times superior to it).

Korean cosmetic brands for facial skin care recommend using essences in the following cases:

return of youthful skin (elasticity, velvety, complexion);
nutrition, hydration;
enhancing the effect of anti-aging, nourishing, moisturizing creams;
narrowing of pores, cleansing;
reducing the appearance of age spots, etc.

The essence has the lightest texture and the absence of oils from other cosmetic products of a similar effect, so it can be used for any skin type, even oily and combination skin.

Essence composition

Manufacturers of essences like to experiment with the composition to achieve an even greater spectrum of action. For example, along with hydration, you can often get rejuvenation. But despite this, the basic components remain unchanged:

vitamin complex (“cocktail” of vitamins A, E, additionally there may be representatives of group B, C);
collagen;
hyaluronic acid;
plant extracts (types are selected depending on the desired effect);
peptides.

Some cosmetic companies try to change this composition to create a unique product, but as a rule, the essence is only supplemented with other active substances. The pinnacle of the composition of the new-fangled essence is the particles of precious metals and stones present in it - diamond dust, platinum, gold, etc.

The essence does not contain alcohol,

Types of facial essences

Natural ingredients included in the cosmetic product can solve various skin problems. For every shortcoming there is an effective remedy.

Restorative

The purpose of the restorative essence is to awaken self-renewal processes in the skin, stimulate it to produce the necessary substances to maintain its beauty. The product is also designed to vitaminize aging skin, give it a fresh look, even out its texture, and lighten existing pigment spots. The color of your skin improves, the tone becomes more natural, minor signs of aging are removed in one course (about a month).

When choosing such a product, you should pay attention to the recommended age. There are universal products labeled 18+, and there are also more specific gradations: 25+, 35+, etc.

You can find among the restorative agents those that contain snail mucus. The trend of using this component is not new. Previously, “snail creams” were popular, but they are quite difficult for the skin to perceive. And as part of the essence, snail mucus can “trigger” skin regeneration and free it from annoying small wrinkles.

Japanese cosmetics La Sincere is a prominent representative of such essences that are applied at night or in the morning.

Moisturizing

Moisturizing essence penetrates into the deep layers of the skin, nourishes it with moisture. This product is effective when applied as a basic step of care. The essence not only moisturizes the skin, but also enhances the effect of the main cream. This happens because skin saturated with moisture perceives other beneficial components much better than dry and devoid of “life”.

Unlike a drop of serum, a drop of essence has the lightest structure that easily penetrates cells and acts just as quickly. Therefore, among moisturizing products you can often find products like “extreme hydration in 10 seconds,” etc.

Among the representatives of moisturizing products, we can highlight cosmetics from Lancome (Hydra Zen Anti-Stress series), where the essence also has a calming effect on the skin.

Cleansing

Skin cleansing must be done not just efficiently, but also for its benefit. This task can be accomplished with a cleansing essence that affects the skin in the following way:

cleanses pores;
removes various contaminants from the surface of the skin (be it cosmetics or sebum);
tightens cleansed pores, while evening out the skin;
allows the skin to breathe.

Cleansers are usually not rated by age of use, so they are suitable for use from 18+ years of age.

Japanese cosmetics Kanebo has developed the Sensai Pore Clarifying Essence, which is a representative of an elite class product.

Rejuvenating

You won't be able to restore youthful skin simply by applying cream. In this matter, more thorough measures are needed, which will not be limited to just a cream or any serum composition. Anti-aging essences contain concentrates of hyaluronic acid and coenzymes, which after the first application significantly improve the condition of the skin.

Constant use of the products will smooth out shallow wrinkles and even out the skin. The composition of anti-aging products can be supplemented with various components: snail mucin, platinum colloid, bee venom and others.

Essences with a rejuvenating effect have a detox effect, moisturize, nourish, and soften the skin. It is worth choosing a product according to age, since they have a gradation of 25+, 35+, etc.

Swiss manufacturer Qiriness has a line of skin care products for rejuvenation. Which contain several stages. The Age-Defy Smoothing Essence itself is applied after the serum of this line, which contains the same extracts that smooth out wrinkles.

Refreshing (tonic)

Such essences have a refreshing and tonic effect. Simultaneously with this effect, it triggers regenerative functions and gives a healthy color to dull skin. The essence will also eliminate the first wrinkles, clogged impurities will disappear, and the skin will receive good hydration and toning.

You need to select the product according to age so that the effect is as effective as possible. You can use refreshing or tonic essences daily, without breaks between courses. Suitable for all skin types.

A budget representative of this type of essence is Vitex, which can solve many skin problems.

Methods of application

The products can be applied both during morning care and at night (universal). But there are also products with a specific application recommendation: daytime or nighttime only. This information is usually present on the bottle.

To use the essence and get the expected result, it must be applied correctly to the skin. Manufacturers also indicate application methods on the packaging. But essentially there are two ways: using a cotton pad or directly on the skin.

To begin with, the skin is prepared: it is basicly cleansed using cleansers or leave-in liquids.
Use a tonic or face mask.
Depending on the manufacturer's recommendations, essence is applied.

If you follow the skin care system practiced by Korean cosmetologists, there will be twice as many stages. Among them, the essence is just a small part of the products that need to be applied in one facial treatment session. Therefore, Korean (as well as Japanese) manufacturers often develop a full line of products that provide care according to all the rules.

Tools Overview

Not all cosmetic companies have made sure that when purchasing an essence, you can complement your daily self-care sessions with other products. By using one series of products, the efficiency of use increases.

The Japanese brand Isehan, following the Korean example, has created a care series that consists of various products. Their gradual use enhances the effect of the previous product, and the resulting result can be observed for a long time.
The European analogue of comprehensive care is Chanel, the Sublimage series, consisting of all the necessary products for intensive rejuvenation.
Products from the USA under the Shiseido brand are designed to support youth and eliminate the signs of aging. All this is the Benefiance series.

By choosing the optimal line of products for your skin’s needs, you can expect visible and lasting results.

Treatment essences(that is, “healing essences”) - can serve as an intermediate means between using tonic and applying. But we, knowing about the constant lack of time for multi-stage care, answer your question in advance - they do an excellent job alone and replace a tonic, restoring the PH balance after washing, and generously moisturize. They also saturate the skin cells with oxygen, making it elastic and smooth.

Moisturizing essence 5 Energy Roots "5 roots for energy"

Intensely moisturizes, restores water balance, saturates cells with oxygen and improves skin tone.

RUR 3,099 buy

Nourishing essence 8 Nourishing Beans "8 nutritious beans"

Nourishes and soothes the skin, tightens and increases its elasticity, reduces expression wrinkles, and promotes regeneration.

RUR 3,699 buy

Renewing essence 9 Essential Seeds "9 valuable seeds"

Works as an independent or additional moisturizer, enhancing the effect of the next step of care.

Promotes natural cell renewal and fills the skin with a healthy glow from the inside. Contains extracts of 9 seeds, including chia seeds,

fennel, quinoa, lotus, grapes and baobab. They reduce the visibility of blackheads and age spots, even out skin tone and texture.

Light as water, the consistency allows the essence to deeply moisturize the skin without overloading it. Suitable for all skin types.

I recently purchased 2 products from a brand unknown to me until recently: Dr. Konopka's Little Herbal Company;

Dr. Konopka's Eye Cream Regenerating with essence 49 and organic angelica extract (for dry and sensitive skin)
Dr. Konopka's Mattifying Face Essence with organic water lily extract
and wheat germ oil (for normal and oily skin), about which I will share my impressions in this review...

I have tried a huge number of products that are designed to reduce and regulate the amount of sebum production, for me this is a sore subject, because my skin is oily. Having seen this essence in the store for some 280 rubles + my favorite lily extract, I thought that I should give it a chance!

Place of purchase: Organic Shop in the Okhotny Ryad shopping center

Package: A classic white cardboard box in which the product looks quite aesthetically pleasing. The packaging says that

Mattifying facial essence contains wheat germ oils, rich in vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acids necessary to moisturize and nourish normal and oily skin. Water lily extract helps restore the balanced functioning of the sebaceous glands and reduces oily shine.

This essence is recommended to be used 1-2 times a day as a treatment.

The essence itself is in a glass container with a pipette, which is quite convenient, but not for this product, because it is more of a cream-lotion-fluid than something liquid, so packaging with a pump would be much more convenient, because you can put it in a pipette and extracting the product from it is quite problematic (I just wrap this pipette directly onto the skin, hahaha)

Compound:

Aqua, dicaprylyl ether, caprylic/capric triglyceride, cocoglycerides, methyl glucoside sesquistearate, octyldodecanol, glycerin, pentaerythrityl tetraisostearate, dimethicone*, glyceryl stearate, glyceryl oleate, glyceryl linolenate, glyceryl linoleate, sodium stearoyl glutamate, xantham gum, tocopheryl acetate, organic germ oil wheat, organic yellow water lily extract, benzyl alcohol, dehydroacetic acid, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, perfume composition, citric acid, geraniol, hexyl cinnamal, limonene, linalol, butylphenyl methylpropional

*The only thing I don’t like about the composition is dimethicone, or silicone, which clogs pores. Accordingly, in order not to clog your pores and not get another family of pimples instead of matting, I recommend using the essence ONLY UNDER makeup!

Volume: 30ml (very good)

Application: The light texture is similar to a face lotion or a thick creamy serum, but it spreads quickly and easily, cools the skin + it SMELLS incredibly pleasantly, something floral and fresh!

Result: the skin does not become matte immediately, but after 10-15 minutes, which does not matter to me, since I apply it under makeup, BUT then the skin actually becomes more matte, or rather less oily, but not completely matte. If used under makeup, the makeup lasts 20-30% longer and looks better!

Makeup:(I would like to pay special attention to how makeup applies to this base) Today I tried applying my most hydrating foundation, the BB Cream, to see how the essence would help my skin stay matte. Honestly, I was shocked at how beautiful and smooth my skin looked, although I rarely use BB cream precisely because my skin becomes shiny very quickly, but not this time! I applied my BB cream and set it well with powder as always, but my skin looks radiant (not oily) for over 5 hours! I'm delighted! The main thing is that the BB cream did not even settle into expression lines.

Vanilla essence is the best substitute for vanilla beans. In fact, it is a food flavoring that is not much inferior to natural flavoring in taste. A big plus and a clear advantage of the essence over other similar products is that very little of it is required for cooking, unlike vanilla powder or pods.

When preparing the essence, it is infused with alcohol and gives it some of its essential oils, a small amount of enzymes, resin and tannins, not to mention vitamins and useful minerals. The latter include sodium, calcium and iron; vanilla pods are not deprived of phosphorus, as well as potassium and zinc. Per 100 grams of essence there are 288 kcal.

Vanilla appeared in Europe in the 16th century. It was brought from America. Subsequently, this spice became widespread in cooking and perfumery.

How to do it at home?

It’s quite easy to make the essence at home by following the instructions, but it will take a lot of time to get ready. To prepare vanilla essence you will need the following ingredients:

1 vanilla pod;
100 grams of alcohol (at least 40%).

After cutting the pod lengthwise and then into several parts, place it in a dark glass container, fill it with alcohol and close tightly so that the alcohol does not evaporate. Leave the bottle of essence for 2-3 months, shaking occasionally. Remember, the longer it sits, the stronger and brighter the aroma will be. Vanilla essence should be stored in a dark, cool place.

After the essence is ready, you can strain it from the remaining vanilla pod through a coffee filter.

From the spent pods, after drying them first, you can later make vanilla sugar, aromatic bath salts, or use them in soap making.

If you don’t have the time or desire to wait for the essence to infuse at home, then you can simply buy it at the nearest supermarket or online store.

Use in cooking

Vanilla is used very widely in cooking. Many people love this spice for its subtle and sweet aroma. Vanilla essence is often used in:

desserts;
drinks;
meat dishes.

Vanilla also goes very well with alcohol and some types of fish. In addition to carbohydrates, vanilla pods contain proteins and fats, which means they dissolve well in alcohol and give it a subtle exotic aroma. This led to the widespread use of vanilla in the creation of alcohol and alcoholic cocktails.

If you have vanilla essence in your kitchen, a couple of drops will be enough to replace a bag of vanilla sugar or powder. How much vanilla to add to a dish depends on the recipe or your taste preferences. But the essence is used a little differently than the extract. Due to the alcohol base, the essence evaporates during heat treatment. Therefore, it is correct to add it at the very end of the cooking process.

Nowadays, natural vanilla is not so often used on an industrial scale, in particular due to its cost and difficulties in preparing for use. Vanilla is replaced with synthetic vanillin, which is cheaper and more convenient to produce.

What can you substitute for vanilla essence?

You can replace vanilla essence with vanilla powder (vanillin) or vanilla sugar. Vanilla powder has a stronger flavor than sugar, so you'll need much less of it.. Thus, observing all proportions, you can replace 25 grams of vanilla essence with the products indicated in the table.

For a person who loves vanilla, vanilla essence will be a real find!

Many misunderstandings arise. To the best of my ability and ability, I try to repeat each time about the features of this or that product, but every time the same questions appear from girls who came to the page for the first time, or simply inattentively read what was already written.

Therefore, such different concepts as and are often confused. And the point is not at all that the consistency is similar, the point is also that the situation is changing quickly, and Korean manufacturers are producing products that are almost impossible to distinguish even by functionality.

In this article I will tell you what the difference is, whether it is now possible - in our reality - to replace one remedy with another, and how to combine them with each other for greater effectiveness.

Toner

What is toner?
Korean toner is very similar in sound to the usual “tonic”. However, it has a number of fundamental differences that, it seems, will not disappear soon.

In European cosmetics, toner is something fresh, reminiscent of water, and is applied to completely cleanse the skin of possible impurities. Not so long ago, you could read advice in magazines like: “Apply tonic to a cotton pad, wipe your face and by the condition of the pad you can evaluate whether you cleaned your skin well with foam.” Now that we are spoiled by double cleansing, ideal cleanliness, we understand that we do not need a toner.

Toner Features
But do we need it? Definitely yes. After all, it performs completely different functions, and “final cleaning” is not one of them.

It can be liquid in the form of water, such as one of the most popular toners. Or a little viscous, with the texture of syrup, for example. The first thing a toner is designed to do is to normalize the pH of the skin after the alkali in washbasins and the water itself, which - especially here - is not soft. Korean toner also acts as a “conductor” for all other levels of care, keeping the pores open and increasing its receptivity to cosmetics.

How to apply toner?
Until recently, I insisted that applying it with a cotton pad was inadvisable, and I still adhere to this opinion - the warmth of the hands allows the toner to better penetrate the epidermis and ensure slower consumption of the product. The only exceptions are completely watery textures (and there are many of them), which cannot be applied by hand.
But everything flows and changes - Korean girls have long adopted the method of applying toner using cotton puffs - first they actually wipe their face with them, and then, completely soaked, they “stick” to the cheeks, forehead, chin for a couple of minutes. And the wolves are fed, and the sheep are safe. Considering the volume of an average toner is 120-150 ml, even with obscene consumption, you will have it for at least six months.

What types of toners are there?
Toners are different - although they are not completely independent care, they are aimed at helping with (mattifying), (moisturizing), (with AHA BHA PHA acids), (Nourishing). Which one to choose is up to you.

For example, you won’t get proper hydration from toner alone, but it will be a piece of the overall puzzle.

Is it possible to ignore toner in care? Can it be removed from your list?

No. This is definitely a product that should be in your morning and evening routine.

Essence

Essence is one of the three “vitamin whales”. If the toner was a preparation, it is intended for an intensive effect on the skin while solving certain problems of your skin. For example, or. Or for regeneration.

In fact, the three “essence - serum - ampoule” are three different forms of skin vitaminization. They perform the same functions, but with different intensity.

Essence It almost always has a liquid and light watery texture, and the concentration of benefits in it is the smallest of the above. That is why it is preferred by girls who do not agree with stickiness, thick gel substances and fuss with pipettes. It can often be confused with toner, because they are similar in appearance.

Thanks to their aqueous texture and lightness of vitamins, they can be used daily, both morning and evening. Moreover, as I described in the article “The 7 Layer Method”, in Korea there is a fashion for moisturizing the skin with just toner and essence.

When not to use: if you do not need additional options, if you do not have skin problems and you only need hydration.

When is it worth doing?: if you don’t want too dramatic changes, and the condition of your skin basically satisfies you, but you want to improve it a little

Is it possible to skip this stage in your care? : Yes, you can, without any consequences or remorse.

My favorite essence, which I don’t want to change for anything yet, is the silk facial essence. May Coop Raw Sauce with maple sap

Emulsion

For some reason, emulsion is often classified as a serum product, even though it is the most banal moisturizing and protective coating. It's essentially a liquid version of a cream. But it does not at all resemble an oily skin cleansing milk or a rich liquid cream. This is a light substance that melts on the skin and does not leave any grease or shine, but at the same time diligently performs its direct functions - no worse than a cream.