REVIEW: Shiseido Eudermine and SKii Facial Treatment Essence

Now I know these two products are not quite the same but for myself I tend to group them together since they're used in the same after cleanser, before toner/essence slot in my routine. Since I started using Obagi late last year I noticed that my skin was looking and feeling dry. I just spent all this money on this medispa stuff so instead of chucking it I decided to add another step. :P I have to say the Shiseido Eudermine did help a little. It's consistency is watery but with a little slip and my face felt nice after using it. I'm sure I would be more impressed with it if I didn't use such harsh, strong products after it. It seems like Eastern and Western skincare products don't really mix. Overall a good product.  I've enjoyed it and am almost done with the bottle. That being said although it's lovely, I hate this bottle. It's tall and skinny which makes it prone to toppling over and the cap is not even screwed on. Not very travel friendly and the small hole on the top makes it so hard to pour out the exact amount needed.  It was $52 for 4.2oz. Pretty pricey but cheap compared to SKII.

Pros:
Lightly moisturizing
Soften skin
Smells nice

Cons:
Bottle is ridiculous

Rating:
8 out or 10

Sigh. SK-ii , why can't I love you...  After reading a billion reviews I caved and bought this essence. Eudermine was somewhat helping my dryness so I thought this would be even better. Wrong. This is even thinner then the Shiseido and even when using a lot (like a whole palm-ful)my skin drinks this in and still feels parched. I even tried this with my Sulwhasoo line and the First Care Serum did a way better job of moisturizing and readying my face for the next steps. The last straw was using it with the SK-ii Cellumination line. I got a 5 day sample of the Aurabright essence and cream from Nordstroms and used them all together. Sad to say I was really disappointed in that line. I can't speak of the brightening effect since I only used it for a few days but there's no way I could handle the dryness.  My makeup didn't go on as smoothly and I don't even want to talk about the under eye wrinkles. Ugh. And for that price there's no justifying buying a second cream to go on top of it all. The Aurabright Essence and Cream are $160 each, the Facial Treatment Essence is $105 for 2.5oz.  I might just use up the bottle because I'd feel bad returning it but then I'm on to the Sulwhasoo First Care Serum for sure.

Pros:
Sinks into skin right away
Possible long term brightening effects

Cons:
Smells a bit weird
Not moisturizing enough even for a "toner"
Price

Rating: 6 out of 10