Etude House AC Clean Up Review

Hello everyone! Decided to upload two posts this week to make up for my absence, and today I have last month’s Pink Bird box review. This month’s feature product is the reformulation/upgrade of Etude House’s AC Clean Up acne line. This review includes the Liquid Patch, After Balm, Pink Powder Mask, Pink Powder Spot, and Mask Sheet!

(Search the product name you’re looking for to find its individual review!)

The AC Clean Up line used to be known as “AC Clinic”, and had a medicine-like feel in its packaging to match the name.

However the upgraded version, while still retaining its green, clean-feeling packaging, has a much friendlier feel under its “AC Clean Up” name – a total improvement! These products claim to use the powers of natural salicylic acid, madecassic acid, and tea tree oil to help clear up skin troubles. It is also advertised as being free of the following “7 artificial additives”: animal fats(?), mineral oil, polyacrylamide, imidazolidinyl urea, triethanolamine, tar dyes, and synthetic fragrance! Now onto the review…

•○ Pink Powder Mask ○•

First up is the Pink Powder Mask, which retails for 13,000 KRW. It contains “vitamin E-enriched pink beads” for treatment of dead skin cells, along with “pink powder” (calamine) and clay for oil and sebum control.

The packaging is the sturdy plastic-metal type (I can’t tell which it is so let’s say it’s both :p) in a powdery pink finish to match the product inside.

After perforating the seal with the point in the lid (much like you would with a medicinal cream), you are able to use the mask. It has a citrus, calmine-y smell! Not unpleasant, and quite clean smelling.

I had commented to my friends that I wasn’t sure how I would do this review since I’m not one to get pimples (more of a clogged-pore/blackhead type!) but as soon as I said this I got like 4 pimples at once so…yay? This is the little guy we’ll be dealing with for this review.

The mask is thick in texture and easy to spread out. I’m not a fan of wash-off masks because of how hard they are to wash off (or maybe that’s just laziness on my part), and this one was no exception! It took quite a bit of rinsing before I could get it off. as the clay sticks to the skin quite well.

This is what the mask looked like after 15 minutes or so. It dried to a crackled, pink mask. Once applying water it turned back into a clay-like texture and dissolved after some light massaging. It had a soothing and cooling effect while it was on my face and I quite liked the smell of it even if application/removal was a little tedious.

The mask seemed to have calmed the redness in my skin a bit, which I guess is from the cooling sensation it gives off.

My pores were also shrunken a bit! My skin felt relatively soft after but nothing too drastic. My skin texture was also similar from before and after (a little hard to tell in the pictures because my freckles give the illusion of uneven texture).

I quite liked the soothing sensation this mask gave my skin, but I wouldn’t say it’s anything particularly amazing as I could not see drastic results with it. I figure doing this when my skin is irritated or when I’m likely to get more pimples will prove its effectiveness better!

•○ Pink Powder Spot ○•

I also received this mini set!

It contains a small Pink Powder Mask and a Pink Powder Spot, along with cotton buds for applying the Pink Powder Spot with!

Instructions

Ingredients

It comes with quite a lot of these!

This is the product I was most curious about, as a favourite youtuber of mine mentioned a similar product recently! As the instructions say, without shaking it, you take a cotton swab and insert it into the powder at the bottom of the bottle. You then apply this solution onto any pimples or trouble spots you have, and leave it! I like to do this before I go to bed so the product has time to work on my spots throughout the night.

After having this on my desk for a while I see that the liquid is completely transparent. It being cloudy here is a result of it being tossed around a bit while I took these photos, so make sure you keep it somewhere it can be still so it doesn’t get shaken!

After putting it on it dries to look exactly like the Pink Powder Mask after just a few minutes. It’s very easy to rub it off by accident while touching your face, so I suggest having some caution after applying. As for how well it works – I’m in love with this! I had a few spots that looked like they would become pimples, so I applied this for two nights and they were completely gone without rearing their heads! This is my favourite product out of what I tried and (spoiler alert) the only one I got real results with. This set goes for 13,000 KRW, which is the same as the previous mask so I think this is the much better deal since you get both the mask and the Powder Spot for the same price! You also cannot purchase this product on its own for some reason 😦

•○ After Balm ○•

Next up is the After Balm! This is meant to be used as the last step for acne treatment.

It claims that it forms a protective film on the skin but I have been using this just as a regular cream that soaks into the skin.

It is quite small in size and retails for 13,000 KRW (starting to be convinced that’s the price of EVERYTHING in this line…). It’s a nice portable size!

It comes with a squeeze tube applicator and comes out very easily – no struggle.

The thin nozzle on the tube makes for a very specific application, which is great since its purpose is to be applied to spots.

Once rubbed in it looks like this. It leaves a slight shiny finish but eventually soaks into the skin. I don’t see any kind of “film” left behind, so maybe a mistranslation? Either way, I’m not really sure if this product does anything. I don’t know when to apply it, as I don’t want to apply it before the Powder Spot because it might lessen the effectiveness of that, but applying it underneath the Liquid Patch makes it not stick as well. So I guess this is a good product to apply for use throughout the day as it’s not as noticeable as the patch/spot? Regardless, I don’t know if this product makes too much of a difference so I’d give it a pass.

•○ Liquid Patch ○•

Finally a product with a different price! This one goes for 11,000 KRW for 5 ml of product which is on the pricey side 😦

Instructions/ingredients

As you can see from the pictures, this product is supposed to cover your trouble areas to protect them from dirt and other impurities getting into them as they heal.

This product also has the nicest packaging! I love the transparent green plastic – it looks very clean and high quality.

This comes with a screw-top lid and applicator that look exactly like Etude’s “Woo Baby” lip plumpers.

It’s made of a flexible plastic that allows for easy application to the skin.

It applies quite stickily and some care is required to get an even application. It has a menthol-like smell and feel, and burns a bit if applied over an open cut.

It dries down to a thin sheet, which gives the feeling of having applied liquid glue to your skin (I’m sure I’m not the only one that did this as a kid!).

Arm swatch remnants…

I applied Etude House’s “Cover & Bright Fit” BB Cream on top (which has a stronger yellow cast than I remember…), patting it in gently as to not disturb the patch. The patch leaves a slight shiny cast which I found impossible to cover up with the makeup. If it were just me, I wouldn’t bother applying makeup on top of it at all but it can be done!

As you can see here, the patch does a great job of preventing anything from getting under it. However, it falls off extremely easy with just the slightest movement of your skin (wrinkling, making certain expressions, etc.). I feel like this is only practical if you’re using it around the house, or if you are fine with taking it with you to re-apply throughout the day. I think the product has a good idea going, but I don’t find it to be very practical.

•○ Mask Sheet ○•

The last (and shortest) part of this review is the Mask Sheet! These go for 2,500 KRW, and I totally forgot to take a picture of myself using it 😦 I remembered to take a picture right as it was leaving my hand and flying towards the garbage can, so it was already too late…

This mask is one of the thickest fiber masks I’ve used, probably due to it being apparently made from “bamboo fibers”…

This is another product that I found to be just so-so. I didn’t find it particularly moisturizing or soothing, and the thick fibers made me feel like most of the product was retained in the mask itself instead of soaking into my face. I’d pass on this one!

•○ Final Thoughts ○•

If I had to choose something from this line I’d say pick up the kit with the Powder Mask and the Powder Spot! As calamine has been used to treat acne for as long as I can remember, I feel like the Powder Mask might have a noticeable effect after prolonged use. This line also has a Toner, Gel Lotion, Patches, and Cleansing Water so perhaps there will be other products that are better than the ones I tested!

You can find this line on Etude House’s Korean website here, and they can also be ordered from this international K-beauty shipper here*!

I’m not sure what I’ll review next, but it will definitely be something makeup-related as skin care posts aren’t really my forte 😦 I hope this was informative at least! Until next time~ (-ω-ゞ