Etude House Toning White C Review

Today’s review is not only my first skin care product review, but also my first review as part of Etude House’s Pink Bird program! I got asked to participate in this program last month after receiving praise for my blog from Amore Pacific staff while working as a Beautizen. The program lasts 6 months, with one sponsored review per month, so expect to see some diverse stuff from me! (picture heavy)

Today I’ll be reviewing Etude House’s new skin care line – Toning White C! Etude House isn’t particularly known for its skin care and is more famous for their makeup products, but it seems they’re trying to fight their way to the top with the release of several new skin care lines in the past few months!

I was honestly wary to try this product as in the past I have had many of Etude’s skin care products break me out…Approved by the KFDA (this is the first time I’ve seen this in a product description by Etude House so I assume it’s the first time?), this line claims that it will deeply moisturize and brighten your skin with the power of vitamin C and minerals.

As someone who is already as white as a ghost, I didn’t expect much for “whitening” but was instead interested in this product for brightening and evening out the uneven and sallow parts of my skin.

As you can see on the packaging, this line uses vitamin C extracted from berries. Etude House also suggests that you pair these products with their other new line, “Berry AHA! Bright Peel.”

I received the whole line minus the “Tone Up Cream.” I’ve been using the products by themselves twice a day (sleeping pack only at night) for around 3 weeks now, and will be showing before and after photos of any skin changes I’ve had in this short time!

The packaging is white and violet, and feels very sturdy and high quality! There is some information about each product on the backs, but I’ve included pictures of the boxes below. I couldn’t remember which order to use the essence/emulsion in so I wrote numbers on the bottom…just realized you can see them in the photo（￣□￣；）

•○ Clear Toner ○•

I will be reviewing the products in order that they are used! First up is the toner.

This product comes with 180mL for 18,000 KRW. After 3 weeks of using it twice daily, I still haven’t seen a decrease in level, so I feel like this product goes quite far! I find a little goes a long way as it is quite watery.

The opening looks like this, which you can turn upside down and apply to a cotton pad or do what I do and shake it into your hand.

It’s a little hard to see, but this product is semi-transparent. I generally shake it onto my hand, rub them together, and pat it onto my face.

After applying

It absorbs very well into the skin, and like the back of the box claims, does not leave a sticky feeling on the skin, nor does it dry me out like some toners do! I definitely prefer this a hundred times over my Wonder Pore toner that I was using previously. I can smell a very faint flowery scent when bringing it to my nose, but comparing to my Wonder Pore toner which has an insanely strong alcohol smell, this toner is relatively scentless!

•○ Active Essence ○•

Next up is the Active Essence. Essence is the one product that I was missing from my skin routine, and as I’ve heard that they’re one of the most important parts, I’m glad I was able to get this!

The essence retails for 22,000 KRW for 80mL of product, which is very pricey coming from Etude House!

Once again, water is at the top of the ingredient list and fragrance is listed at the bottom. Like the toner, there is a quickly-fading faint smell of flowers when applying the cream to your face.

Both the essence and emulsion come with a sturdy pump top which makes it very easy to apply a specific amount of product. It moves very easily so you never find yourself getting more than you need!

As you can see from the above photo, the essence is rather watery and spreads very easily over your skin. I find that the above amount is enough to do most of my face.

After applying

Like the toner, I do not feel sticky after applying this to my skin. It sinks in quickly, leaving my skin feeling quite soft. As I used all 4 products at once, I’m not sure which of the 4 had the most effect, but judging on the high price of this one, I would like to think that it had some kind of higher effect over the others…

•○ Active Essence ○•

The third part of the line, the emulsion, is the same as the toner at 180mL for 18,000 KRW.

The emulsion seems to act as the most moisturizing and refreshing part of the line for daily use.

This product is the thickest of the 3, and takes the longest to absorb into the skin. After applying all 3 of these products and waiting for them to sink in, I can honestly say that my skin feels extremely soft and moisturized!

After applying

This photo was taken directly after applying, and as you can see, it “sits on the skin” more than the previous products. I find this one to be the most moisturizing at first glance, but naturally using all 3 together produced the best effect.

•○ Double Effect Sleeping Pack ○•

The Double Effect Sleeping Pack claims to both inject moisture and brighten your skin throughout the night. It retails for 15,000 KRW for 100mL.

The mask comes with a small double ended spatula, which as you can see above, has a spoon end on the left and a “spreading” butterknife-type shape on the right. As I make sure to wash my hands before doing my face routine, I haven’t found myself using this and instead just apply directly from the jar, but I can see how this could be useful for some!

As far as the claims on the box, I found that while this cream is not sticky, it goes on the skin quite thickly, so I always wake up covered in dust and fuzzies (・_・ヾ

It’s a little hard to see in this photo, but the cream is a semi-transparent type with tiny balls of what I would assume are the “moisture capsules” that are talked about in the description.

The “moisture capsules” are impossible to tell apart from the regular cream when applying this to your face! As this product is quite thick, a little goes a long way, and I find myself just dabbing my finger in it and getting enough product to cover my whole face with. As for how I feel about this product – I LOVE IT（*’∀’人）♥ I find myself waking up in the morning with such soft skin that I can’t stop touching it! As this wasn’t something I experienced with my previous skin care routine, I’m really happy about this one.

•○ Ampoule Hyrdrogel Mask ○•

For a bonus, I also decided to add in the face mask that’s part of this line! There is currently a promotion going on at Etude House Korea where you get a free sheet mask if you buy any one product from the Toning White C line 🙂

See bigger photo here

I have a love/hate relationship with sheet masks as I can never find any that fit my face properly (⌣_⌣”)

I honestly didn’t look at the back before applying the mask (smart, I know), so I was quite surprised when opening it and seeing it comes in two pieces!

The mask is a gel type, and is sandwiched between two thin pieces of plastic to protect it from the packaging.

After taking off your face makeup (I swear I cleansed my face! Wanted to keep my eye makeup on for my evening plans ㅡㅅㅡ; you should probably not follow my example and take that off too…) you apply the mask to the top half of your face. It fit quite comfortably, but would definitely fit the nose area better of someone with less of a prominent nose, as I couldn’t get it to stick down (ᵕ̣̣̣̣̣̣﹏ᵕ̣̣̣̣̣̣)  Felt like I was going to a masquerade with only the top half on!

After applying the second half you will feel like Hannibal Lecter.

I found the bottom half of the mask to be too big vertically and too small horizontally, but otherwise it fit comfortably and didn’t fall off my face even though I vigorously cleaned my room while wearing it! It has been 3 hours since applying the mask and I can say my skin still feels rather moisturized…

•○ Before vs After ○•

(You can click the above photos for larger versions – my lips are stained from a lip tint in the second photo, sorry!) Honestly I am extremely happy with this product line and have been gushing about it to my friends non-stop! I haven’t seen any “whitening” happen per se (not that I wanted any), but my skin feels a lot more even and brighter in tone. I have actually felt more confident with my makeup-less face as, despite still having problems with sallowness around my mouth, my pores have shrunken very visibly and my skin feels less dull!

I’m not sure which is more effective between the essence and emulsion, as I cannot tell them apart effect-wise, but I really like the toner as it’s the first I’ve used that felt moisturizing instead of drying, and love how moist the sleeping pack makes my skin feel when I wake up in the morning. I have gotten only 1 pimple in the past 3 weeks since using this product, which is great considering I thought it was going to break me out horribly (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑  I’m hoping that over time this product will help improve the yellowness around my mouth, as that’s one of my biggest insecurities when it comes to my bare face. If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve this, I’d love to hear them 😦

Next week’s review will be on an adorable cafe I found in Busan! Until next time! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧