Launch review: SK-II Facial Treatment Oil

Today I am excited to tell you about the brand new product from the popular Japanese cosmetic brand SK-II, launched on January 10, here in Japan.

A few days after the launch, the new Facial Treatment Oil review score on @cosme, the Japan biggest portal site about beauty products reviews, kept on raising to reach 6.1 / 7 as of today.

So I really needed to try and see by myself the magical elixir everybody talks about!

Oil products everywhere

A few years ago, the oil texture started raising in popularity.
I believe the trend started for hair first. Major worldwide launches such as Moroccan Oil boosted the trend. Creating synergy with the explosive boom of natural cosmetics trend, the oil products kept on multiplying in all beauty care; oil for hair, oil for body, oil for face…

Why is oil so popular?
The intercellular lipids of the skin, when weakened by different causes such as the cold weather or simply ageing, cannot support the skin cells, therefore even if we try to moisturise the skin, the skin is not capable of keeping the moisture inside it. The oil, that has a good compatibility with the intercellular lipids, helps the latter to create a barrier on the skin and prevent the loss of moisture.
On top of the moisturising effect, the oil can also have a balancing effect, by helping the intercellular lipids to stay stable. So when the oil is applied on a oily skin, it can actually help balancing and stop the over production of sebum by the skin.

2 phased formula

SK-II Facial Treatment Oil, what about the formula?

The SK-II Facial Treatment Oil has a dual phase texture. One part is the SK-II specific ingredient Pitera and the other one is oil.

• Pieta is made of yeast and is the signature ingredient included in all SK-II products.
  The story is that a researcher has randomly discovered, when visiting a sake (japanese traditional alcohol) brewery, the beauty/anti-ageing effect of yeast, noticing the long time working brewer’s beautiful hands. After many years of research on yeast, SK-II gave birth to their ingredient Pitera.
  Pieta has 7 beneficial effects on the horny layer of the skin, including hydration, sebum and pH balancing effect. It says it supports the original skin functions to make the skin healthy.
• The oil part is a complex of 6 oils: olive, avocado, jojoba, rice bran, squalene and riceterol ester. It aims to bring the skin nourishment and glow.

The product has to be used after it is shaken (about 10 times) to let the 2 phases emulsify. It then transforms into a milky texture like on the picture below.

When shaken, the texture becomes milky

Let’s try it on…

SK-II recommends to use 5 to 7 drops on the face. It is to be used after the lotion (explanation of what a lotion is in the Japanese skincare routine: here), so before the serum or cream.

As a fragrance lavender and wild carrot have been used. However personally I am not a big fan. It does smell of the herbs but mixed with the Pitera yeast odor, it rather gives a strange result…but I got used to it after a few days…

From the first application, I felt the change in my skin. It became so much softer! I had quite severely cracked lips so I extended the oil to my lips too. The next day, miraculously they were already fully recovered!

The glow that they claimed was definitely seen; a natural glow coming from a clear skin, and not a shiny effect that we can imagine from the result of an oil.
The touch after application was actually not sticky at all. No greasy film was left and most of all, I was afraid that the make-up wouldn’t sit well after the use of this oil. But no disappointment on this neither; I only use the BB cream UVIdea from La Roche Posay SPF50 and a little bit of powder and nothing went wrong.

When combined with other products from SK-II, the efficacy is even more obvious. At the shop where I went to buy the product, the beauty adviser showed me on my hands. On one hand, she did the whole skincare routine; at the end my hands were visibly different. On the one with layering, the skin was much softer, smoother and clearer in term of skin tone and the skin texture was much more refined. The most surprising thing is that the effect was long lasting! The next day the difference on my hands stayed!!

So OK, this product is expensive: 50mL / 16,000 yen!!! 😮
But I think it’s worth it and I recommend it!