A Battle in Essence: Clinique vs SK-II

Clinique, essence, skincare, sk-II, dry skin

If you have read my previous post on Clinique's Step 3 toners you might be a bit surprised by what I am about to say......I LOVE THIS ESSENCE. You guys seriously this essence is life. So I, being the skeptic that I am, absolutely refused to hop on the essence bandwagon. When they were first introduced to Sephora, they were EVERYWHERE. Every brand launched beautifully packaged essences in sleek glass bottles, each one claimed to be the missing component in consumers skin care regimens and by adding this one additional product absolute miracles would be produced. As I do with all new products, I bypassed the wild over exaggerated claims on the front of the box, flipped them over and read the ingredient lists. Repeatedly each one read incredibly similar, filled with alcohol and fragrances, and lacked skin beneficial ingredients one would expect to find. 

When our store received SK-II I was blown away by the price tag, $99 for a 2.5 oz!  While it did lack garbage ingredients and skin sensitizers that others had, SK-II only had ONE main ingredient (galactomyces ferment filtrate) aka pitera. Here is what you need to understand, there is NO SINGLE INGREDIENT that is going to miraculously transform your skin. If galactomyces ferment filtrate was the only ingredient needed then why are we not just bathing in it every day and going on with our lives no longer needing to obsess over skin care? If I am going to invest $100 in a product, you better believe it is going to be chocked FULL of beneficial ingredients. 

So, in comes the Clinique Even Better Essence, a bit late to the game, but well worth the wait. I was immediately impressed with the ingredient list and did a little happy dance over the occlusion of alcohol as is the dominating ingredient in Clinique’s step 3 toners. This Essence contains many of the ingredients that are in my beloved Drunk Elephant B-hydra gel watermelon extract, lentil extract and apple extract which act as antioxidants to protect the skin and prevent free radical damage. This Essence also contains an additional antioxidant that is not derived from fruit....are you ready for it?!...galactomyces ferment filtrate. Yes, that's right it contains a heaping helping of the same main ingredient in the SK-II essence. See I wasn't just rambling, everything comes full circle with a little patience. 

So the Clinique essence is $44 for a 6.7 oz while the SK-II essence is $179 for a 5.4 oz and the Clinique essence contains much more than just pitera. I have used both and much prefer the light lotion-like texture of the Clinique Essence (I use the 1,2 for dry skin), as opposed to the water-like texture of the SK-II essence. 

Honestly, with spending this amount on the SK-II essence, it is utterly stressful to make a small pool of the thin liquid in your hands and frantically splash it on your face in a desperate attempt to not let the ultra-thin liquid seep between your fingers, potentially wasting a couple drops ultimately costing you around $10. It also has relatively ZERO spreadability as well, so I never felt it to be evenly distributed on my skin and felt the majority was wasted on my palms.  

So to sum things up I am an essence believer now, but only if the ingredients are right. I enjoy having the extra step as I feel it is a way to give my skin the additional beneficial ingredients in a light non-pore clogging way. The Even Better Essence is no longer on Sephora’s shelves but it is still available on Sephora.com and I assume you can find it at Clinique counters.

Clinique Clarifying Lotions 1,2,3,4 & mild review

Clinique is a brand I had a really hard time getting into when I first began my Sephora career. My first training with the brand consisted of the brand representative boasting about how I should use Clinique because my mother and grandmother probably used Clinique,  how Clinique has been around for 40+ years and so on and so on. Well, that's wonderful for them and all, but what about those of us who aren't as eager to hop onto the Clinique bandwagon? Why should I use these products just because they've been around forever? With all the new technology and the sheer lack of actual product knowledge I received, I became convinced there were better brands to use. While I still feel this way about many of their products, mostly the ones that have been unchanged since day one, I have grown very fond of quite a few Clinique products over the years. I love the fact that they do not include fragrances. I know I have not gone into my hatred for fragrance in skincare products yet, I will save that for a future review, but believe me, it's there!

The Clarifying Lotions 1, 2,3 &4 are Clinique's step 2 in their 3 step system. They are a thin liquid consistency, unlike the title "lotion" would imply. They are applied with a cotton applicator like a toner would be after cleansing, and then meant to be followed by their infamous "Dramatically Different Moisturizer".  The lotions are marketed as exfoliants, and the different numbers refer to the different skin types each one is best suited for.  The Clarifying Lotions have been updated not too long ago to actually include a few beneficial hydrating ingredients, however, the amount of alcohol that is still contained in lotions 1,2,3 and 4  is going to produce the exact opposite effects on the skin, thus canceling the benefits of the hydrating ingredients. When alcohol is applied to the skin it destroys skin cells, creates free radical damage, and strips the skin of healthy, natural oils. Denatured alcohol is the 2nd ingredient on the list, meaning it makes up a vast majority of the product! I also do not agree with the fact that these are marketed as exfoliants. While they do include salicylic acid, which is indeed an exfoliating ingredient they just do not provide sufficient exfoliation and are misleading to consumers.  The first time I tried one of these lotions, the Clinique representative rubbed the saturated cotton round on the back of one of my hands and then instructed me to compare my hand's side by side. This is the oldest trick in the book! If a representative ever instructs you to do this please do not be fooled! The difference you will see in your hands is merely caused by the rubbing motion on the skin. It increases circulation on the skin and it will appear brighter and have a more even tone due to the blood flow.

So I realize for those that have been religiously using Clinique's 3 step system for the last 10-30 years are probably not about to take a blind leap off the bandwagon that they have been comfortably bumping along on. However, if they are coming to me with their skin concerns, I feel it is my duty as an esthetician to politely give them a nice solid shove towards the Mild Clarifying Lotion, it is the only one of the lotions that do not contain alcohol. Which, I have found many people including my fellow Sephora cast are completely unaware of. The mild version is the only one out of all 5 lotions that do not contain alcohol, and I highly recommend it to assist in removing excess makeup after cleansing, extra hydration, and VERY MILD exfoliation with a .5% salicylic acid. In conjunction with the mild lotion, I would still recommend a deeper exfoliation a few times a week for most skin types; or for acne prone skin a higher percent salicylic acid in a separate leave on product.