Buckle up fellow skincare addicts, because today I have an intense 5 step Korean skincare routine 3 Week Power Magic Starter Kit SO COOL SO ME review. Whatta mouthful!
They kindly gifted me this acne skincare set so I could review it for y’all + put it to the extremely rigorous GirlChickBetty test.
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SO COOL SO ME Review: So, what do you get?
There are five steps to this SO COOL SO ME skincare kit. You get the SOCOOLSOME Facial Cleanser, Exfoliating Toner, Essence, Emulsion, and Cica Cream.
This is sold as a three week supply, and you can just squeak by three weeks with the toner and essence but the cica cream will last far beyond that timeframe.
The face wash and cream are in tubes and the rest of the set are in hard plastic bottles with small valves that you have to tap on the back of your hand to get the product out. It’s similar to those old fashioned glass ketchup bottles that we all secretly despise because they’re such a pain in the ass to use.
This packaging is fine for the toner and essence since the formulas are both very watery, but the emulsion is very frustrating to get out of the bottle. I have to forcefully whack the bottle on the back of my hand 15-20 times to get enough product out for my entire face. If you purchase this I highly recommend that you decant it into a different container.
Would I purchase another 3 Week Power Magic Starter Kit?
I used nothing but this skincare set for a solid week. I completely dropped everything else from my usual skincare routine (except my eye cream).
I have dry sensitive acne-prone skin and suffer mostly from comedones on my cheeks with the occasional blackhead breakout in my t-zone. I have not had breakouts on my temples or forehead for over a year and a half.
Guess where I started breaking out a week into using only these products? All over my poor forehead. It was nothing crazy, just a few blackheads and small whiteheads but it was very weird because I *literally* never have issues in that area. This was not a “purge” as I had nothing to clear out of my skin in those areas.
My cheeks stayed about the same, nothing worse but nothing had improved either. My skin tone looks a little redder in the before photo below due to lighting changes. I couldn’t see any change in redness or in evening out my skin tone.
SO COOL SO ME Review: How does the formula look?
The first four products have no added fragrance or essential oils but they do contain a lot of fragrant botanical extracts like lavender, peppermint, and various citruses. I don’t like seeing these three extracts in particular because I’ve spoken about the dangers of citrus-derived oils and extracts in the past, while lavender and peppermint are extremely fragrant and irritating ingredients. They don’t have nearly enough benefits to convince me to ignore the many side effects of using these extracts.
There are some beneficial botanicals in the products such as tea tree oil, witch hazel, and rosemary which are all great for treating acne-prone skin. The cica cream also has centella asiatica which you’ve probably heard me rave about before. Centella is a must-have ingredient for any acne targeted skincare routine.
The final ingredient in the moisturizer is bergamot oil which is too fragrant for my taste. There is not a noticeable scent to these products but I firmly believe my skin reacted the way it did due to too many irritating floral extracts and oils.
I have close up images of the ingredient lists of each step of the set posted on my Instagram here. Strangely enough, I cannot find the ingredient lists for these anywhere online. Each step has an almost identical formula when it comes to the various extracts and active ingredients.
Final thoughts?
If you do not have sensitive skin this set may work for you but if you do suffer from sensitivity, I would advise that you steer clear. I will not be purchasing more of these products because of my skin’s less than stellar reaction but that does not mean it’s a bad product. It’s just not a good option for sensitive skin types. It was very moisturizing and left my skin feeling nourished despite the breakouts.
The cica cream was very close to being a home run because I love sneaking as much centella asiatica into my routine as possible!