BEAUTY: Miracle water boost

2009/11/30

SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN

Skincare brand SK-II rolls out new products and extensions but SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN believes that its old favourite is still its best. SOMEONE whispered to me once that the biggest-selling skincare brand in the country is SK-II.

With massive advertising and promotions featuring stars such as Hong Kong’s Carina Lau and Hollywood A-lister Cate Blanchett, it is hardly surprising that the brand sells like hot cakes.

What remains the brand’s biggest strength is its Facial Treatment Essence (FTE), which contains 90 per cent of pitera, the crux of SK-II’s product ingredients.

Still, just because it works for most women, does it mean it will work for me? To test my theory, I went to the SK-II counter for a complimentary skin test, only to find that my skin isn’t in an exactly pristine state, with general concerns like dehydration, oiliness and wrinkles.

I tested my “skin power”, which is simply the strength of your skin vis-a-vis your age, and I got an average score.

SK-II’s new moisturiser called the Skin Signature is formulated to retain your skin power so it doesn’t deteriorate faster than it naturally should.

The cream cannot, however, reverse the process and give you better skin power than before.

It is watery and reminds me of a tub of yoghurt. It has a very faint scent and as a moisturiser, I feel it is too light.

It just doesn’t hydrate enough. Coming from someone who prefers gels to creams because of oily- combination skin, the SK-II cream is lame by my standards.

The cream works well for day use, but for night, my face needs a denser cream to compensate for dehydration.

The Facial Treatment Repair C, I think, is just average. It’s a serum, but I couldn’t really notice a difference, with or without it.

What I really like though is the foaming facial treatment cleanser. I know a beauty editor who swears by it and it’s true — the cleanser works very well without drying and helps pimple scars slowly fade.

But the best is still SK-II’s classic, the FTE, known to fans as the Miracle Water. Not only does it make your face softer after you dab it on (using a cotton pad), it also helps soothe irritated skin.

I brought this along when I went to Penang where I was severely sunburnt — there were dry patches on my forehead and cheeks. It was so bad there were wrinkles on my cheeks when I smiled.

What I did was to dab the FTE on my face and what do you know, after a few applications, the dry skin flaked off, leaving a healthy layer of skin behind.

Without the FTE, I think I would have needed a week for the dry patch to go, but the FTE soothed it in a few days. I didn’t like the yeasty smell, but scent matters least when something works for you.

I think calling it Miracle Water may be too generous, but when it comes to stabilising the skin on your face or handling extreme weather, the SK-II FTE, in my opinion, is still the best bet out there.