Hi everyone, how are you doing? Is the weather warming up in your part of the world? It is warming up here and I am glad to finally have my windows open and get some fresh air coming in. I am also glad to have some of my international packages arriving! Canada Post has been restricting international parcels as there are less flights coming into the country due to COVID-19. I am not complaining since it makes it extra special when I receive a package!
One of the packages I received during the pandemic is from AYSWE and their Formosa Charms Hydrate and Glow Face Oil with Squalane! (that's a mouthful eh?) It is a facial oil that I won from their Instagram giveaway and I was pretty excited to try it! So this is a first impression of the oil, as I have only tried it for 2 weeks. As always, all opinions are mine and based on my experience with the oil!
Just as a heads up. This is a LONG read! 😉
BRAND BACKGROUND
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| Source: https://www.ayswe.com/ |
I was first introduced to the brand by an event hosted by Skinvestment a few years ago, when the brand was under the name Aeria Skin. They went through a rebranding on August 1st, 2018 due to international trademark issue, if I recall correctly. Their new brand name is AYSWE.
The name AYSWE looks like random letters being jumbled together. But it actually has quite a bit of meaning if you can understand Chinese.
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| Source: https://www.ayswe.com.tw/pages/about-us-1 |
AYSWE is the pronunciation of 愛水 in Taiwanese. The Chinese characters literally translates to "love water", but it has a different meaning in Taiwanese. Taiwan primarily speaks Mandarin as its official language, but there is also Taiwanese, which is a more traditional dialect and is pretty prevalent in their every day lives. I picked up a little bit of it from watching the variety shows and dramas. It took me a couple of minutes and saying it out loud in Taiwanese to understand what it means. Because I was confused how love water could relate to beauty besides hydration.
So, in Taiwanese, the character for water 水 actually means beautiful and good. So what AYSWE actually sounds like is love beauty. Which is a part of the brand's motto to help each of us achieve beauty on the outside and within. It actually makes a lot more sense why their logo is the S of the AYSWE instead of A!!! Because SWE means water/beauty! (Duh! Took me a while to get there but it sure brightened my day a little bit to understand it! 😆)
In addition, AYSWE has a Chinese name is called 愛蕊友肌 which roughly translates to "love stamen friendly skin". The meaning behind it is to help care for your skin like that of the delicate stamen of a flower.
FUNCTION
The Hydrate and Glow Face Oil with Squalane (which I am going to refer to as the oil from now on because that's just a mouthful to write and read) is from their new line called Formosa Charms. This was a new line that was introduced back in December 2019. There was actually an event on their Instagram to come up with the name of the line. The name "Formosa Charms" was chosen as Taiwan used to be called Formosa, and the line uses two ingredients that are indigenous to Taiwan. They are organic black tea from Chike mountain and Chinese wormwood. I'll talk about them in the ingredients section. But I thought I would just give a little bit of an introduction to the line.
The oil was the one product I really wanted to try from the line as it was designed to pack your skin with antioxidants and fatty acids without feeling heavy. It is designed to be a light oil that will hydrate the skin while having some brightening and anti-aging functions. It will help soothe irritated skin, strengthen the skin barrier and lower the appearance of any wrinkles and skin flaking due to dryness.
That flaky skin is a huge issue with me as winter here is so cold and dry. I have to layer tons and tons of hydrating and moisturizing products in order to avoid looking like I am shedding my face off. I discovered in the past winter that my skin needs the oil layer. It is dehydrated but I can't pump it full of hydrating products and throw off the water/oil balance. I need an oil layer to balance it so the skin is both hydrated and moisturized. Hence why I was really excited to receive this oil to try!
PACKAGING
The oil comes in a 30ml frosted glass bottle with brown and white letterings. Not gonna lie, the frosted glass bottle and the silver pump made it feel much more luxurious to me than a plastic bottle. I mean yes, the risk of dropping it and breaking it is a lot higher when it's a glass bottle, but it sure does feel soooo much more luxurious when it's glass. Glass does make it a bit expensive to ship if you were to pay for shipping by weight. So I can understand why some brands go for plastic. Though personally, I just love having glass containers for some of my skincare products.. 😍
I have spoken with AYSWE about this, and they advised that the pump is a bit tight at the beginning, but does get loose with time. They also advised that I could take out the pump and use it as a dropper instead. Or try using less pressure when pressing on the pump and it should produce half a pump of product. Otherwise, the excess product can be used on hair, dry spots or mixed in with other products as a multi-purpose oil.
However, *spoiler alert*, I been testing it against another facial oil, so I only needed the oil for half of my face. The full pump is too much and I needed better control over the dispersion. In the end, choice was made to take out the pump out and shake a couple of drops onto my hand instead. It works. But also defeats the purpose of the pump to reducing oxidation of the oil. Though I will admit, this is more of a user specific issue but I just find it kind of ironic.
That being said, I noticed a couple of issues that's somewhat related to my issue with the pump.
The first issue was that I simply cannot take the lid off after the application of any product!! The lid is so smooth that there is absolutely no grip, so I would have to make sure I either pull off the lid or the pump at the beginning of my routine. Or I have to use a piece of toilet paper to use for grip to open it. So I guess this is a tip for all you users. Open the product before you get your hands all slippery!
The second issue, is that after I started to use the pump as a dropper, aka taking it out of the bottle (lid attached) and using the tube inside the bottle as a dropper, the pump gets oily! It's the weirdest thing. I think there may be some air suctioning going on. Because I would pull off the lid, and entire pump and the inside of the lid is covered in oil. I would clean it only to find the pump and lid to be oily upon the next check. It's not a big issue to me as I am using it as a dropper, but it's just very peculiar to me.
Given the issues I had with the pump, I may try and utilize the pump function once the comparison testing is done. Such that I can test and see if the pump does get a little bit looser and I can control how much product is pumped out.
INGREDIENTS
***Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Ethylhexyl *Palmitate, Babassu Oil, Isohexadecane, Phytosteryl/Octyldodecyl Lauroyl Glutamate (Plant Derived), Squalane (Sugarcane Derived), *Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil (Argan Oil), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Honey Flavor Black Tea (from organic farming), Hydrolyzed Crossostephium Chienese (Chinese Wormwood) Extract, Polysorbate 20, **Cupressus Funebris Wood (Chinese Cedarwood) Oil, **Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, **Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil Expressed
* Certified organic by EU organic verification bodies
** From natural essential oil
*** Listed natural ingredient by EU organic verification body
As per the results from CosDNA, most of the ingredients are safe and non-irritating. The only ingredient that could potentially be of concern would be Ethylhexyl Plamitate.
Ethylhexyl Palmitate has an acne trigger level of 4, which means it could potentially cause some breakouts on those with sensitive and/or acne prone skin. Its presence in the ingredients list (IL) is to be a solvent and an emollient. Given that it is high on the IL, I would recommend those with sensitive or acne prone skin to try and obtain a sample of the oil and patch test before committing to a full size.
As I mentioned above, the Formosa Charms line has two key ingredients, the organic black tea and Chinese wormwood extracts.
The organic honey aroma black tea is harvested from the Chike mountain and is from a tea farmer who has been doing it for over 20 years. The farmer does not use fertilizers or pesticides, instead he uses organic farming to allow for a sustainable ecosystem. Which fits with AYSWE's philosophy of using organic ingredients. The tea actually sounds really interesting and I think next time I visit Taiwan, I am gonna get my hands on some of the tea to drink. But I digress.
In skincare, the black tea is part of the Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, which have multiple functions, such as moisturizing, antioxidant, astringent and emollient. The role of the black tea in the oil is to soothe and repair the skin to aid in the anti-aging process. I had great experience with other products that features Camellia Sinensis Leaf extracts, as I found them to be very hydrating and soothing. So I am excited to see it featured in this oil.
The other featured ingredient is the hydrolyzed Crossostephium Chienese (Chinese Wormwood) Extract, which is not something that recognized by CosDNA. But according to AYSWE's Chinese website, it is used to help brighten and even out the skin tone.
However, these ingredients are not high up on the IL. Instead, the oil is mostly comprised of various oils like badassu, apricot kernel and vitamin E. It also has a squalane that is derived from sugar cane.
Squalane is kind of interesting to me as I hear about it a lot but I don't particularly shop for products specifically for squalane. I have not done much research into squalane, but I know there's a difference between squalane and squalene. In that squalane is more stable and offers a longer shelf life and is derived from squalene. But other than that. I am not 100% sure of its functions. But AYSWE's website tells me that its function in the oil is to form a thin layer on the skin to lock in the moisture and to maintain the softness of the skin.
Lastly, essential oils are used in the oil to provide fragrance and aromatherapy. There are a lot of talks regarding the prolonged use of essential oils in skincare and its effect on skin. I am neither for or against the inclusion of essential oils. I am not going to tell you if it's good or bad for you. It's up to you to decide whether you and your skin are okay with products with essential oils.
SCENT
This oil uses lavender oil, and if you read my blog or Instagram before, you know I despise the scent of lavender.. So..... Guess what's the FIRST thing I smelled when I pulled the oil out of the box? Yup. Lavender... LAVENDER.😱 The oil uses three essential oils, lavender, citrus and Chinese cedarwood. Honestly, I don't smell the citrus or the cedarwood. I just smell lavender..Now, this is when I have an issue with essential oils. I don't like the inclusion of essential oils in products for the purpose of being a natural source of fragrance. BUT only when it's a scent I don't like. Unfortunately, lavender is on top of that list, along with tea tree, and patchouli. They are just so overpowering at such a small amount!
I was dreading putting it on my face but I had to. I was really interested in how it does on my skin as the swatch test on the back of my hand made me really want to try it. So on it goes.
And guess what? I don't hate it on my face! It smelled strongly of lavender when it was in the bottle, out of the bottle and in my hands. But once it's on, it either dissipates quickly or I grew nose blind to it relatively quickly. I was BEYOND grateful that is happening because I would hate to dislike a great product due to its scent. (Which I unfortunately have done before and it breaks my heart since some are great products. And I know people seem to correlate the fact that I dislike the product's scent to disliking the product as a whole and that it is a bad product. When in reality, I just dislike the scent and still really enjoy the product itself).
So... It passes my scent test despite having lavender oil in it!
PERFORMANCE
So... I mentioned at the top of the post that I received this in the midst of the pandemic quarantine. I am not gonna lie. I thought the timeline wasn't the best as we were entering spring. My skin doesn't require much products once the weather warms up. I very much wanted to test it during winter and see how it performs against the dry AB winter weathers.But, as luck (?) may have it, my skin was acting up and was flaking like crazy. So it ended up coming at the right time! I can definitely test it and see how it helps with the flakiness!
By the way, my skin was flaking due to neglect. I normally have combination but dehydrated skin. But once quarantine started and I started working from home, taking care of my skin became a very low priority. It also doesn't help that I was quite burnt out before the quarantine started so skincare was not a priority to begin with. So my poor skin has suffered through the end of winter with barely enough hydration and moisturization, only to go through couple bouts of breakouts due to reaction with Vitamin C and even more neglect.. It's been through A LOT in a few months and it definitely showed. It needs ALL the tender loving care I can give it.
Ok. That's enough about how much I neglected my poor skin and onward to the performance of the oil.
When I swatched it on the back of my hand, I was quite intrigued. The oil is very light and watery, so it was fluid and moves to the direction I am moving my hand. When I spread it around, smell of lavender just burst out and "assault" my nose. (For those who love lavender, it obviously will strike up your olefactory's fancy. But unfortunately, I am a lavender hater so this is just a personal preference). As it is being spread around, I can tell the oil leaves my skin with a very light shine which becomes barely visible once it sunk in. Due to its performance, I would label this a dry oil. As it sinks in quickly and leaves little residue on the skin. I was intrigued and couldn't wait to try it (despite the heavy lavender scent).
So, I mentioned earlier, I been comparing it against another facial oil. So I prepped my skin with the usual products. Toner, serum, and then the oils. The left side of the face, which is less dry, was assigned to the unnamed facial oil (you'll know later when I get around to posting it). The right side, which is drier and has more of the flaky skin, was assigned to the AYSWE oil. I just really wanted to see how it performs on my poor skin.
So, the instruction on the box said to use 1-3 pumps and gently apply to the face and neck in an upward and outward motion until it is fully absorbed. Nope. Didn't do that..😅😅 In the card they sent me, it said to apply a thin layer on the T-zone and then adjust accordingly. Nope. Didn't do that either..
What I did was a full pump of the oil into my palm and applied to the left side of my face and neck. It seemed like a lot but surprisingly, my skin drank it all up really quickly. It just soaked it all up and it didn't feel oily at all. I was really surprised as I was afraid I would have a greasy face and excess oil for my body.
A full pump of oil every couple of days left my skin feeling soft and hydrated. It felt like all the products I used beforehand has been protected by the oil. Whenever I used a mask afterwards, my skin felt even nicer. Like all that goodness was just being locked up and my skin is returning to its happy place.
But a week later, a pump of oil is suddenly no longer good enough. It was too much! The skin around the temple and forehead started to feel really oily, like it couldn't absorb any more of the oil. It started to pill up with this new essence I been using. I even started to break out around my cheeks, which is usually a sign of reaction to products. My skin was NOT happy and I just couldn't figure out why as nothing changed from the previous few days. (I started the essence a few days earlier and there was no piling, hence why I said nothing changed)
I decided to stop using a full pump of the oil and instead use only 3 drops of oil. The area around the temple and forehead felt less oily and I was not getting piling anymore. That's when I realized my skin didn't need that much oil anymore! It only took a week of using the oil for my skin to go from flaky-ville to happy-ville! I even had to drop it down to only 2 drops of oil for the right side of my face and neck! It was more than enough! Colour me shocked!
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| A more contrasted photo to show the difference |
I genuinely am shocked that it only took few uses of the AYSWE for my dry flaky skin to return to happy hydrated skin. I do know that the addition of exfoliating toner and moisturizing essence definitely plays a part in it. But I do believe the oil does a great job in balancing that water and oil balance in the skin. Otherwise, I will still have flaky dehydrated skin that needs a good boost of moisturization from an oil based product.
In fact, while writing this post, I accidentally discovered something really interesting! I put on makeup and I noticed how the blush and foundation highlighted all the flaky spots on my face. So I still have some work to do in terms of reducing the flakiness on my face. But what's interesting is where the majority of the flakes were!
So I mentioned at the top of this section that the right side tends to be drier and more flakes than the left side. That's why I decided to try the AYSWE oil on the right side, so I can see how it performs up to its claims. Even though I felt that both the oils performed relatively well, despite the AYSWE oil being a dry oil and the unnamed oil being a traditional type of facial oil. The makeup revealed something different.
The unnamed oil/left side of my face actually had a huge spot of flakes around the apple of my cheek! Where it would normally be on the right side of my face! I was really shocked when I looked in the mirror because I normally have the most issues with the right side of my face! I didn't even planned on that result. It simply was a coincidence due to the fact that I had to put on makeup for the day. So yes, the AYSWE oil does really deliver a good level of hydration and moisturization to my skin and helps with the dry patches on the skin!
Oh, I almost forgot about the brightening aspect of the oil. Yeah... If you been a reader of this blog or my Instagram. I am the Queen of Cannot Tell a Difference when it comes to brightening effects. Unless it's super noticeable, I simply cannot tell the difference. As this is more of a long term effect instead of immediate effect. I won't be able to tell even if I try my best to take progress photos with the same conditions because there will be inconsistencies between photos. I cannot tell by the naked eye since I would have slowly gotten used to brightening effects as I see myself in the mirror each day. (Though I am serious about the not able to tell a difference part.. I even pause and look at other people's IG stories where they go "OMG can you see the line where the mask touched my skin and where it didn't? It is clear where it had brightened and where it didn't!". I would stare at it for a good five minutes and still not be able to see the difference at all. That's how bad I am at it...😥😓)
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Overall, I really like this oil! It's lightweight and fast absorbing. Since now my skin is balanced enough that it only needs 2 drops at a time, 30ml of the oil will last me a long time.
I do have some issues with the product, as I despise the scent of lavender. But that's a personal preference, and even then I can tolerate it in this oil. Though I would much prefer that it is removed completely. But again, personal preference and not a product defect.
The other issue I had with the oil is the pump. I am constantly opening it and using it as a dropper defeats the purpose having the pump in the first place. But that's just a personal preference and a testing issue as I only needed two drops for half of my face. I think I will definitely keep trying with the pump to see if I can get a more controlled amount.
Other than those issues, I genuinely do really like this oil. I am also quite happy to have received this oil in April, where spring is starting, instead of winter. Because let's face it. I initially failed to take into consideration of where this product was produced and its target audience.
This was made primarily for the Taiwanese users, as it is made in Taiwan. At a climate that is high heat and humidity. That is why the oil is so lightweight and hydrating. Their average user will need something that will sink in quickly and not leave any residue on their skin. So they can carry onward with their routine and their day without feeling sticky.
Whereas AB weather is dry and the winter is brutal with the freezing winds blowing at the face, the dry environment, and the dryness from heaters. It is dry, dry, dry! The requirement for a good winter oil would not be a lightweight dry oil. Instead, it would be a really heavy moisturizing oil that will lock in all the goodness and creates a thick layer to block against all the dryness. This AYSWE oil will not do that. But, it is perfect for the transition seasons like spring and fall, where it is warming up or cooling down. Where the skin still needs a layer of oil goodness to lock everything in and help with the oil and water balance on the skin.
So I went off on a tangent. But what I was trying to say is I was wrong on the timing of the oil, as it is perfect for the spring and fall. Where I need a lightweight oil to help with the oil and water balance on my skin without feeling too heavy and helps with maintaining the hydrating plump skin that I love.
Thanks to AYSWE for allowing me to try this oil and I will update with any thoughts as I continue to use this oil!
Update (June 2020): Hi all~ I been using a full pump of the oil on my face almost every day and I am happy to report that the pump is a lot better now! It's easier to push down the pump but the pressure is still a bit projectile . But it's a lot better than when I started so I am quite happy with it. My skin is loving it and I replaced my moisturizer with the oil and so far so good! I am also only 1/4 way through the bottle with regular use, which I am quite happy about. So overall, I am just quite happy with the oil! :)
RELATED PRODUCTS
Formosa Charms Series:
Hydrate Glow Face Oil with Squalane - AYSWE
Marine Luminous Hydrating Mask with Ultra-Thin Transparent Sheet - AYSWE
Black Charcoal Balancing Mask with Organic Honey Aroma Black Tea - AYSWE
Original line:
Botanical Moist Cream with Squalane - AYSWE
Rosa Vita Hydrating Serum - AYSWE
Intensive Hydrating Mask - AYSWE
Ultra Age-Defying Mask - AYSWE
Hydra Repair Mask - AYSWE
Even-tone Brightening Mask - AYSWE
Brightening & Soothing Eye Mask - AYSWE
I tried a couple of their face masks and the eye mask before thanks to Skinvestment and really liked it! I can't recall which of their masks that I have tried but I know I LOVED the eye mask. It just felt really soothing to me!
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