The best sunscreen I've found as a second choice. It has clear advantages, but also definite drawbacks.
First off, my skin is so oily that if I go to school wearing just toner, my forehead is glistening with oil after just two hours.
I've tried many sunscreens for skin protection, but I couldn't stand the heavy feeling, hated the dull white cast, always got blemishes, and my skin would become an oil slick. I never used any sunscreen for more than a week.
After reading Hwahae reviews, I thought this might be my ray of hope. I bought it, and for the first week, I thought I'd found my holy grail sunscreen and wouldn't have to worry anymore... but only for that week.
The first advantage of this sunscreen is how incredibly matte it leaves your skin. I've never seen my skin look so shine-free. On my face, it stays completely matte for about 2 hours - the longest-lasting I've tried.
The white cast is moderate. Right after application when it's still wet, it brightens about 1.5 shades. After it dries, it's about one shade lighter, and after three hours, half a shade. I like brightening my skin, so I squeeze out about a 500 won coin size, apply 2/3 to my face and the rest to my neck. Then I squeeze out the same amount for the neck again and apply it to the center of my face. After it dries, I finish with powder. It gives a natural bare-faced look of someone with fair skin. My bare skin is slightly darker than shade 23, but after applying this, shade 21 looks natural. It's perfect for a natural daily look without additional makeup!
The airy finish is great, but... it's so drying...
I've always been told my face is an oil slick, but wearing this is the first time in my life I've been told my skin looks dry. The matte finish seems to cause more dead skin cells to form, perhaps due to lack of moisture. I used to only need two layers of toner before going out, but now I need at least three. Otherwise, my skin feels tight.
Even though it finishes matte and lasts long, it can't withstand my skin's oil production forever. It gets messy... You can see exactly which pores are producing oil because they're surrounded by small shiny circles while the rest of the skin isn't. The contrast between the still-matte areas and the slightly shiny, oil-absorbing areas becomes noticeable. This happens about 3-4 hours after application, and that's when the matte look is gone. After that, you can see my original slightly oily skin with intense redness.
And the lack of oil production feels... strange. It seems like more sebum is building up in my skin. The same amount of oil is being produced, but instead of coming out freely like before, it feels like it's getting trapped inside my skin. I seem to be getting more small bumps, and the sebaceous filaments around my lower teeth have gotten worse. I'm constantly managing it with cleansing oil, but... I'm starting to wonder if I should keep using this.
I would repurchase. Despite its drawbacks, I haven't found a better sunscreen... It's the best I've tried and the only one I plan to keep using.
