Cremorlab - second impressions

This is going to be a long mega-post, so go grab a sandwich, or a coffee. Yes, you may need some caffeine just to stay awake.
Go on, I'll wait.

I'm going to get a drink myself.

This review has been simmering here since last fall. Yep. Nine months. If it were a baby, it would be screaming for some breast milk now.

Anyway, where was I?
Ah, yes... Cremorlab.

Actually, it's good I waited out the Cremorlab hype with these products. It gave me enough time to get to know them and to form an opinion of sorts about the brand in general.
And what a huge difference a year makes!
It seems that Peach and Lily stopped pushing Cremorlab in every single advertorial, the hype is done and over now. So what did Cremorlab do to fall from the K-beauty pedestal? Nothing really, apart from being boring and expensive.

Yes, expensive...

I bought all of today's products myself, and the only reason I could afford them was a huge discount at SkinGarden in Shin Okubo in Tokyo.

I've been getting quite frequent emails from people asking me if I could buy them Cremorlab this and Cremorlab that in Shin Okubo and unfortunately, I can't. One, because I am not a buying service, and two, because this is not how sales in Shin Okubo work.

You see, the huge discounts you can find at places like SkinGarden come with a trade off of short expiration dates, usually a year or less. Some products at 90% markdown are waaaay past their prime, I have seen SanDaWha and ElishaCoy that were so expired I'd be afraid to handle them without a hazmat suit.

Such are the risks of buying discounted Korean cosmetics in Shin Okubo. Those stores buy less than fresh overstock for super cheap and try to unload it as fast as possible. Once a brand is gone, it's gone for good.

That was the case with Cremorlab. Maybe some day it will appear in Shin Okubo again. If that happens, I will carefully check the dates on every single product and buy like there is no tomorrow. But until that happens, I will pass on Cremorlab. There is no way in hell I am paying the standard online prices.

But let's get started, shall we?

Last year, nearly exactly to the day (can you believe it?), I was writing about Cremorlab sunblock.
Today I will tell you about the rest of the Cremorlab goodies:

• Cremorlab Enriched Moisture
• Cremorlab Smooth Pudding
• Cremorlab Aqua Essence Water Fluid
• Cremorlab Fresh Water Gel

and

• Cremorlab Body Lotion.

I have finished all of them a long time ago. Some were multiples (Aqua Essence and Fresh Water Gel), and some were not.

 My overall impression of the products?

I liked them. I really did.
They were simple, functional, basic, boring skincare. They did not irritate, they played well with each other and with others and they left my skin looking supple, smooth and ... ran out of ideas for more s words here... Anyway, you know what I mean.

They gave me nothing to complain about. Except the price, that is.
And maybe the fact that apart from moisture and plumpness, they didn't do much else. For that kind of money I expected bells and whistles and skingasmic experiences to live up to the Peach and Lily hype.

Instead, it turned out that hype was just that. Hype. A year later there are new K-beauty darlings and Cremorlab is no longer the cool kid on the blog. You'd think that it would translate into lower prices, but noooo...

A new Korean beauty online shop selling Cremorlab - Brush and Powder, keeps the prices firmly in the Peach and Lily territory.
But unlike Peach and Lily, it runs frequent "buy one get one" Cremorlab promotions. And guess who will be dropping some change on a BOGO Cremorlab next time it happens? Yours very truly, that's who. Because despite all my bitching and moaning, and Cremorlab's ridiculous magical water mythology, it IS a good brand with decent products.

Wait, what? Magical water?

Yep.

I took this screenshot last year. It seemed to mysteriously vanish from the Cremorlab website. Or they buried it so deep, I can't find it now.

Pity, because this blurb is pure PR drivel gold.

I have enlisted the help of a Korean speaking friend and we've been trying to contact Cremorlab to find out the exact location of this magical hot spring in Geumjin where the water used in Cremorlab products reportedly comes from. No luck. The company simply ignored us.
In other PR blurbs, now no longer appearing on Cremorlab's website (at least not in English), it stated that their water had unique red wine color. 

We have emailed the tourist board in Gangwon Province and asked them for help in locating this mysterious hot spring. They had no clue either. Gangwon IS famous for hot springs, but this particular one proved hard to find. Red wine color and all. Nobody knows...

Not sure about you, but this kind of stuff always pushes my BS alert into overdrive.

Yes, miracle blending indeed...

Here is another blurb of the same, but this time from Lotte Duty Free website:

Anyway, what does T.E.N. stand for?


Apparently, for this:

• T = Thermal water therapy
• E = Eco-energy
• N = Natural nourishment

Exciting stuff, right?


So let's get this party started, shall we?

• Cremorlab Enriched Moisture T.E.N. Cremor for Face (45ml)

The bar is set pretty high with claims of highly effective hydration, brightening and nourishment.
No, this photo was not taken in black and white, the box really is that simple and spartan.

Until you turn it over and see this:

Yep, it's printed in Japanese and in English. How very fancy. Here we have the blurb about the red wine color.

Why is the box in Japanese if Cremorlab is a niche Korean brand?

You see, apparently, Cremorlab is one of those arrogant Korean brands who think that having Japanese packaging is the key to success in the Japanese market. Whamisa is another such brand. Idiots. They should have learned from the flagship Amore Pacific failure. It takes a lot more than Japanese writing on the box to succeed in Japan.


Cremorlab touts its eco-friendly cred, but as you see above, it's just lip service. The amount of waste that goes into preparing country specific packaging for every product is mind boggling. And very, very eco-unfriendly. Japanese language stickers satisfy all legal requirements for imported products, are much cheaper to produce and have a much lower carbon footprint. But noooo... Cremorlab is so green and eco-friendly, they had to produce individual boxes for the Japanese market. Idiots.
Let me repeat it one more time. Idiots.

K-beauty fans used to fawn over Cremorlab's minimalistic design. I don't find it particularly worth of fawning over. Maybe because many Japanese products in the comparable price range follow similar esthetics.

Now, whoever at Cremorlab thought it would be a good idea to have white print on a very pale whitish-gray background needs to be fired. It looks clean but is impossible to read. Hello Cremorlab, ever heard of visually impaired people? If it was the US of A, you'd get your ass sued by someone who's nearly blind and can't read the blurbs on your containers.

All creams came with spatulas. Personally, I didn't bother with them and just used my fingers. I think I tossed them as soon as I opened a box, that's why you can't see any in most of the photos.

Cremorlab Enriched Moisture had a light, fluffy texture.

It hydrated and moisturized like a champ. I didn't notice any brightening. Nourishing can be debatable, but my skin did feel more plump and smooth.

Cremorlab Enriched Moisture swatches:

You can see that initially it looks very rich, and then - magic! it absorbs completely and fully. There is no shiny cast, there is no residue. There is no sticky film. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just happy, plump skin.

As you can see above, the ingredient list is printed in Japanese as well. There was no Korean and no English version.

Cremorlab Enriched Moisture T.E.N. Cremor for Face ingredients (in English):

Water, Glycerin, Caprylic/capric Triglyceride, Isotridecyl Isononanoate, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate, Dimethicone, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Triethylhexanoin, Polyacrylamide, Panthenol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Hamamelis Virginiana (witch Hazel) Water, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Extract, Brassica Oleracea Italica (broccoli) Extract, Orchid Extract, Theobroma Cacao (cocoa) Extract, Glycine Soja (soybean) Oil, Yeast Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (licorice) Root Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Hordeum Vulgare Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (matricaria) Flower Extract, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, Myristyl Myristate, Bis-diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Tribehenin, Pentylene Glycol, Peg-40 Stearate, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Sorbitan Stearate, Laureth-7, Caprylyl Glycol, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Bisabolol, Adenosine, Tocopheryl Acetate, Butylene Glycol, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, 1,2-hexanediol, Algin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Polysorbate 60, Myristyl Alcohol, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate

As you can see, the ingredient list in English has a very different order from what's printed in Japanese on the box. Let's just say, some of the extracts dropped to the very bottom in the Japanese version. Which leads me to believe that despite Peach and Lily's assurances that their ingredient lists were reshuffled to comply with the American regulations, they are not.

Later, when I have a moment, I will add the Japanese listing in English. Japan is very strict about the ingredient order in cosmetic products. Korea, on the other hand, tends to fudge things somewhat so the products appear "better" ingredient-wise than they really are.

Here is a nice write up about the differences between Korean and American ingredient lists: link.

~~~

Time for contestant number 2.

• Cremorlab Smooth Pudding T.E.N. Cremor for Face (60ml)

Cremorlab Smooth Pudding was my favorite from the whole lineup. I would pile it on after my Hanyul White Chrysanthemum Radiance Serum and let my skin drink it all up.

I didn't notice any anti-wrinkle results. I did notice, however, that my skin was amazingly hydrated, moist, supple, plump and glowing.

Last fall while waiting in a waiting room somewhere I grabbed a women's magazine and started paging through it carefully. An article about skincare caught my eye. It advocated something, which I dubbed "force feeding". The basic principle was that you are supposed to force your skin to drink as much moisture as possible. Winters in Japan are notoriously dry, my dry skin tends to crack, flake and peel. I went home, pulled out my Cremorlab lineup and started force feeding. Turned out my skin was a bottomless pit when it came to moisture. It would immediately eat up whatever I gave it. And it wanted more. And more.

The texture was indeed very smooth and very puddingy. The name didn't lie.

Cremorlab Smooth Pudding swatch:

Again, initially it looks very rich, and then - magic. It's all absorbed into satiny nothing. There is no sticky film, no filmy residue. Nothing. Just moist, fluffy skin.

No surprise to anyone that we run into the same ingredient order problem as with Enriched Moisture.

The Japanese and English language versions don't match up.

Cremorlab Smooth Pudding T.E.N. Cremor for Face ingredients (in English):

Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Hydrogenated Poly (c6-14olefin), Butyrospermum Parkii (shea) Butter, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (lavender) Water, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Hamamelis Virginiana (witch Hazel) Water, Orchid Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (licorice) Root Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Hordeum Vulgare Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (matricaria) Flower Extract, Yeast Extract, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Pentylene Glycol, , Polysorbate 60, Glyceryl Stearate, Peg-100 Stearate, Cetearyl Glucoside, Dimethicone, Acrylates/c10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Arachidyl Glucoside, Silica, Sodium Acrylate/sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Tocopheryl Acetate, Potassium Hydroxide, Isohexadecane, Adenosine, Polysorbate 80, Sodium Hyaluronate, Caprylyl Glycol, 1,2-hexanediol, Algin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Arachidyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Caffeine, Xanthan Gum, Alcohol Denat., Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Dehydroacetic Acid, Fragrance (parfum)

Again, the differences in the ingredient order between the Japanese version on the box and the English listing provided by Peach and Lily are quite shocking. I was under the impression that Peach and Lily had the reshuffled American ingredient order. But apparently no.

I guess I'll have to get my stuff together and post the Japanese translation as well.


OK, moving on.

~~~

Next up is:

• Cremorlab Aqua Essence Water Fluid T.E.N. Cremor (50ml)

The name of this essence is very misleading.
It's neither "water" nor "fluid". And yes, I do think that "aqua" and "water" in the same name is a bit of an overkill. Especially if your product is neither.

Here you have a review of Cremor Aqua Essence Water Fluid by the lovely adoredee - link. She wasn't particularly pleased with this product.
I, on the other hand, loved it.

Make no mistake, despite what you can read about it on the internet, this is not an essence in the traditional sense. Not a "booster serum" either.

It's just a plain, old moisturizer.

It claims to do three main things: anti-wrinkle, whitening and super mega hydration.

I have gone through 2 bottles of it, and while I loved it for the super mega hydration (no lie here), I noticed zero whitening and zero anti-wrinkling. If anything, whatever superficial anti-wrinkle results it did offer were due to superior hydration. Plump skin looks visually less wrinkly than dry skin.

Cremorlab Aqua Essence Water Fluid comes in an airless pump bottle. Yay!

The "essence" looks like that:

See what I mean? Not very "aqua" and not very "water". "Fluid"? Hahaha! Nice joke, Cremorlab!

Cremorlab Aqua Essence Water Fluid swatch:

See? This is why I loved Cremorlab. It absorbed to nothing on my dry, dry skin. Initially I used it after my toner and before the Hanyul serum. I found that it wasn't the best order for me (despite what other websites claim) and started using it after the serum. The results were immediate. Soft, hydrated, plump skin. Happy, happy, yay, yay!


Ingredients in Japanese:

Cremorlab Aqua Essence Water Fluid T.E.N. Cremor ingredients (in English, from Peach and Lily):

Water, Butylene Glycol, Isohexadecane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclohexasiloxane, Rosmarinus Officinalis (rosemary) Leaf Extract, Glycine Soja (soybean) Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (lavender) Water, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Hamamelis Virginiana (witch Hazel) Water, Orchid Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (licorice) Root Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Hordeum Vulgare Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Chamomillarecutita (matricaria) Flower Extract, Yeast Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Glycerin, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Octyldodeceth-20, Peg-5 Glyceryl Stearate, Sodium Acrylate/sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Bisabolol, Caprylyl Glycol, Arginine, Polysorbate 80, Acrylates/c10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Tocopheryl Acetate, Adenosine, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, 1,2-hexanediol, Algin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Polysorbate 60, Cetearyl Alcohol, Xanthan Gum, Carbomer, Alcohol Denat., Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Dehydroacetic Acid

And no surprise to anyone at this point, the order is completely different. Shockingly different.


Hang on, this is the final stretch. Only two more products to go!

~~~

• Cremorlab Fresh Water Gel T.E.N. Cremor for Face (100ml)

Yes, it's really THAT big. It's not a typo. 100 ml. For real.
The jar is huge (relatively speaking) and it almost justifies the non-sale price of US$48.00

I used it as a sleeping pack. Yes, on top of all the other Cremors. I kept it by the futon and just smeared it on when it was time to go to bed.
If this goes on a "buy one get one" sale at Brush and Powder, I am totally buying it.

Oh yes, the design. Here you can see the details. Alien doodles, as my friend called them.

The gel is really gelly and kind of watery:

I loved this Cremorlab Fresh Water Gel. No matter how many layers were on my face before I got to put it on, it always managed to somehow sink it and keep it all together. Important when you consider the pillow mess that some sleeping packs can create.

Cremorlab Fresh Water Gel swatches:

The gel claims to be soothing and smoothing in addition to highly effective hydration. This one actually did all three. The skin looked fresh and rested in the morning.

Japanese ingredients:

Cremorlab Fresh Water Gel T.E.N. Cremor for Face ingredients (in English from Peach and Lily):

The first ingredient should be "water" but it's not included in their listing. Oh well...

Butylene Glycol, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, 1,2-hexanediol, Sodium Glutamate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Orchid Extract, Yeast Extract, Glycerin, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Pentylene Glycol, Lavandula Angustifolia (lavender) Water, Benzyl Alcohol, Dehydroacetic Acid, Glycine Soja (soybean) Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Hordeum Vulgare Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (licorice) Root Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (matricaria) Flower Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Water, Rose Flower Oil, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Algin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Polysorbate 60, Silica, Cetyl Peg/ppg-10/1 Dimethicone, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Hamamelis Virginiana (witch Hazel) Water, Alcohol Denat.

And of course the ingredient order is very different than the Japanese language version. I also think there is a typo in the listing provided by Peach and Lily, because "water" is not listed at all, yet it clearly is the first ingredient.


~~~

And we are almost, almost done.
This is the last item for today:

• Cremorlab Body Lotion T.E.N. Cremor (250ml)

Comes in a standard pump bottle.

The texture was very similar to the smooth pudding but more sticky.

It was OK as a body lotion. Unlike Cremorlab's facial products, this one left a filmy layer. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was there. It moisturized, it did its job. But for that kind of money, I expected, I dunno... more... I guess. I'm glad I got it for really cheap in Shin Okubo, otherwise I'd be might pissed it I had paid full price for it.

This one's totally not worth it. Skip it.

Cremorlab Body Lotion T.E.N. Cremor ingredients (in English via Peach and Lily):

Water, Glycerin, Dimethicone, ceetyl Ethylhexanoate, Butylene Glycol, cetearyl Alcohol, Sorbitol, Butyrospermum Parkii (shea) Butter, Cyclopentasiloxane, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Glycine Soja (soybean) Oil, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extrat, Hamamelis Virginiana (witch Hazel) Water, Orchid Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (licorice) Root Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Hordeum Vulgare Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (matricaria) Flower Extract, Yeast Extract, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, Stearic Acid, Cyclohexasiloxane, Sorbitan Stearate, Pentylene Glycol, Polysorbate 60, Peg-100 Stearate, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Acrylate/sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Isohexadecane, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Allantoin Polysorbate 80, Tocopheryl Acetate, 1,2-hexandediol, Algin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Sodium Hyaluronate, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Stearyl Aclohol, Xanthan Gum, Caffeine, Alcohol Denat., Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Yellow 5 (c1 19140) 

Of course they are arranged differently than the Japanese version printed on the box. Of course.


Final thoughts:

So there you have it.

Of all the products presented today, I'd repurchase all (except the body lotion) if I could get them on sale.
There are other Cremorlab products I'd like to try, so you bet I'll be waiting for a "buy one get one" sale over at Brush and Powder.

Folks in Europe can get Cremorlab from Honeysu.

These are NOT affiliate links. I'm just putting them here for your convenience.

When I translate the ingredient lists from the Japanese boxes, I will add them here for comparison purposes. Somehow, I am more inclined to believe the Japanese language version ingredient order, because it simply makes more sense. They make Cremorlab look less than a formulation darling that it's been advertised to be for the western audience.

Still, even despite that, Cremorlab is solid, basic skincare and if you can find it somewhere on sale, jump on it. Chances are you'll like it.

Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF50+ PA+++

Cremorlab is a Korean skincare brand that generates a lot of mixed emotions.
Many lust after it, sometimes solely on the basis of its pretty packagings.
Many revere it for being nothing short of a skin miracle worker, sometimes solely on the basis of Peach and Lily telling them that it is so.

Peach and Lily is an American online retailer, who... well... is responsible for making Cremorlab so popular and lust-worthy among western K-beauty fans. (Western, because Cremorlab is also sold in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and online in a few other places, like Australia).

If you listen to Peach and Lily, you might be excused for believing that Cremorlab is huge in Korea. It's not. Not even close. It's rather unknown and fairly unpopular. It's stocked in local stores, but it's not that easy to find.
It is sold by Lotte Duty Free now, no doubt, in response to the wants of foreign visitors.

image source: Lotte Duty Free


Needless to say, Peach and Lily sells Cremorlab at highly imaginary prices. Being the only distributor in the US and with lots of artificially created buzz about the brand (look at any article mentioning P&L and the word "Cremorlab" won't be far behind), it's understandable they can charge as much as the market is willing to pay. And it seems that the market is willing to pay a lot. A whole lot.

So imagine my surprise when a friend said that Skingarden in Tokyo stocked Cremorlab. AND that they were having a sale. Of course, I immediately begged her to pick up one of each, whatever they were, for me.

See? I so bought into the hype I wanted everything, sight unseen, patch untested. Because it was supposed to be so awesome, right?
I mean if P&L tells us so, it must be true, right? After all, if it wasn't, they wouldn't be charging so much money for it, right?

I got my Cremorlab goodies, squealed with excitement, and started using them.
But while I expected unicorn tears and pixie dust from such a highly hyped brand, the reality was a lot more mundane. Cremorlab was OK. But nothing special.

(I will write a full review of everything I am currently using when I'm done with it)

It's a solid, basic skincare brand. With the key word here being "basic". What makes it stand out from the pack are the package design esthetics. But is it worth paying Peach and Lily prices for pretty boxes and minimalistic jars? Well, that's for you to answer.

At Skingarden in Tokyo every item cost less than (the equivalent of) 15 dollars, with many as low as 10 dollars, with a couple even lower.
It was like a Peach and Lily sample sale but without the madness.
But even by Tokyo sale standards, those were pretty incredible prices. Makes you wonder just how much Cremorlab products are REALLY worth.

Last week I had to go to Tokyo quite unexpectedly, and of course wanted to see if the Cremorlab sale was still going on.
It was. Many products from the original lineup were gone, but there were still a few left.

One of them was today's contestant (which I didn't get in the original "friendly" haul).

Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF50+ PA+++ UVA/UVB Protection T.E.N. Cremor

(not sure which part of this mess is the actual product name, so I'm just throwing out here everything that's on the box).

See what I mean? It IS a pretty box.

I have a thing about sunscreens. I see a new sunscreen, and like a well trained Pavlovian dog, I reach for my wallet. It's become an involuntary reflex. And that's exactly how it went down last week at Skingarden. Veni, vidi, VISA, as the ancients used to say.

In the photos above I already took it off, but each box was securely sealed in plastic. Yay for ensuring that all products were kept away from fingers itching to open them at the store and test without later buying anything. See Peach and Lily? That's how it should be done!

By Japanese sunscreen standards this tube of Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF50+ PA+++ is positively HUGE! There's 60 ml of product inside.

Now, whoever thought that putting grey print on a black tube was a good idea is an idiot. And that's a pretty gentle way of expressing my feelings.
My friend was a lot more to the point - "this idiot should be shot, I can't read this crap," she mumbled as the kept turning the tube to the sun to catch more light in order to be able to read the blurbs on the back.

Take a look for yourself:

And I really had to crank up the exposure in this photo to make the text visible.

Still can't read it?
Ok, this is what it says:

T.E.N. Thermal Water from Geumjin
"T.E.N. calcium to magnesium ratio is 1.6:1, which is a golden ration that brings the best absorption to the body. With the colloid, T.E.N. in red wine color is rich in rare minerals. It provides the skin with intense nourishment and helps maintain a moisture balance to keep it soft and youthful."

The same is printed on the box, but with a spelling mistake.

Very unhelpfully, there is not much on the internet I could find about this mythical "red wine color" mineral water, and the only English search results that came back were links to Cremorlab and Cremorlab resellers. Big surprise here, LOL.

So let's see what Cremorlab has to say about it.

Wow, it's positively magical.
I googled Gangwon Province (here's the link to the official provincial website - Gangwon Province) and it's indeed famous for its hot springs. But no word anywhere (in English) on the magical Cremorlab mineral water.

So let's take a look at the Cremorlab site to see what else they have to say about it.

(both images - http://www.cremorlab.co.kr/cremorlab/)

Now, I must say I absolutely despise the Cremorlab website. It's all image based. All!

Yeah, they do have an English language version (well, sort of, only selected parts are in English), and a Chinese version. But that's not enough. I don't want to be limited by the site design. For example, if you click on the "Store" tab, it gives you the list of Watsons and Olive Young stores in Korea where you can purchase Cremorlab products. But if you are a foreigner and can't read Hangul, you're shit out of luck. The entire list is image based and you can't copy it into Google translate.
Wow! What a great way to win new customers! Well done, Cremorlab!

(Rant over)



OK, back to Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF 50+ PA+++.

It claims to be "nourishing, highly effective hydrating, highly effective protection, for all skin types".  Their words, not mine. That's what it says on the box.

As my product was purchased in Japan, Cremorlab went to the trouble of printing an entire Japanese language version box. Some brands just slap on a sticker in Japanese and call it a day. Not Cremorlab. It printed a whole new country-specific box.
What a great way to cut costs and save paper! Amazing! Awesome for the environment, too. After all, I wouldn't expect anything less from a brand that describes its philosophy as: 

• Healthy Life, 
• Pure Beauty,
• Clean Environment, and
• Humanism

Dunno, maybe in Korea they have a different concept of "clean environment" and wasting a mountain of paper is considered a good thing?

(Ok, rant over.)

Back to Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF50+ PA+++.

The tube opening was protected by a sticker. Brownie points here. I like to know that the product has been left untouched by human hands.

The consistency is a lot more liquidy than I would like. It would have worked much better in an airless pump.

It has a vague citrusy smell that is not too overpowering. It doesn't linger too long.

The product takes ages to dry. Let me repeat it - ages. Centuries. Whole millennia.

But when it does eventually dry, it is deliciously non-sticky and fairly matte. And leaves no white cast. The skin feels soft. It worked well under makeup. It managed fine in 38 degree heat.

However, from now on, I am downgrading it to a body block. I'm going to use it on my arms and legs only. Why? Just a minute.

When I bought it, I quickly scanned the ingredient list. It's printed in Japanese on the box. I was glad to see that "Ethanol" wasn't one of the top ingredients. What I didn't notice at that time was that "Alcohol Denat." was listed further down.

Here's the entire ingredient list for T.E.N. Cremor Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF50+ PA+++ in Japanese:

I looked at it and thought to myself "Well, that's odd."
I checked the ingredient list on that Korean cosmetic appli, Hwahae... whatever the name of it is.

I screenshot it for your convenience:

Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF 50+ PA+++ ingredient list as seen on Hwahae:

(click on it for a larger view)

And it is different. Very different from what the Japanese box says.

We already know that Korean manufacturers have different ingredient listing standards than the US.
Tracy from Fanserviced-b did a whole blog post explaining those differences - South Korean vs US cosmetic ingredient list order differences.

Japan follows the American pattern.
Ratzilla said so before on Twitter, but there were still some people who were doubtful, and who assumed (incorrectly) that Japan and Korea had the same labeling standards.

You can compare the differences for yourself.
For your convenience I translated the Japanese list and plugged it into CosDNA. I used CosDNA's own Japanese support function and manually looked up the entries that were missing.

Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF 50+ PA+++ in CosDNA according to the American (and Japanese) ingredient list order.

Enjoy!

Another blogger (sorry, don't remember who right now) already noticed that Cremorlab ingredient lists for the same product differ significantly depending on who provides them.
Myself, I tend to trust the Japanese version. And the Japanese version says that while it's an effective sunblock, it's not really something I'd like to keep using on my face.

As an aside, I expected better from a company that lists "Pure Beauty" as its brand philosophy.

And because I'm a glutton for punishment, I am planning to do similar ingredient showdowns for all Cremorlab products I own.

I paid the equivalent of US$8.00 (give or take a few cents) for this sunscreen. And in my opinion it's worth exactly that much.
T.E.N. Cremor Cremorlab Sun Protective SPF50+ PA+++ is a good, basic sunscreen, if you don't mind Avobenzone and denatured alcohol.

And here's the reason for the massive sale at Skingarden:

But by the looks of it, I'm going to finish it sometime around September. Because it's so liquid, it goes super fast.

Stay tuned for more Cremorlab reviews.