Review | IOPE Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning

Everyone has heard of SKII's Facial Treatment Essence right? Everyone also knows just how crazy expensive it is right?

Well, fret not. For those who are interested in giving treatment essences a try but do not want to fork out a crazy amount of money, there are many Korean dupes in the market for a fraction of SKII's price.

Almost every Korean brand has it's own version of the Treatment Essence. Think Missha's Time Revolution the First Treatment Essence, IOPE's Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning, Innisfree's Soy Bean Essence, Nature Republic's The First Essence, Hera Cell Essence, The Face Shop's Smim Fermentation Concentrate Total Treatment...

With so many brands to try from, how exactly does one go about picking and choosing? 

Well, I pretty much just went with whatever brand my friends were going for because I didn't know what brand to go for and I didn't want to spend a bomb buying all of them just to compare. And as you can already tell from the title of this post, my friends and I went for IOPE's Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning.

So what does this essence claim to do?

IOPE is based on highly-enriched herbal extracts and cutting-edge scientific technology. By advancing from the science of herbs to bio-science, IOPE achieves the best possible technology for beautiful skin by seeking a perfect balance between nature, science, and human.

IOPE Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning Features:

1. This sap essence contains 93.7% of the bioactive components of Bio-redox extracts. This sap essence contains Bio-redox for rapidly absorbing into inactive skin to increase its vitality.
2. IOPE's core biotechnology, which is known as "bio incubating," safely reconstructs active enzymes that the skin can easily absorb and it increases its protection power. This results in the improvement of the skin's condition.
3. By enhancing every day changing skin's conditions, you can rediscover the smoothly nurtured translucent skin.

So essentially, this essence claims to achieve brighter and smoother skin through skin conditioning. 

The bottle contains 5.68 fl.oz or 168ml worth of product which is quite a lot.

So let's talk about the product itself.

The essence comes in a heavy, frosted glass bottle with a silver cap which definitely isn't travel-friendly. Also, being kind of a klutz, I'm quite afraid of dropping the bottle and breaking it :<

There are markings on the side of the bottle (see the picture above) to tell you how much product is left.

It comes with a plastic stopper which helps to regulate the amount of liquid that comes out which is great.

What I'll usually do is to pour some out on my hands, rub my hands together and pat them all over my face. I know some people like to soak a cotton pad with the essence and then wipe the cotton pad all over their face but I prefer to use my hands. I typically use this after applying toner.

Honestly, I don't smell any thing at all when I use this product. It smells like... water, which is pretty much odourless.

The essence itself is colourless and has the consistency of water. I poured some out on my hand and you can barely see it.

I poured a bit onto my hand and it started dripping almost immediately haha. The texture is super lightweight!

It also blends really effortlessly and my skin absorbs it really quickly, leaving no oily, sticky feeling afterwards. My skin did feel smoother and more moisturised immediately which is fascinating considering the essence feels just like applying water to the skin.

Overall:

PROS:

• Lightweight texture
• Hydrates skin 
• Smoothens skin texture
• Evens skin tone
• Brightens skin
• Absorbs quickly into the skin
• No oily/sticky residue
• Reduces redness on my face
• Reduces sebum production
• Lightens scars
• Reduce break outs
• Odourless
• Plastic inner cover dispenses the right amount of liquid for me

CONS:

• Bottle isn't travel-friendly
• Pretty pricey 

When I first started using the essence, I didn't notice any effect actually and was pretty disappointed. But I continued using it twice a day and after about 2 weeks or so, I started noticing subtle improvements in my skin! 

When I first went to BKK earlier this year, my skin broke out like crazy from the first day I was there and my skin took forever to heal. I started using this product about a week before I went to BKK with SH in April and throughout the whole trip I only got maybe 1 or 2 spots? Also, the spots healed a lot faster than they did before.

As I've mentioned before, I suffer from hormonal acne and no matter what I do, I'll always get spots during that time of the month. But after using this product, I feel that my skin breaks out lesser some how. Also, my skin has never looked clearer or brighter (ignoring the parts of my face with spots).

It may be due to this product, or the mix that I've been using but I'm guessing it's mostly due to this essence. Will I repurchase? I'm a bit hesitant given the price and the fact that there are so many other essences to try. But I believe this is one of the essences you definitely have to try because it works.