JUNG SAEM MOOL BEAUTY

I like when I can write/review about a particular brand or a collective theme. For the most part, I do individual review because I can be more precise & give more information. However, when it's a new brand like today's post, JUNGSAEMMOOL Beauty, I'd rather dedicate an entire post to do an overall/general view on the brand to get a better idea. Also, new brands start with a fewer collection of items, and then build on, so it's a lot easier to get hold of most of their products. (I've purchased everything myself over time... maybe over 2 times oopsie.)

First things first, a bit of background on the Jung Saem Mool Beauty brand. From the name of the brand, of course, Saem Mool Jung is a Korean celebrity makeup artist behind the brand. She is probably one of the most influential makeup artists in Korea, if not the most. She has trained many other popular celebrity makeup artists in Korea, and after 25 years of being in the makeup industry, she launched her own brand Jung Saem Mool Beauty in 2015.

Her philosophy behind makeup is all about enhancing natural beauty. She is the one who created the natural/"invisible" makeup looks in Korea. Her years of creative arts background taught her about the colour wheel, and of course, she uses colour theory a lot when she makes people up. Suffice to say, she knows what she's doing hahaha.

Moving on to her actual product line...

Essential Star-cealer Foundation in Light

Foundation squeezes out of the compact from the pump on the left

The most popular/talked about/coveted (?) item is her foundation & concealer housed in a compact form with a sponge puff, called Star-cealer. She talked about why she named it such from a TV program, but I forget... I was the most wowed & the most curious about this product because I knew that Saem Mool Jung is all about that natural foundation looks, which I strive to achieve haha. Naturally, I would've assumed that her foundation would be as natural as your own skin.

The first thing I want to talk about Star-cealer foundation is that it's not the most hydrating foundation out there, and it did look cakey (too much!) on me when I didn't prep my skin accordingly or used wrong tools to apply it (I have dehydrated, dry skin). However, this foundation adheres so well on to my skin, giving the result of looking like my real skin. It really meshes well with my skin, and for that, hats off to the artist. I use a damp Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge to apply the foundation because it adds that extra moisture to avoid looking cakey, but look uber natural. Also, the coverage of the foundation alone is pretty medium; it covers the redness around my nose pretty well and other minor imperfections like the darkness around the undereye area & red marks from blemishes.

The concealer, on the other hand, is more matte/drying than the foundation, so I tend not to use it, but the coverage is almost full. I still haven't mastered using it to look natural on my skin, but then again, it's a full-coverage product.

After application, the foundation has a satin finish; it's not completely matte that my skin looks one dimensional or dull, but it has that lit from within glow (not dewy), which renders this foundation looking natural.

Another thing that I should talk about is the textured palette in between the foundation & concealer slots. This is where you can adjust the amount of foundation by gently patting instead of using the back of your hand, which works fine in both ways.

There is another, more hydrating version of the foundation & concealer called Star-cealer Illuminous, and I do prefer this version a lot more (for my skin type), but the original Star-cealer was part of the anniversary collection set that I bought. I will purchase the Illuminous version in a refill form to put in my compact after I'm done with the one I have.

Refining Multi Eye Drawing in Cobalt Blue

More makeup talk! Above pictured is the gel eye liner from the brand. It's available in 4 colours, but I chose the blue one because you know about me with navy eye liners ;^)

I bought this eye liner because it was the perfect navy gel eye liner that I've been thinking about, without the freaking glitters or shimmers! The colour is dark enough to come across as black, but it has that bright navy that just adds something extra than dull black colour. Navy on my eyes gives the definition that I want, but not too dull or stark like black.

Formula is creamy & application is easy; it doesn't skip on my eyes. It does smudge a bit, which shortens the wear-time... Not a fan of smudging eye liners (when I don't plan to do smudgy eye liner look), but adding the Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow in 36 Rich Navy does help (but I shouldn't need to do that extra step...).

It's pretty good gel liner because it's very pigmented, and I'm just a sucker for navy...

Essential Tinted Paste in Coral (left) & Ginger (right)

Another product that's pretty good is the Essential Tinted Paste. This product is innovative in my perspective because its texture is what I expect from gel-to-powder formula, except it's not a gel-to-powder formula. The website describes the product texture as dried, thick powder type, but to me, it really comes as paste formula (the name!). It's soft enough that you can dent it with your fingers, but it applies like a cream, but it never turns powdery. What is it??? I can't say, but I really like the texture.

Colour payoff is pretty strong as well, but it's not hard to adjust the amount of pigment you want on your face. I actually prefer to use the sponge puff that comes with the Tinted Paste because all I have to do is dab a bit into the product & pat on my cheeks (hollow of my cheeks for the Ginger colour as a contour), and it's blended :^) Easy application.

Swatches will be at the bottom, but Coral colour is peachy pink and contains shimmers (doesn't translate on skin as shimmery, but gives a glow). Ginger colour is my light contour colour; it's ashy, darker skin colour.

Essential Enriched Mask

For the next part of the post, I'll talk about skin care products from the brand. First up is the Essential Enriched Mask. I'm not a sheet mask girl, but I was given several masks from my online order, so I had to try them.

Thing to note about the skin care items from Jung Saem Mool Beauty & what I hate is that they contain both alcohol & perfume... These 2 absolutely have no benefit for your skin & destroy your skin barrier (I'm not talking about the fatty alcohols like cetearyl alcohol, I'm talking plain alcohol, ethanol, and the sorts). I really don't understand why Korean cosmetics company add heap amounts of these 2 ingredients in most of their skin care products... I really don't.

Anyway, the mask (without a doubt) contains behenyl alcohol & fragrance, but pretty far down the list (even low amounts could be bad for you sometimes...). I decided to try it because of the other good ingredients that are high up on the list. It's very moisturizing, and I do like it because it plumps my skin where makeup on top will apply very well. However, I'm not sure if I'll purchase the masks myself to continue using them...

Another thing is Korean cosmetics company rarely show the full ingredient list, which frustrates the hell out of me because just like other items that I'm buying, I'd want to know exactly what I'm buying... I don't believe the marketing crap until I see that those claims match what's in the box especially in skin care because skin care items are absorbed into your skin... You'd want to make sure you know what your skin is absorbing... wouldn't you? Anyway... I've grumbled enough.

So here's the full ingredient list to the mask below:

Another picture of the ingredient list to the sunscreen below:

I've also bought the sunscreen because sunscreen is a must to the anti-aging. However, as I've hinted earlier, both the sunscreen & Mool Cream contain both alcohol & perfume. Can I just ramble a bit more? Because I'm a skin care junkie :^)

As you can see from the picture above, alcohol denat (short for denatured) is the 4th ingredient... WHAT? It's like putting pure alcohol directly on your skin. Did I buy a sunscreen or a pharmaceutical grade disinfectant? Alcohol is the last thing you'd want to put on your skin because it destroys your skin barrier, which does help let other ingredients to absorb better, but it also means that other bad things will be absorbed as well (acne bacteria?) Just, no. To say the least, I never looked back after trying in once because I broke out. My skin doesn't tolerate alcohol... Others are not so sensitive to alcohol, and they won't break out from using alcohol-containing products, but long-time use of alcohol is not a good idea... Perfume is a chronic irritant to your skin & has zero benefit to your skin. I'll stop repeating myself.

Something good about the sunscreen (and actually Mool Cream) is that the foundation glides on after because the sunscreen & Mool Cream act as a priming base for the foundation. I guess Saem Mool Jung, being a makeup artist, would use skin care products to prep for makeup, which it certainly can, but in my humble opinion, skin care should be formulated well with beneficial ingredients to give the nutrients that the skin needs, and not serve as a makeup primer as the primary purpose. Better skin also requires less makeup needed to cover.

All in all, I would not recommend skin care products from the brand, but I really do like the makeup products. It'll be hard to disappoint from the makeup.

The full swatches pictured below:

I got the lipstick samples, so I decided to swatch them to give an idea

P.S. I didn't talk about everything pictured at the top because this post is already a marathon. If you do have questions about other products that I didn't write about, please ask me in the comments, I'll be happy to reply with as much info as I can.

P.P.S. You can get Jung Saem Mool Beauty from jsmbeauty.com, and they ship internationally.