It’s skincare Friday up on the blog today and I thought I could review a product that I’m a little late on but that I love so I didn’t want you to miss out on my thoughts. That said, however, it looks as if this product has already been discontinued. Why Essence?! Why?! I love how affordable the brand is, but what I don’t love is how quickly they discontinue products. Especially for skincare it just doesn’t make any sense to only keep it around for a few months. And if it is a good one to boot, then they are absolutely shooting themselves in the foot. That’s exactly what happened to the Essence Hello Good Stuff Cica Face Cream.
Skincare review: Essence Hello Good Stuff Cica Face Cream
Because this seems to already be discontinued from most retailers, I struggled to find out what this retailed for. This being Essence, I knew it couldn’t be much. So I looked up the email from when I ordered this and it retailed for just €3.79. Let that sink in a for a minute: €3.79 for a moisturizer. With Centella Asiatica Extract. That is an ingredient I have only seen in much more expensive products so I thought it would be good to give it a try, and to give it a review. If you want to you can still find it at placed like Feel Unique and Notino, but they do charge a higher price point than this originally went for as they always sell things at a mark up.
What does the Essence Cica Face Cream have to offer?
When I saw this launch I was instantly exciting. This promises to be smoothing and moisturizing with 99% all natural ingredients AND some good skincare ingredients to boot. The brand claims you can use this by itself or as a primer, but I used it as a day time moisturizer. Additionally, the product is free from alcohol, silicone and oil. In short, it sounded like something I might like. I have dry skin that is quite reactive and gets red easily. It can react quite heavily to skincare and makeup products (but it hasn’t done so in years, I attribute that to due diligence), but it can be quite sensitive with bumps, itching and a dry, taught, or irritated feeling as a result.
What is the ingredient list like?
So this product has a few things going for it. First of all, the packaging is nice and hygienic as it has a squeezy tube that makes it easy to squirt out exactly what you need. It also has a nice, thick texture that I found really helpful for my dry skin during the winter months. This is why I think it is a shame this was discontinued so quickly as I would love to repurchase it next fall to use it again in the winter time.
INGREDIENTS: AQUA (WATER), COCO-CAPRYLATE/CAPRATE, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, PROPANEDIOL, GLYCERIN, ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF JUICE, CETEARYL GLUCOSIDE, SORBITAN OLIVATE, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA) BUTTER, LACTOBACILLUS FERMENT, SILICA, CETYL ALCOHOL, GLYCERYL STEARATE, CENTELLA ASIATICA LEAF EXTRACT, LEUCONOSTOC/RADISH ROOT FERMENT FILTRATE, XANTHAN GUM, CETEARYL ALCOHOL, YEAST EXTRACT, HYDROLYZED JOJOBA ESTERS, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, SODIUM BENZOATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE).
When looking at the ingredients this isn’t that revolutionary of a product. While the Centella Asiatica extract is there, it is in the lower half of the ingredient list, so how much it actually does? Hopefully enough. For the most part, this product consists of bog standard ingredients that would explain why this product is so affordable. There is water, glycerin, aloe vera and shea butter all higher on the list than the ingredient boasted about on the front of the packaging.
How does this product work?
What I liked about this face cream is the texture. Yes it is thick and it can take a while for it to blend into the skin. But once you work it into the skin, this is one of my favorite day time moisturizers I have tried in a long time. It smells quite pleasantly but not overly fragranced, it nicely hydrates my skin and I even though the ingredient list isn’t the most groundbreaking, I feel this is a great moisturizer for day to day that isn’t too complicated and that does what I need it to do: hydrate my skin.
My final thoughts
The Essence Cica face cream was fun while it lasted. Alas, I can no longer find it from my regular retailers that stock Essence, but in the end this product wasn’t as great as it sounded off the bat. While the packaging totes about a very much hyped up ingredient, the ingredient list tells us there may not be that much of that ingredient in the product. So while good as a moisturizer, it isn’t as special as it seems, which is why I don’t think it is that big of a deal that this may be near impossible to find by now. There are many moisturizers that will give the same result.
Would I recommend the Essence Cica Face Cream?
If you could still get this quite easily I would say yes. But if I have to judge whether this is worth tracking down now it’s been discontinued, the answer would be no. I just know that I am enjoying using this product because it is one of the least offensive, yet effective face creams I have tried in a long time. That being said, I think that if I look up other face creams with similar ingredients I can find something that will still be affordable, while giving similar results.
One response to “Essence Cica face cream review”
Awesome review. Thanks for sharing.