Taiwanese Skin Care - Naruko Raw Job's Tears Supercritical CO2 Pore Minimizing & Brightening Lotion

Naruko - Raw Job's Tears Supercritical CO2 Pore Minimizing & Brightening Lotion Review

 

 

The product

 

This lotion promises to target three main skin issues (according to Naruko's website):

 

* Pore tightening - cleanses and tightens pores. Promising to repair large pores and rough and dull complexion caused by too much oil secretion; rids the skin of dead cell deposits.

 

* Fine whitening - the ingredients of Raw Job's Tears, polished Job's Tears, grape leaf essence, ethyl ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbyl phosphate brightens the skin and prevents melanogenesis.

 

* Oil-balancing - the ingredients of Evermat pore-tightening factor, hyaluronic acid, Tremella extract, saccharide isomerate and natural pine-extracted moisturising polysaccharide control over-production of oil.

 

I thought (and quite fairly, couldn't be blamed for thinking) that Raw Job's Tears was just a marketing name - because, let's face it, one of my favourite things about Asian skincare are the names of products!

But no - Raw Job's Tears is actually a thing! Coix Lacryma-Jobi aka Job's Tears/coixseed/tear grass/hago mugi or adlay is actually a tall grain-bearing tropical plant of the Poaceae family (grass family). It's sold as a food product under the name Chinese pearl barley. Cosmetic-wise it is used as a skin brightener, can help reduce redness and also for it's skin-softening properties. And also to reduce pores.

 

 

 

The Application

 

I've been using this lotion for a few months now, so I feel that's long enough to say some words about it.

Firstly, the whole Lotion/Toner/Essence differences between Western and Asian skin care really confused me at first, and still kind of confuses me now. I had to do loads of research to find out when in a routine to use various products.

I've settled on using this as my fifth product in my routine - after double-cleansing, toner and my First Treatment Essence (a pre-serum serum!).

The directions on the bottle advise to saturate a cotton pad with the lotion and pat gently. I did this for the first few weeks and then felt that I wanted to use it as a patting lotion.

 

 

 The Aftermath

 

This is one of those products that doesn't really have any instant results - it's not one of those love-at-first-use products that you just know is going to change everything for evermore. The positives were that it was hydrating and didn't sting or irritate my skin at all.

But neither were there any instantaneous results - certainly none of the three results that the product promises.

So I kept on with it thinking that I might see a change after several weeks of use.

But unfortunately, I actually can't tell if it has, as a stand-alone product, delivered any positive results after long term use. My skin has certainly gotten better in all of the three ways promised by this product, but honestly, this is just one of many products that I've been using which promises the same outcome, so I'm not at all convinced that this product is the sole reason for the change in my skin - although it's probably played a small part in the improvement in skin quality.

It's disappointing not to be able to give a definitive yes/no review on this product. I think it's certainly been a positive addition to both my am and pm routine but to be honest, I don't think my skin would really notice or even care if it were removed from the regular routine. Maybe that would be the way to review this - remove it and see if there was a change for the worse?

I wouldn't repurchase this in a hurry - there are far too many other products which make the same claims which I would rather try next.

 

Ratings - the 3 Ps

Packaging: 3/5

Performance: 3/5

Price: 3/5

 

Overall Score: 3/5

 

Where to buy:

Ebay Shipping from Taiwan £13.95