Swanicoco Fermentation Snail Care Emulsion & Toner

Hi there!

Today I have a skincare review about a toner and an emulsion I finished some time ago. I really liked them that's why I wanted to show them here on the blog.

These products are from the Korean brand Swanicoco. Swanicoco is not very famous, they are more a niche brand but they take ingredients very seriously. All their products are packed with natural ingredients, with many fermented extracts and plant extracts used in Korean traditional medicine. If you're a skincare geek or skincare otaku, you will LOVE this brand!

The toner and emulsion I got are from the Fermentation Snail Care Line.

Swanicoco Fermentation Snail Care Emulsion

Name: Swanicoco Fermentation Snail Care Emulsion

Content: 120 mL in a pump glass bottle
Claims: Provides moisture and nutrition to rough, tired skin, gives vitality to sensitive skin, soften the skin.

HOW IT LOOKS/FEELS/SMELLS

It's a medium viscosity white emulsion. Once you start rubbing it, it gets watery (quite hydrating!) and spreads nicely on the skin. It doesn't feel greasy in any way and in that sense even people with oily skin can use it. It feels both hydrating and moisturizing and can work for oily to dry skin. If you have very dry skin, you will need an additional moisturizing or adding a few drops of oil in it.
I used it in the morning after my moisturizing toner and serum and didn't need another moisturizer. I have normal skin.
It has a rose tea scent and it's quite present. At first I wasn't really fond of it but it grew on me and I ended up really liking it. My bottle is empty but I've just re-opened it for this review and there was some leftover on the pump and yep, I love the scent now!

INGREDIENT BREAKDOWN

INGREDIENTS:

Water, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Water, Aspergillus/Rice Ferment Filtrate, Snail Secretion Filtrate (5%), Butylene Glycol, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Stearic Acid, Lactobacillus/Bambusa Vulgaris Shoot Extract/Glycyrrhiza Glabra Etract/Luffa Cylindrica Fruit Extract/Morus Alba Root Extract/Pueraria Lobata Root Extract Ferment Filtrate, Glycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Cultured Wild Ginseng Root Extract, Human Oligopeptide-1, Saccharomyces/Viscum Album (Mistletoe) Ferment Extract, Lactobacillus/Soybean Ferment Extract, Saccharomyces/Imperata Cylindrica Root Ferment Extract, Saussurea Involucrata (Snow lotus) Flower Extract, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Polysorbate 60, Tocopheryl Acetate, Allantoin, Ceramide 1, Carbomer, Arginine, Saccharomyces/Lycium Chinense Fruit/Rehmannia Glutinosa Root/Cuscuta Chinensis Fruit/Cistanche Deserticola/Zanthoxylum Piperitum Fruit/Chrysanthemum Morifolium Fruit/Poria Cocos/ Cinnamomum Cassia Ferment, Rosa Centifolia Flower Oil, Magnolia Kobus Bark Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Thujopsis Dolabrata Branch Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Leaf Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract :D

This list is impressive, so beautiful I'm almost crying >_<''

MAIN INGREDIENTS:

Licorice Root Water: Licorice is a widely used medicinal herbs and its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-ulcer activities have been widely reported. Also reported is this lightening action on PIH (postinflammatory hyperpigmentation) (1).

In particular, the water extract of licorice root has shown antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities (2).

Aspergillus/Rice Ferment Filtrate and fermented ingredients: There aren't many studies on specifically rice fermented with aspergillus but I found one that emphasized the potential of this filtrate as an antioxidant and anti-aging (tyrosinase and elastase inhibition activity) extract (3). Fermented rice is also rich in kaempferol, which is a flavonoid that can reduce tyrosinase activity and inhibit melanin production, which could result in skin lightening (4).

There are also a lot of other fermented extracts in the ingredient list. The idea behind this is that during fermentation, the yeasts, bacteria or fungi break down the molecular structure of the active ingredients into smaller molecules, resulting in actives that are more rapidly absorbed by the skin. The biodegradation happening during the fermentation process can actually result in the release of smaller molecules with higher activities (5). I remember seeing a paper comparing the activity of ginseng and fermented ginseng extracts and the fermented extract had a much hihger antioxidant activity than the non-fermented extract (6). I've also found a very interesting review paper (6) about fermented extracts and their whitening/brightening activities. It's a good review article worth reading!

It is therefore believed that fermentation could act as a super boost to make ingredients more effective.

Snail Secretion Filtrate: it's a super popular ingredient and I think we've all heard that snail slime has anti-inflammatory, wound healing properties and can make the skin super soft. The essential substances contained in the snail slime involve glycosaminoglycans and proteins. Glycosaminglycans are hygroscopic polysaccharides. This means they absorb and bind water like mini sponges and carry it deep into the epidermal layer of the skin, perfect for skin hydration and to make it look softer, smoother, and healthier.

Hydrolyzed Collagen: I've already talked about collagen in skincare HERE. Collagen will not help replace your skins collagen but it is used as an humectant to hydrate your skin.

Other ingredients present are butylene glycol (solvent, slip agent), stearic acid (emollient), Glycerin (humectant), Sodium Hyaluronate (humectant), Ginseng Root Extract (antioxidant), Human Oligopeptide-1.

THOUGHTS

So as you understand, the Swanicoco Fermentation Snail Care Emulsion is pretty amazing in terms of ingredients! It's packed with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, lightening and brightening ingredients! There are also several humectants (they attract water and are great hydrators) and as the name suggest, a ton of fermented extracts that may have whitening/brightening effects to even the skin tone. Plus there is also snail secretion filtrate, interesting if you want to make your skin smooth and soothe it. The smell is particular, a kinf of rose tea. I ended up really liking it but if that's not your cup of tea, you may want to skip it because of this. In terms of effects, I think it's quite moisturizing without being greasy and it's also soothing. Concerning the brightening effects, I noticed that my skin looked a bit happier and healthier but it's something always difficult to judge correctly. Overall, I was really happy with this emulsion and I will probably repurchase it!

Swanicoco Fermentation Snail Care Toner

Name: Swanicoco Fermentation Snail Care Toner
Content: 120 mL in a pump glass bottle
Claims: Provides moisture, makes the skin moist and bright. Improves healthy, bright skin by adding nutrition to tired and inelastic skin. Helps reduce skin stimulation.

HOW IT LOOKS/FEELS/SMELLS

It's a gelified toner so it's a bit more viscous than water. Upon application it feels hydrating. It's absorbed quickly and doesn't leave sticky residues.
It has the same rose tea scent than the emulsion.

INGREDIENT BREAKDOWN

INGREDIENTS:

Water, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Water, Aspergillus/Rice Ferment Filtrate, Snail Secretion Filtrate (5%), Butylene Glycol, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Glycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate, 1,2-Hexandiol, Panax Ginseng Callus Culture Extract, Human Oligopeptide-1, Saccharomyces/Asparagus Cochinchinensis Root/Lycium Chinense Root/ Ophiopogon Japonicus Root/ Panax Ginseng Root/ Poria Cocos/Rehmannia Glutinosa Root Ferment Filtrate, Bacillus/ Cordyceps Sinensis/ Ganoderma Lucidum Mushroom/ Inonotus Obliquus (Chaga) Mushroom/ Lentinus edodes (shiitake Mushroom/ Phellinus Linteus (Sanghwang) Mushroom/ Schizophyllum Commune Mushroom/ Tricholoma Matsutake Mushroom Extract Ferment Filtrate, Saussurea Involucrata (Snow lotus) Flower Extract, Saccharomyces/Viscum Album (Mistletoe) Ferment Extract, Lactobacillus/Soybean Ferment Extract, Saccharomyces/Imperata Cylindrica Root Ferment Extract, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Polysorbate 60, Tocopheryl Acetate, Allantoin, Ceramide 1, Carbomer, Arginine, Rosa Centifolia Flower Oil, Magnolia Kobus Bark Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract, Scutellaria baicalensis Root Extract, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Thujopsis Dolabrata Branch Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Leaf Extract.

MAIN INGREDIENTS:

The toner also contains licorice root water, rice ferment filtrate, 5% snail secretion filtrate, collagen, glycerine, sodium hyaluronate, ginseng and human oligopeptide-1, as the emulsion. It also contains a bunch of plant ferment filtrates but also mushroom ferment filtrates that the emulsion doesn't. If you want fermented mushrooms (that sounds weird, I know!) in your skincare routine, this toner will be your friend!

To be honest I've been really curious about mushrooms in cosmetics since I tried the Evercos Hanbang sheet masks in the "flavors" Poria Cocos and Sanghwang Mushroom (P.Linteus) (reviewed here). I had a look at what could be found about mushrooms in general and in skincare and here is what I found. Mushrooms contain different types of ingredients including phenolics, polyphenolics, terpenoids, selenium, polysaccharides, vitamins, and volatile organic compounds. These compounds have shown in vitro antioxidant, anti-aging, anti-wrinkle, skin whitening, and moisturizing effects (7, review article about mushrooms and cosmetics). I've also seen a lot of mushrooms extracts that could have some antitumoral and immunomodulating properties (8). This reference is interesting if you to know more about the activities of mushrooms (not skincare-targeted).

A few examples of activities reported for the mushrooms present in the toner:

Poria Cocos and Sanghwang/P. linteus Mushroom have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and whitening properties (I've already talked in more details about them here).
Cordyceps sinensis might have protective effects against oxidative stress-induced premature senescence via scavenging ROS (8), contains different types of polysaccharides with moisturizing and immune responses stimulation properties (9).
Ganoderma Lucidum Mushroom extract was shown to be able to inhibit tyrosinase activity, i.e potential whitening/brightening effect (10), to have anti-inflammatory and possible skin tumor inhibition properties (11, 12, 13).
Chaga mushroom and shiitake was also shown to have antitumoral effects as well as antioxidant properites (7, 14). Chaga mushroom also has potential whitening and anti-UV effects (15).

OK, wait a minute I'm going to eat some mushrooms and come back :D

THOUGHTS

Just as the emulsion, I really like this toner because i) it's hydrating, ii) it's moisturizing, iii) it is a gelified toner, which means I can apply it with my hands without using a cotton pad, that's convenient, iv) I also find it soothing and I think it helped reduce skin irritation. When I started using it, I had more redness on my cheeks than usual and it really helped keep the redness at bay. Concerning the brightening effects, as I said it's always a bit difficult for me to judge but I think it did the job because when I stopped using it, after a couple of days, my skin felt like something was lackging and less bright. And that ingredient list! So many fermented extracts including mushrooms!
For info I didn't use the emulsion and toner at the same time, I started using the emulsion and kept using my regular toner, finished the emulsion and only a few weeks afterwards starting using the toner.

EDIT: You can also read Vanity Rex's thoughts about the emulsion of this line here. And she reviwed other Swanicoco products here.