The Battle of Snail Mucin: Benton vs. Cosrx

In the world of K-beauty, snail mucin has been a powerhouse ingredient for the past few years.

The Benefits of Snail Mucin in Skincare:

• Promotes healing

• Deeply hydrates (it's high in hyaluronic acid)

• Improves the look of wrinkles

• Prevents acne and treats acne scars

While searching my favourite K-Beauty retailers, I found the Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence and the Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence both to be listed as best sellers - so let's compare them.

Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence

PACKAGING: The Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence (woo, that's a mouthful), comes in a clear, frosted bottle. It looks like it would be glass, but it's plastic so it is safe for travelling and won't crack if you drop it. The bottle is completely transparent and you can see exactly how much product you have in it. There's a pump that dispenses the perfect amount of product and a sturdy plastic cap. Overall, it's Cosrx's standard packaging for essences, which I really like.

INGREDIENTS: This essence is made of 96% snail filtrate, so you're getting a ton of snail goodness.

CONSISTENCY: The product feels pretty slimy if you rub it between your palms then slowly separate them. But when you're applying it, but it glides on the skin nicely and it definitely doesn't feel slimy or sticky. I usually use two pumps to cover my face and pat it in, but if I don't have time to pat the product in, I'll use one pump. The product's consistency makes it easy to apply and you don't need too many pumps, I'm just really extra.

REVIEW: This essence costs $21 CAD for 100ml of product, I think that's an awesome price point. I find my skin takes a minute to fully absorb this product. Once it does, my skin instantly looks more plump and a little bit dewy, which I love. I find this is awesome for hydration, especially when layered under a good moisturizer. If you have normal or oily/combination skin you'd find this great for hydration, if you have dry skin you'll might want to add a good hydrating moisturizer or serum. My skin has completely transformed since I started consistently using this, my PIE is slowly but surely fading away and I think my pores are a little less noticeable. I started to notice results after about a week and a half. The healing effects of this are definitely there. The only thing is I think this breaks me out a little, but I've been mixing some niacinamide in with it to prevent too many pimples. If you like following a multi-step routine, you'll want to use this product sparingly, but it's great for simple, effect routines because it's multipurpose. This product is an A+ from me! I definitely have seen noticeable results from this.

Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence

PACKAGING: The Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence has the same packaging as the rest of the Benton Snail Bee line. It's a brown, plastic bottle with a rather large pump and plastic cap. The bottle isn't opaque so you can keep an eye on how much product you have in here. I might be nitpicking, but I love the way Benton labels their products with the bold title and details underneath, I think it's so aesthetically pleasing.

INGREDIENTS: I have the new formula of this product. It was previously formulated with Alpha Arbutin - an incredible brightening ingredient. Although I wish Benton had kept the Alpha Arbutin, my skin loves niacinamide so I'm not mad about it. The Benton essence has a lot of skin-loving ingredients like niacinamide, glycerin, bee venom and aloe vera. I find this product to absorb quickly and not leave a thick layer on my skin. Since it contains niacinamide, it has extra brightening and acne-preventing properties which I love. Most importantly, it doesn't break me out. The Benton essence doesn't have as much snail filtrate as the Cosrx one, but snail filtrate is the second ingredient on the list.

CONSISTENCY: This feels like a gel. It's clear, the perfect thickness and glides on the skin with ease. It also absorbs into my skin like a dream and has a weightless feel. It's great for a multi-step skincare routine because it's not going to leave a heavy layer on your skin that other products can't penetrate through.

REVIEW: This essence costs $23 CAD for 60ml of product, a bit more pricey than the Cosrx one and 40ml less of product. I love the niacinamide in this, I feel like it helps to keep my skin from breaking out uncontrollably. I also love the pore care it offers. This melts into the skin like butter, and doesn't leave any sort of residue on the skin. I find it to be hydrating enough when layered under a moisturizer and effective enough that I saw some results. I can't say I noticed results as quickly as I did with the Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence. The results were also more dramatic with the Cosrx, but this product is still effective. This is a great introductory product to snail mucin especially if you're acne prone, because the niacinamide will help prevent breakouts.

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If I had to choose only one snail mucin essence, I couldn't do it. I'm sorry, they're both just SO GOOD!! I actually just repurchased both. My favourite way to use these is to mix them together in the palm of my hand and apply them. I find the niacinamide in the Benton essence helps to counteract my breakouts from the Cosrx essence, while adding extra brightening. My skin looks so good because of these two babies!! If you're only looking to try one, I think the Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence is your best bet because of the price point and amount of product you get.

Hope this helps you to narrow down your choice of snail mucin essences!

Thanks for reading,

xoxo, T.