Don’t Stop Belifing – Belif First Aid Overnight Brightening Mask

LG Household & Health Care is the mother of the cosmetics dragons: The History of Whoo, SU:M37, and Belif. So it’s no surprise that I became hooked on Belif without initially knowing the parental origin.

The new Belif aisles at Sephora made me squeal with delight when I first came upon them. Guess the KBeauty trend was really taking off for cosmetics giant Sephora to dedicate a whole aisle to this K brand, at its Times Square location no less. Better belif it, folks!

Belif aisle at Sephora in Times Square, NY

The price points were really good compared to the other stuff at Sephora, which usually run on average $40-50 for an ounce of product. This was $34 for 1.68oz of overnight brightening mask. Of course the addict in me couldn’t resist, behold:

Belif First Aid Overnight Brightening Mask

Look at this mask; it comes with truffle extract! It also claims to have visible capsules of amber, pearl, and gold powder. How did they manage to squeeze all those substances into these pin-sized capsules? Yes the capsules are visible, but they’re microbead sized. Speaking of which, they’re not true microbeads since those have been banned. I suppose these beads dissolve into your skin, magically delivering gooooold and pearl and other valuables. Did the makers of belif (Belif-ers?) squeeze substances into the capsules molecule by molecule???

If you read the package, you’d also see that gold, pearl, and truffles (Tuber Melanosporum Extract) are among the very last ingredients. I wanna know how much of my $34 is GOOOOOLDD damnit.
The package also highlights the importance/rationale for inclusion of the fancy extracts. I’ve noticed a lot of fancy “extracts” in Korean skin care. Initially, it’s like having lobster at a buffet. You’re elated, feel that it’s great value, and smugly grin at being able to afford such fanciness. Then you wonder about the origin and the actual quantity offered….stroking chin.

-Black Truffle Extract: Energizes and renews skin.
-Amber: Conditions skin.
-Pearl: Brightens skin.
-Gold Powder: Helps skin to appear more radiant and luminous.

Below is the full ingredient list

The product has a light herbal scent like a ginseng tea. It has the consistency of a face lotion and it’s neither too thick nor too thin of a lotion. There are tiny oat-colored beads in the substance but they disappear when you rub the lotion on the skin (or else you’d get the hose again, ka ka ka ka.)

The label also mentions Napiers Formula W. What the heck is that? The interwebs led me to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_D._Napier and this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_trigonometry

I have no idea what that has to do with skin care and why Belif chose to highlight that on their packaging. Note some of the ingredients are followed by the asterisk indicating Napier’s formula.

Close-up of the product

After having used it semi-consistently (about several times a week) since August 2015 there’s still more than 60% left in the jar so this is really good value. The above picture is taken tonight and there is still so much product left.

Since I’ve used various different brightening products, I can’t attribute any one single result to this mask. Having said that, my complexion has been more even and my freckles have been much lighter. My skin is also smooth. I don’t know if this Belif overnight mask contributed significantly in any way, but it couldn’t have hurt. My skin does soak it up and my face feels very smooth in the morning.

Since it’s winter time, I’m going use more moisturizing overnight masks and reduce the Belif to once-twice a week. It has been very gentle on my skin even during long stretches of nightly use. So while the “brightening” isn’t as dramatic, it isn’t harsh on your skin.

Pros:

Good value at $34 for 1.68 oz as compared to other available night masks at Sephora. A good line of products for entry into KBeauty routine. Cute yet utilitarian packaging though the container is a tad bigger than necessary for the amount of product.