You Can’t Tatcha This – Tatcha Overnight Memory Serum Concentrate

First thing around New Year 2016, Christine from Tatcha emailed BeautyandtheCat with a lovely note announcing the newest additions to Tatcha’s growing Luminous Collection. Angela really loves the Tatcha Dewy Skin Mist but it’s MY turn to bask in the goodies so I said send ME the samples for review. Yes, that’s right, you can’t touch this Angela!

I was ho-humming away at work when this beauty arrived. I mean, just look at it! It came in a white box with turquoise washi wrap. Inside is a white satin bed holding an orchid, note in a bottle, and gradient purple and gold containers of the good stuff. Siiiiiigh….it’s like a gift from some Japanese cat goddess.

Purrr Christine’s email, the two new additions to Tatcha’s Luminous collection are:

• “The Luminous Overnight Memory Serum Concentrate is the first treatment in [the] collection that revitalizes skin while you sleep. Concentrated Okinawa Red Algae, Wild Thyme, and other botanical extracts [combine] into a unique jelly-like texture. The treatment immediately melts into skin and delivers a lit-from-within glow by morning.”
• “The Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Eye Serum also features Okinawa Red Algae with powerful botanicals to reduce puffiness and improve the appearance of fine lines around the eyes. The 23-karat gold dust in the formula instantly illuminates the under-eye area.”

I’m reviewing the overnight concentrate cream first, as my skin has been parched from the dry heaters in the office and cutting North-east winds after Blizzard Jonas.

Here are the ingredients for this cream:

Water, Glycerin, Propanediol, Squalane (Olive Origin), Cyclopentasiloxane, Triethylhexanoin, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Origanum Majorana Leaf Extract, Zizyphus Jujuba Fruit Extract, Thymus Serpillum Extract, Royal Jelly Extract, Stearyl Glycyrrhetinate (Licorice), Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Algae Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Germ Oil, Camellia Japonica Seed Oil, Sericin (Silk Extract), Inositol (Rice Extract), Glyceryl Stearatese, Polyglyceryl-2 Diisostearate, Ppg-5-Ceteth-10 Phosphate, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sorbitan Stearate, Trideceth-12, Ethylhexylglycerin, Peg-240/Hdi Copolymer Bisdecyltetradeceth- 20 Ether, Butylene Glycol, Behenyl Alcohol, Fragrance (Natural), Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol.

I won’t comment too much on the ingredients except that I have mixed feelings about the chemical compounds such as the cyclopentasiloxane (silicon.) Purrhaps they help with spreadability and the interesting bouncy texture but most of the time I’m not too fond of sand-like stuff in my skin care. HOWEVER, the list of natural extracts seem very impressive. I unscientifically lurve royal jelly, green tea, rice, ginseng, and algae in my skin care. This has everything!

The cream has a gelatinous bouncy memory-foam texture very much like the Mizon Returning Starfish Cream (Fiddy Snails demo’ed it here–with some disturbing sounds). It’s a jiggly cross between JELL-O and pudding/flan, and you can cut it with a knife but the plasma morphs and settles into whichever shape gravity & container allow. See video for how jiggly it is. Berry fun eh?

Here is a close up of the container, which appears massive. It’s actually a standard small jar of high-end (i.e. expensive) skincare product at 50mL/1.7 oz. I guess 1.7oz is more generous than Creme de la Mer’s standard 1-oz.

I want to leave happy treasures at work so I haven’t taken the Tatcha box home. I’ve used the cream during the day, applying generous amounts (like 2.5 pea sizes) and patting it all over. The cream really is moisturizing and luminous. My skin is immediately dewy and moist. It feels hydrated and healthy. The cream appears almost a bit oily upon first application but sinks into a nice finish. Below is the bouncy cream in the jar.

Here’s a before and after pic of the application. Not wearing any makeup except for black eyeliner. The cream appears to dramatically diminish imperfections but I think it’s also the fact that the substance bounces off light. The effect lasts well beyond half a work day but I still feel semi-dry again at the end of the day. Sigh, north east winters and workplace heat.

One downside to all the herbal ingredients is that the cream smells like…..Chinese liniment. The “natural fragrance” added IS indicated as natural. Purrhaps that’s why it smells like Chinese foot rub? I’m very sensitive to scents so if you need a blood hound nose to sniff out drugs at the airport, let me know. But yeah…this smells earthy, woody, with a hint of luohan guo and the inside pocket of my great grandma.

Pros

Lovely texture, very immediately hydrating and luminous (true to its claims,) fun texture even though it doesn’t make a difference to the effects on skin, stunning packaging (I always keep my Tatcha empties as travel containers,) fancy herbs and natural extracts, moisturizes very well and creates dewy skin without grease.

Cons

Hefty price tag at $110, I use a LOT of product so it seems to go rather quickly, since the pudding-like texture is quite thin I find myself reapplying at least twice a day (I haven’t used this overnight as intended,) the scent is unpleasing to me.