On January 10th, 2020, I posted a review of Purito Centella Green Level Unscented Sun SPF50+ PA++++. On December 3rd, 2020, founder of INCIdecoder, Judith posted results of paid in-vitro & in-vivo tests of Purito's sunscreen lead to some changes. I want to add a few coins to this topic since a post about Purito is one of the most-read posts on Kherblog.
What is Purito?
Purito is a K-beauty brand focused on the skin and the environment. The brand made a cool video about their history and why they decided to remove mineral oils, PEG-s and many other ingredients. The name Purito is a combination of words Purify and Chinese character To (土) which stands for soil. The brand name meaning is to go back to the roots and healthy skin barrier with pure ingredients. The brand is against animal testing, so all their products are Cruelty-Free. They also donate money to the Best Friend Animal Society. All the formulas (except snail line) are 100% Vegan- Friendly. They also make paper packaging from recycled paper - that's one of the things you'll notice ASAP. The packaging used by Purito has a different colour and texture. They also donate money to the Korean Federation For Environmental Movement. Purito products are free from Paraben, Ethanol, PEG, Triclosan, Mineral Oil, Silicone, Petrolatum, Sulfate, Phthalate and Oxybenzone. Products are free from synthetic fragrance and colourants.
What's INCIdecoder?
INCIdecoder is a website that saves my life during cosmetic chemistry lectures - I can copy-paste the ingredients. It'll quickly sum up the formula showing me all the different types of substances like surfactants, antioxidants, etc. It's a website where you can learn a bit about ingredients and see resources. I might not be a 100% fan of websites that analyze products. Skincare is not about single substance, but complexes of substances that make products unique. For example, Matrixyl 3000 from Sesderma looks like this: Glycerin, Aqua, Butylene Glycol, Carbomer. Polysorbate 20, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 and Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7 (source: ulprospector aka another Bible for me during my lectures). And that's the problem with such websites, still as an esthetician - I need to know about every single substance in your skincare product so if you visit me - I can pick products that won't cause any allergic reaction.
What's the controversy?
Please read INCIDecoder's post and Purito statement first. The thing is that according to INCIDecoder's research Purito's SPF level of Centella Green Level Unscented Sun SPF50+ PA++++ is different than the label informs us. I would also recommend you to read what Korea Institute Of Dermatological Sciences found as well.
You can read my post about Purito's Centella Green Level Unscented Sun SPF50+ PA++++ here.
Why did I even make this post?
If you probably know, in January 2020 I made a review of Purito Centella Green Level Unscented Sun SPF50+ PA++++ - a sponsored review since I got a collaboration with Purito, that's why I've decided to add few coins. By the way, even if you won't find any comments under this post - you would be surprised with how popular this post is - that's the magic of the internet.
Who am I?
I didn't update "about me" section for a while, so hi, you probably know me as Bambi or Mina, or even Emilia. Why did I get with these three different names? I like to keep my privacy. Currently, I went back to (med) University to continue my degree in Modern Cosmetology. At the same time, I'm working as a social media moderator, and I study data science since I want to mix cosmetology with technology. In case you need my LinkedIn account - send me an email or contact me through IG - I'll send you details. My history with K-beauty started from low-self esteem, and lack of treatments that work on my skin. One friend who's a huge fan of K-pop recommended me checking some K-beauty products - back then it wasn't that easy to find cleansing oils or even order products from South Korea. I never thought that I'll end up blogging about beauty or even become an esthetician because my dream job was music producer or if not - videographer.
How does my sunscreen testing process go?
Skin cycle or skin cell turnover takes on average 28 days. It's a process of new skin cell that goes from the deeper layers to the epidermis. It's nothing else than a lifespan of a skin cell. The older you get, the longer this process is. For many estheticians and bloggers, 28 days is a minimal amount of time for testing. I prefer to test products a bit longer unless its makeup. I'm a bit of a data nerd because I got an excel file where you can find every tiny detail about the products I use.
I tested Purito's sunscreen a bit longer before publishing my review. The most important thing is that I had Purito on my face during the winter when I wanted to buy Purito Centella Green Level Unscented Sun SPF50+ PA++++ once again - shipping got cancelled so now Purito for me. I enjoyed this sunscreen a lot because it was great for an eye area. I also had additional protection since I was using Dr Jart+ Camo Drops.
Even if I'm getting products from companies to try or sometimes I get money for my work - and that should be completely normal, because dear bloggers, influencers and vloggers - our accounts online are nothing else than a free marketing ad for businesses sometimes - I always write what I want, what is true with my heart and mind. I can admit that in 2019 my financial situation was so bad that I sold my copyrights to survive - blogging saved my life back then, I guess in 2021 I won't have as much luck, but if you need someone who can take photos, knows a lot about beauty & medicine and have skills in marketing and languages - hit me up since my university tuition is getting higher. I might lose my job in a few months due to crisis. I had situations when I got offered 1/2 of my monthly wage to write only positive things about one French company, did I accept the offer from this brand? Obviously not, because I tried this company before, and the number of Essential Oils in their products is making my allergy worse. What is the sense of writing fake reviews? I made a post about fake reviews year ago so you can read a bit on some techniques and how to spot such a review.
I told you a bit about how I test products, but there are some things that made me feel not okay.
Brands being attacked by people
Not only Purito was attacked by people, but also Klairs, Keep Cool and other K-beauty brands. Let's be honest, for racists, it was an amazing occasion to say "you see, we told you K-beauty sucks". It wasn't one or two comments like that which I saw under Purito's post on Instagram, but you can find more comments like this online, and it makes me disgusted because my nationality in my papers is easier than my roots - I'm from a poorer European country. We produce lots of detergents, and even our neighbours - also Slavic countries are writing "why can't you sell German version of this detergent in the Czech Republic, Polish detergents are shit". The best part is that - such detergent is no different in Germany and Poland, the formula is unique, but the magazine or factory is located somewhere else. I hear a lot of stereotypes about brands from different countries. Just because Purito has such controversy - and they decided to do their own investigation, they did a great job with refunds, etc - same with Klairs, it doesn't mean that every Korean sunscreen or beauty product is bad! When I see comments online sometimes I wonder why people just waste their time for aggressive comments without reading what brand has to say. Just let them do an investigation, show their results and if it's needed - time to upgrade the formula. Believe me, it's not an easy process for a brand too, formulation of a product can take years.
Lots of people can't believe that Purito is not selling their cult sunscreen at the moment, because they enjoyed this sunscreen - I liked it too, but even if I wanted to buy it, it was sold out or the price from local sellers was too high. It was definitely one of three sunscreens right next to Klairs and Krave Beauty with an amazing, light formula. Sadly, Krave Beauty is not available in Europe.
I know that this post is quite chaotic - believe me, I have to deal with two institutions and over 400 people at the same time who just can't do anything normally without panicking and overall chaos in the paper so I guess that influenced me while writing this post, but I'll sum up this post in points:
Purito is currently doing the investigation, the best would be to wait for their final statement. Just because different labs had different results, it doesn't mean that every K-beauty sunscreen or product is bad
Attacking a brand because of the situation that happened is not okay, why can't we just talk instead of attacking or using words that shouldn't be told?
Formulation of sunscreen (and even other skincare products) can take years, it's not an overnight work
And the most important part, I want to keep Kherblog as transparent as I can. I always add "sponsored/contains affiliate links" to the post if I do collabs with companies or if I use affiliate links. I want to keep my reviews as honest as they can, so I might actually make the testing process bit longer - we will see how it goes since lately I already started to test products bit longer than I am supposed to, but I actually think about using Wayskin or even but additional skin analyzers (corneometer) to show you the results more clearly. I plan to add more photos of results like when I posted about Neogen Real Vita C series for better transparency, although I believe photos are a bit tricky thing since lightning can change a lot, and I'm not sure if I will buy Wood's lamp just to take photos of my skin (such lamp can cost over $250, and taking photos would be a bit hard, but who knows - maybe when I open my own practice I will actually do that).
2021 will bring some changes, I can't wait for the final statement from brands, but it seems like 2021 might be quite revolutionary for sunscreens
Post a Comment