I bought this patch thingy in my first Memebox order that I received a week ago. I literally just took it off, and I can already say that was probably the biggest waste of $4. It is also the only thing that I hate so far from that particular order. I am honestly not shocked by my reaction. It is just a tad gimmicky.
*Note: the italics indicate a hint of snark.
So what exactly is this over sized, crazy looking thing supposed to do? I mean besides make you look like The Joker and scare your family. Etude House says this is supposed to lightly exfoliate your lips and promote cell regeneration for "firmer, softer lips." You are supposed to leave it on for 10-15 minutes. I could only leave it on for three to five minutes.
The size of this was incredibly uncomfortable for me. I have a fairly small face and this thing pretty much took up the entire lower half. It also felt like it was sliding off and there was a corner that kept wanting to pop up. After a few minutes, I just got agitated and couldn't take it anymore.
Even though I didn't leave it on for the full time, it actually made my lips feel more dry. At first, they felt pretty smooth. But while writing this, they started to feel chapped. I looked at the ingredients on the Memebox site and noticed that it contains witch hazel, which is used in a lot of acne care products. That struck me as a little odd.
I apologize for the less than stellar pictures. My DSLR was charging, so I had to use the good ole' iPhone 5S camera.
Ingredients:
Water, Glycerin, Chondrus Crispus (Carrageenan), Butylene Glycol, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Extract, Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Extract, Ceratonia Siliqua Gum, Agar, Methylparaben, Prunus Tomentosa Fruit Extract, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Benzophenone-4, Lac Color, Flavor.
I found this website called CosDNA which allows to do an analysis of the ingredients in a product. It tells what the ingredient is used for, it could potentially cause acne, if it is safe, and if it could be a potential irritant. The scale they use for acne and irritant potential is on a scale of 1-5, where 5 is a high indicator of potential risk. There were a few things that struck me as interesting. The analysis reported that Chondrus crispus, or Irish moss, scored 5 on the acne irritant scale and a 2 on the irritant scale. From what little bit I researched, it is mostly used in food, but can also be used as a skin moisturizer. Who knew? It also has a paraben in it, as well as a sunscreen (benzophenone-4) that scores a little higher on the safety scale than I feel comfortable with. This could probably explain the mild dryness I experienced.
By the way, I am having way too much fun with CosDNA, It speaks to my scientific side, even though I majored in Biology and wasn't really fond of chemistry. I am going to start running anything I review through the analysis and see what happens and include anything that jumps out at me in the post.
I obviously did not care for the product and would not buy it again. I feel it is very gimmicky and a good lip balm and scrub will work a million times better. I know some people really like this patch, but it just is not for me.