[#Gifted] Duft & Doft Review ft Frmadcos 🇰🇷

Duft & Doft is known as a fragrance brand – making various non-aerosol body sprays and a whole line of delicately perfumed hand creams. As they gradually gain popularity, they’ve started to pop-up in drugstores across Korea: most often being seen in OliveYoung. Although what some people don’t know is they also have a collection of facial skincare as well as some personal care products for sanitation. FR madcos – an online shopping site for K-beauty directly from Korea – recently had their 4th brand collaboration with Duft & Doft which seems to have expanded worldwide starting with the US (but now available worldwide through FRmadcos.

I’d like to share a haul/my first impressions of the products with you; all of which are facial and hand care products. I was also suppose to receive a hand wash and spray hand sanitizer in the package, as the brand wanted to give priority to beauty reviewers/bloggers which were worse effected by the pandemic. However, with their being bans or restrictions on the importation of antibacterial products from overseas right now, understandably I wasn’t able to receive them as intended.

First up is…

Duft & Doft – Beveryclear Cleansing Foam

This is the only product I received which doesn’t actually advertise itself a being part of the main ‘Duft & Doft’ branding. By this I mean it doesn’t display the brand name on the front of the packaging and isn’t colourful alike the the style of packaging they typically go for. Alternatively they’ve gone for the simplistic black on white style packaging, assumably to appear more sophisticated with a ‘medical’ style – giving the impression of a professional facial cleanser which is stripped of the brand’s association with fragrances. Its free from parabens, sulphates, triethanolamine, talc, mineral oils and synthetic dyes.

Key words on the packaging indicate that the foam cleanser will remove makeup effectively with it’s mild formula to maintain a clear complexion, free from impurities and imperfections. It’s made from a blend of green tea and vinegar: green tea contributing to the mild formula which can care for blemishes, whereas vinegar brightens and constricts pore size.

Considering it claims to be suitable for all skin types, I was a bit frustrated to see combination of green tea and vinegar. I’d say these two ingredients are polar opposites; therefore not going hand-in-hand. Vinegar is of course an astringent – rich in acids to retract the size of large pores and tighten skin to an extent with some brightening effects. In high amounts it can weaken skin’s protective barrier, however in smaller amounts its deemed safe enough to use for balancing pH levels into addition to minimizing pore size as I said – it all seems a tad confusing and contradicting, right?

Actually using the product on my sensitive skin, appeared to be the only way I could make up my mind about this cleanser even if I was hesitant. The vinegar seems to be in a minute amount – I couldn’t detect it in the scent or texture. I like how it further holds Ceramide NP and Centella Asiatica Extract to maintain that ‘mild’ formula that’s promised. It lathers nicely, but in order to produce abundant foam I suggest using a foaming/bubble net. It didn’t leave my skin feeling too tight. Although I wouldn’t say its something you can use twice per day; such frequent use could leave skin feeling a little deprived of moisture. I tend to only use it once per day at the end of a day when my skin is most oily.

Duft & Doft – Pink Milk Mask

I vaguely remember seeing these sheet masks at a larger, more well stocked OliveYoung. I think they were among the ‘pricer’ sheet masks, costing around 4,000won (around $3.30) which is somewhat expensive for one sheet mask considering there are plenty of decent masks costing just 1,500 (less than $1); so I never tried it until now. What stands out is the hot pink packaging which is of good quality. Its not always the case, but for the most part masks that come in thicker packaging with a foil lining rather than plastic coated/wax paper tend to be better in quality, including the mask itself.

Not many ingredient in this mask stand out as particularly special or unique…I suppose ginseng berry and oyster pearl extracts aren’t seen that often elsewhere. As for the milk ingredients, it gold 100ppm of milk protein extract. It’s nice to see Niacinamide placed 4th in the contents list.

This is a ‘tone up’ mask – aiming to restore skin’s radiant glow with a brightening effect. It’s particularly helpful for those with dull or uneven skin tone who also have dry skin. Sometimes using citric brightening products (those with lemon or Yuja/Yuzu extracts for example) can make dry skin drier, so using a milky tone up product is a suitable alterative for pigmentation correction.

As a replacement to standard grade sheet masks, they’ve used a ultra fine fibre to create the sheet itself. This type of material is comfortably lightweight and adheres to skin without causing friction as the essence soaks into skin.Even if it’s lightweight and soft, it isn’t so wafer thin – it holds the milky essence well without too much of it sitting at the bottom of the packaging. As it’s a creamier mask, you may find that you have to wear it for the full 20 minutes to allow sufficient time for the essence to become one with skin. Personally I think it’s too scented for me. It doesn’t seem to contain artificial fragrance, so maybe it’s down to the collection of plant extracts.

Duft & Doft – Salmon Vgene Hydro Active Eye Cream

This says it is a total regeneration, anti-wrinkle and whitening eye cream made with blended sodium DNA. With peptides, ferments and collagen being the most common and effective ingredients for anti-aging skin care, it’s nice to see something different. I a sense salmon extracts or proteins perform similarly to that of snail mucin. However salmon extracts are richer in omega-3 oils as opposed to sticky snail secretion.

The formula is very complex – the contents list is too extensive to speak about in great detail. I will just highlight that it contains green tea for its purification properties and ability to reduce minor inflammation (under eye puffiness), whereas sodium DNA and salmon egg help actively generate elasticity; soluble collagen also plays a role in this. Salmon is not the only sea derived ingredient. It also has mussel, fish (?) and algae extracts.

To be honest I don’t like or agree with whitening products, I know these days Korean brands use less harsh ingredient in order to lightened darkened skin – in this case dark under eye circles – but it doesn’t feel natural. I think a more appropriate description would be ‘brightening eye cream’. Then again, it’s not exactly a product you are putting entirely over your face/skin to change your natural skin tone. What your opinion on this?

So far all I’ve noticed is how my under eye area feels smoother. I think it will take longer to see lasting effects on puffiness and the prominence of dark circles. Even if my under eyes are very sensitive, I haven’t noticed any side effects. It doesn’t smell fishy in the slightest – I suppose that is masked by the plant oils that have gone into the cream.

Duft & Doft Scandilicious Hand Cream & Intensive Hand Cream

No Duft & Doft haul would be complete without their signature hand creams. I’m not really a hand cream person, I just don’t like the oiliness on the palm of my hands, but considering my friend and my Mum raved about these I tried them out with optimism. Both versions of these hand creams provide nourishment to dry, rough hands.

‘Scandilicious’ is the more fragrant of the two – with a distinctive floral scent. Though it was apparent at first, I can definitely smell the top notes of raspberry but also the undertones of peony and magnolia. The ‘Intensive’ hand cream focuses on 5 natural butters for very dry hands by using shea, mango seed, cacao seed, cupuacu seed (from a type of tree in South America), and a species of palm tree oil native to Brazil. In some ways the fragrance is powdery or musky because of the rose heart notes, but the top notes of peach peak through nicely.

Surprisingly, neither of them are two greasy. And I think the size of the tube are fairly generous, But are they worth their $10 price tag? – Maybe, maybe not. I think it’s great that these contain more than just shea butter and vitamin E, like a lot of hand creams. Its also enriched with collagen and hyaluronic acid – perfect for anti-aging.

Duft & Doft – Salmon Vgene Hydro Active Ampoule

This is the matching ampoule to the eye cream I mentioned earlier. It’s so far my favourite item in this haul, and I’ll explain why. It basically is made from a similar composition to the eye cream, so I won’t bore you with the repetition of the key ingredients and functions. What I want to focus on is the texture and scent of all things. Amazingly this the first time I’ve used a salmon or fish oil infused skin care product that doesn’t smell horrid or have a greasy finish (hallelujah!).

No matter how much of a skin care enthusiast I am, I’m not going to use a stinky product on my face just for the sake of hoping it is indeed fine anti-aging care. Sometimes I just want to scream – ok, may be that’s an exaggeration – in the faces of Dermatologists who create fish extract skincare without considering improving the scent. Who the heck can stand smearing that all over their face, and waltzing about with it so close to their nose all day long (or night)? Just because we don’t want artificial fragrance, that doesn’t mean we want no fragrance at all.

Thankfully this smells lovely, and isn’t overly scented neither. It has a fruity-floral scent and an appealing gel cream texture. I’ll have no problem with using this all through Summer, and hope it will shield my skin from harmful environmental factors as promised.

…

Thanks for reading! Have you tried any for Duft & Doft, or which of their products would you be most interested in trying? You can find all these products at Frmadcos – a Korea based online retailer specialising in K-Beauty with a multitude of Skincare, etc to choose from.

🥀
Disclaimer: The products featured in this post were gifted in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions expressed are my own and have therefore not been influenced by the brand or any company in association.

🥀
Find me here:

Linktree

LinkedIn

Support SimplyEm’sBlog