Cosmetic Review: Daiso Soaps

Compared to Japanese Daiso, I feel that the Korean one is really boring when it comes to cosmetics, as the majority of products is either very bad quality or travel size of a western brand such as Nivea or L'Oreal. That being said, most Korean Daisos have a large selection of Korean soaps (1 000 KRW/piece), so I decided to test 5 that looked most interesting.

1) 5 Grain Soap

I quite like the packaging of this line (I have two more soaps from this range as you will see below) - it looks very natural and sort of like a traditional herbal medicinal product. The plastic wrap has a really cute print. This soap is supposed to contain powder of 5 grains as well as AHAs from apple, orange, lemon, lime and grapes. I am not very sure about the rest of the text, but it seems like a mildly exfoliating soap. As you can probably see from the photo, the grains are ground to coarse powder, so if you use the whole soap to scrub your body (as opposed to first foaming the soap on your hands or sponge), it feels like a very very mild scrub. The AHAs are also supposed to have exfoliating properties. While I wouldn't say this soap can replace a proper scrub (be it a rough sponge or a peeling wash), I had less flaky skin while using it. It also didn't feel like my skin was being dried by the soap. 

Verdict: Good soap for mild exfoliation, not drying.

2) Hello Kitty Soap

Of course I bought this because of the Hello Kitty packaging - though the soap itself is a little disappointing design-wise. It has a very nice grapefruit smell - but it is supposed to be mango and magnolia (for its antibacterial properties), haha. While the fragrance is very nice and refreshing, I feel that the soap is very drying for my skin (which is why I normally use shower gels and oils rather than soaps). It woud make for a good hand soap though, particularly if it really has improved antibacterial properties.

Verdict: Nice fragrance, drying.

3) Chestnut Soap

This is by far my favorite. It should be quite similar to the 5 Grain Soap in terms of effect (AHAs and scrubbing particles). It has very mild earthy smell (think soap, chestnut and honey). This soap works perfectly as a daily scrub - it is much more "powerful" than the 5 Grain Soap. If you press too hard, it can almost become painful. It is not drying either.

4) Traditional Soap

Nothing spcial in particular, normal soap.

5) Charcoal Soap

Looks nice, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Yours truly

Vita