Skinfood Black Sugar First Serum Gold Edition Review

For the 10th Anniversary of Skinfood's black sugar mask, they released a gold edition of both the First Serum and also the Black Sugar Mask. How cool is that? At the time of the released, I thought it was just a change in packaging so I didn't get it. Fast - forward a few months when I've finished my original bottle of First Serum, I purchased the gold edition set because I couldn't find the original version in store. I can't even tell you how surprised I was when I saw a tiny gold speck on the cotten pad. Gold Version = gold flakes - DUH! 

*Gold edition is also limited edition, I'm starting to see stores slowly run out of these and replacing them with the regular and original Black Sugar Perfect First Serum

Here is the box that the set comes in - looking awesome in it's gold and black packaging.

It comes with one box of special cotton pads (60 pieces), one glass bottle of the serum (120ml), and a mini plastic 30ml bottle, perfect for traveling.

The original 120ml glass bottle with the fancy lid.

It has a plastic tab to prevent leaking.

It comes with a box of cotton pads that they recommend you use with the product. The cotton pad is quite thick, which makes me worry that I might be wasting a majority of the product on the cotton pad and not on my face.

According to the box:

"- Wipe and pat skin."

"- using the cleansing side of the pad, gently "wipe" skin to remove dead skin cells and impurities.

- using the absorbent side o the pad, gently "pat" the skin to absorb the serum remaining on the pad. "

Although, I feel that some products are wasted on the cotton pads, I do feel that this cotton pad helps the effectiveness of the product. Try it with the cotton pad and try it without, and you can see and feel the difference.

Directions:

"Shake well before use to mix the particles with the serum."

"Use immediately after cleansing. Pour onto a cotton pad."

Performance:

I used the serum according to the directions above and saw immediate results. I could feel that my skin was cleaner and brighter. When I applied my skincare, I was surprised to see how much faster, my moisturizer absorbed. Over the next feel days, I could see that my skintone looked brighter and more even. When I touch my skin, it feels more even and smooth.  I remember I had similar results the first time I used the Original Black Sugar Perfect First Serum, and knew it was due to this product. It really does make a difference in your skin. I highly recommend it. 

The first time I poured this product onto a cotton pad, I was surprised to see a gold flake and then I thought "oh, there is one gold flake." I didn't expect the quantity of gold flakes in the product to be high. There were many times when I didn't even get one flake out. However, as I've finished at least half the bottle now, more gold flakes are coming down - like in the picture below, which made me realize that a lot of gold flakes must be stuck on the bottom. The harder I shake the bottle now, the more flakes come out. The gold flakes dissolve as you wipe the pad across your face and disappear. I don't know if the flakes actually make a difference to the effectiveness of the product because the product seems just like the original version (which didn't have the gold). It still bothers me every time I think about how many gold flakes must be stuck to the bottom of the bottle but we'll never knew either because the glass is opaque.

Scent: It smells just like the original Skinfood Black Sugar Perfect First Serum, which is the light classic Black Sugar scent. 

Texture: It's very thin, almost like water. It's not sticky but you can definitely feel it at first. It aborbs quickly.

Ingredients: On the original version, the ingredients were printed on the side of the box but for the gold version, I couldn't find it.

Here are the ingredients for the original version:

Water, black sugar extract, alcohol, glycerin, butylene glycol, niacinamide, opuntia ficus-indica stem extract, hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) extract, lepidium meyenii root extract, sarcodon aspratus extract, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) fruit extract, cirus limon (lemon) fruit extract, pyrus malus (apple) fruit extract, tamarindus indica seed gum, lactobacillus/aspergillus/prunus mume fruit fermant filtrate peg-60 hydrogenated castor oil, arginine, ethlyhexlglycerine, glycolic acid, salicylic acid, adonosine, disodium edta, cellulose gum, sodium hyaluronate, phenoxyethanol, caramel, parfum.

I've bolded the ingredients that I recognize as potential irritants.  As you can see alcohol is the third ingredient which may be a concern for many people. Witch hazel and salicylic acid is usually used to treat and prevent acne prone skin. Lemon and orange extracts are usually used to brighten skin. I'm not familiar with what apple does. 

The Good:

- removes any remaining traces of makeup or dust

- exfoliates gently

- helps my skincare absorb noticably quicker

- makes my skin look glowly

- helps my skin look brighter

- my skin feels smoother

- less clogged pores

- not sticky

- light scent

The Bad:

- can't see how much product is left

- gold flakes get stucked in the bottle

- long ingredients list with a lot of potential irritants.

Price: I think this was 24 000Won whereas the original was 19 000. Keep in mind, this does come with a box of cotton pad and an extra 30ml mini bottle. 

* I believe the prices have gone up. The original is now 21 000 Won.

Overall: I think this is a great toner/serum. It's highly effective and it has worked lovely on my skin. If you can't find the gold edition, just get the regular. There honestly doesn't seem to be much difference besides the gold flakes. However, do check out the ingredients list before you make a purchase.

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