THEOBROMa Premium Cacao Pack Review

So, I wrote on the Memebox website why I would be interested in this product to enter to get a full size of it, and I actually won it! It surprised me by just arriving at my home unannounced and I had a hard time trying to find more info on it.

What is it?

Memebox is a South Korean based cosmetics company that sells mystery boxes. At one point, Memebox put out certain items in their shop to sell (Or was it more like a pre-sale? I can't recall.) and allowed Memebox users to do a preliminary impression of the product by writing why they would like to receive the product. By doing so, users had a chance to win that actual product!

The THEOBROMa Premium Cacao Pack contains chocolatey goodness and claims to "purify your skin, even your pore" with no perfumes or colors.

Ingredients

"water, cacao (15%), cetyl ethylhexanoate, butylene glycol, glycerin, beeswax, glyceryl distearate, peg-100 stearate, cetyl alcohol, shea butter, propolis extract, sodium hyaluronate, allantoin, tocopheryl acetate, dimethicone, sorbitan olivate, cetearyl olivate, polysorbate 80, xanthan gum, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, propylparaben"

Cacao is the star of this mask. I only found articles on ingesting cacao and very little on topical applications of cacao. I found some info on topical usage of propolis extract has some photoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects observed on rats or mice or in in vitro studies.

Packaging

The mask pack is in a squeeze tube and comes in a cardboard box.

Scent

It has no added fragrance, but it smells of chocolate powder or hot cocoa mix! Yum!

Appearance

It is a beautiful chocolate brown color.

Texture

This is a non-sticky, highly viscous product. It squeezes through the tube almost like toothpaste.

Application

Put this mask however thin or thick onto your skin. Wait for anytime you please. Rinse off once the mask starts to dry.

Performance

I've been trying this mask out for a while now for about once or twice a week, so if anything weird on my skin happens, I will definitely know that it is from this mask because that's the only inconsistency with my routine.

Even though this mask dries off much like a bentonite mask, it is so different. Firstly, this mask is hydrating until it dries. Even after the mask dries, it is not that dehydrating. Secondly, this mask gives with your movements and therefore, does not crack when it dries. Thirdly, it doesn't dry out the skin as much as bentonite masks do. Even though this mask has a very slight drying and mattifying effect after washing the pack off, it is not to the degree of which bentonite masks do, and that is probably why I don't feel the sensations that I just usually do with bentonite masks. That leads to the fourth comparison; when the cacao mask dries, it doesn't claw or stretch your skin like a bentonite mask does with its drying, stinging, itchy feeling. And finally, this mask is so much easier to wash off! Other positives are this mask doesn't irritate me (yay to no added fragrance!) and that it doesn't exacerbate my acne.

On the downside, I feel that this mask doesn't do much for my skin. It doesn't clean out the gunk in my pores, there's no "pore smoothing", and it doesn't really smooth out my skin as much as a good BHA or AHA plus moisturizers do. What "smooths" it temporarily is that even though I try to rinse as cleanly as possible, there will still be some mask residue on the skin. That is what is mattifying and smoothing my skin, is not a real change in my skin.

Conclusion

Although this mask feels so cooling and smells so delicious when applied, it doesn't live up to its claims of something that's suppose to clear your pores, smooth your pores, or smooth your skin. I will not purchase this, but it will be a fun mask to use continue to use what I have left on day I take baths. Maybe other reviewers feel differently about this product, but hey, that's just me and my skin.

Pros:

• Smells delicious!
• Doesn't irritate me.
• Noncomedogenic on me.
• Rinses off easily.
• Hydrating to skin before mask dries.
• Does not crackle when dried, flexes with your movements.
• Doesn't dry out skin like a bentonite clay mask does.
• No drying, stinging, itchy sensations because the mask doesn't pull your skin taught from dehydration.

Cons:

• Doesn't clean my pores.
• No "pore smoothing" effects.
• Temporary skin smoothing effects due mask deposits, doesn't really change the texture of your skin.