PRODUCT REVIEW: BENTON FERMENTATION ESSENCE – ONE OF THE BEST ANTI-AGING PRODUCTS FROM K-BEAUTY
BENTON | FERMENTATION ESSENCE
This review was originally part of my blog article titled, A Complete $100 Skincare Routine with The Inkey List, The Ordinary, Benton & More! You can catch the full piece here.
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Okay, here’s where things started to get really tricky — and where Michael and I got the most creative. I’m a huge proponent of two elements I consider essential to any healthy skincare routine — a hydrating toner and a humectant serum.
Skin needs a lot of things in order to be healthy. It needs vitamins, antioxidants, nourishing actives in the form of botanical oils and extracts, proper cleansing, sunscreen — and it needs to hold onto as much moisture, in the form of water and oil, as possible.
That’s why humectants like Hyaluronic Acid, Beta Glucan, Aloe Vera, Glycerin and even honey are so important. They each help your skin to retain moisture. There’s a terrific list of humectants, both natural and synthetic, here.
Okay, so our challenge was keeping a healthy skincare routine at around a hundred bucks. That meant we would possibly have to combine a step at some point. The Benton Fermentation Essence wouldn’t at first seem like it could or should make it into a $100 regimen.
To start, it’s around $30 (I got it for $27!) — between a third and a fourth of the total. And the last thing you’d imagine adding to a tight routine is an essence, right? But what’s an essence anyway? It’s just a word with no real, clear meaning. Maybe its translation in Korean or Japanese means something significant, but in English it means nothing more than a watery, concentrated treatment.
Quite simply, the Benton formula is exceptional. It’s so pro-skin health that we just had to find a way to include it. First, it contains four humectants: Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract and Sodium Hyaluronate — the salt form of Hyaluronic Acid that’s actually the most compatible with the skin. Check off that humectant box!
Next, it contains a slew of healthy nourishment for the skin, ingredients that would be impossible to include in effective individual serums in the regimen, including peptides, ceramides, amino acids and two active probiotic ferments.
Bifida Ferment Lysate is an ultra nourishing, balancing probiotic that helps protect against UV-induced skin damage and may even help repair damaged DNA. It’s the star ingredient in Estée Lauder’s $100 Advanced Night Repair.
The second is Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, the yeast-derived active that powers the J-beauty cult favorite SK-II Pitera Facial Treatment Essence. You know the one; it’s ridiculously priced at $185.00.
And because the Benton Fermentation Essence is so watery, it functions perfectly well as a toner — which I consider essential. So Benton it is. Get in my regimen!
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Benton Fermentation Essence for $25.56 here.
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The Ingredient List of the Benton Fermentation Essence:
h, Aqua (Water) solv, Butylene Glycol h|solv|vc 0 1, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, Glycerin 
sii|h 0 0, 1,2-Hexanediol solv, Bifida Ferment Lysate , Ceramide NP sii, Althaea Rosea Root Extract h, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract so|emo|h, Betaine h, Panthenol so|h 0 0, Allantoin so 0 0, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, SH-Oligopeptide-1 cci, Zanthoxylum Piperitum Fruit Extract aox|amic|pres, Pulsatilla Koreana Extract amic|pres, Usnea Barbata (Lichen) Extract pres|amic, Adenosine cci, Arginine sii, Xanthan Gum vc|emu|surf, Hydrogenated Lecithin emo|emu, Polysorbate 20 emu|surf 0 0, Lecithin emo|emu
