Mixsoon Black Rice Peeling Shot Review | Compared to Dr Melaxin?

Mixsoon is a high-standard and well-loved skincare brand from South Korea. Famous for their Bean line (especially their famous Bean Essence), they create deep and gentle solutions that are perfect for almost all skin types and soft care. They produce products that centre around a specific ingredient, so that users can customize their effect (such as using bifida or galactomyces) with minimal cross-reaction or irritation. It makes Mixsoon a great brand to cherry pick favourites from, especially when skin is irritated or reactive to complex formulas. 

So, why a Rice Peeling Shot? It was clearly designed to be a mimic for the Dr Melaxin Rice Peeling Shot, down to the bottle and design as well as the use of a Black Rice shot and a White Rice shot. Dr Melaxin had carefully gone viral with their Rice peeling shot, due to its dramatic ‘visible’ peeling of skin (which is actually cellulose clumps that gently refresh pores for a visible exfoliation). They had gone so viral, that actually getting the peeling shot became incredibly difficult in different areas. This poor supply issue has been ongoing for months and months and Mixsoon clearly saw an opportunity (with their superior supply chain). 

So, what’s the recipe comparison? Both shots have a base of rice bran water, with hydrating agents, BHA and rice extracts to mechanically exfoliate – but that’s actually where the similarities end.  
 
Dr Melaxin’s shot is rich in a variety of other exfoliants, with cellulose, malt and gluconolactone to clear pores with ease. But as a counter, it also contains fragrance and preservatives, which actually rule it out for ease of use for sensitive skin. 
 
Mixsoon’s shot balances hydration better with high levels of panthenol and allantoin and background notes of blackberry, PDRN, black currant and sesame extract. Mixsoon utilizes more natural ingredients, which gives a nicer skin feel, but does it mean it will have the same efficacy as Dr Melaxin? 

We’ve gone over a bit above about what’s in the Mixsoon shot, but let’s dive deeper: 

Rice Seed Water/Rice Extract: skin softening, exfoliating extract that helps brighten skin tone and boost hydration for lighter, clearer skin. 

Allantoin: improves skin barrier healing, whilst triggering cell proliferation and collagen production for firm and plump skin. 

Panthenol: moisturizing and soothing vitamin B5 that helps strengthen the skin barrier and is perfect for damaged, sensitive and irritated skin.  

Soybean Seed Water/Soybean Ferment/Soybean Oil: rich in deep antioxidants that help boost natural hydration, firming skin, stimulating collagen production for refreshed and blurry skin texture. 

Probiotics (Rye Flour/Soymilk): helps strengthen the skin barrier, by providing rich flora to skin that helps protect and balance skin biome, whilst balancing immune function of skin. 

Jasmine extract: helps refresh fine lines and boost skin elasticity, whilst improving barrier healing to reduce spots and previous scars. 

Madecassoside: helps gently treat hyperpigmentation, cooling redness and irritation and helping to restore the natural skin barrier. 

Willow Bark extract: source of BHA that helps deeply cleanse pores, exfoliating deep to reduce acne and pore size. 

PDRN: extracted from rice, these DNA fragments absorb into skin cells to help repair energy pathways, energizing and healing cells for long-term glow. 

Barley extract: soothes skin, moisturizes and helps calm redness for long-term care and refreshment of irritated skin. 

Black currant/Blackberry extract: rich in vitamins and antioxidants, to reduce stress and improve cell health for a boost in elasticity and skin cell function. 

Sesame seed extract: deeply cooling and moisturizing extract that helps infuse antioxidants to protect skin against environmental pollutants. 

This formula is incredibly gentle and designed to be safe for sensitive skin. It has very few irritating agents. The Black Rice extract is designed to be more coarse and rough, so if you are sensitive to exfoliants try the White Rice extract serum for a more gentle scrub. Otherwise, this formula is vegan, fragrance-free and rich in natural extracts for all skin types.

I have acne-prone and combination skin and use a tooon of exfoliants. I use them in combination in a complex routine as it’s one of the best things to help treat acne spots in my skin type. From an exfoliating cleanser to a bi-weekly acid peel, I love something that feels like it’s getting under all the gunk and leaving your pores clear and dry. The Dr Melaxin Peel shot is carefully designed to exfoliate deeply and contains a variety of chemical agents to help achieve this, where as Mixsoon went almost perfectly natural (creating an interesting dichotomy of choice). 

The Mixsoon serum is incredibly thick and it’s actually quite hard to get it out using the applicator. It does have a gentle exfoliating action as you use it, but it’s hard to balance how much you need (using up to 3-4 doses to try to cover the face well). It’s advertised to use on dry skin, but actually it’s better used on wet skin as you can spread the little rice granules far easier and get a nicer exfoliation for less serum use.  

It does help exfoliate with almost zero irritation, but it is less effective than the Dr Melaxin Peeling shot. This was kind of expected, as where Dr Melaxin primed their entire peeling shot around deep exfoliation, Mixsoon balanced theirs with more skin-friendly agents and moisturizing extracts. It’s a much kinder formula, which makes it ideal for sensitive or easily irritated skin, but for getting through oily pores and deep acne it is underwhelming.  

You can see that it helped improve skin texture (immediate before and after), reducing redness and general irritation. It does provide a nice exfoliation, which will be useful for a variety of skin types – sensitive, acne-prone, fine lines or dull skin. However, for oily skin types, it’s more beneficial to pick a more aggressive exfoliator, such as a higher dose of BHA or cellulose formula to get deeper into pores and clear skin. 

This peeling shot is so carefully formulated to improve skin texture and be compatible for sensitive skin. It provides a gentle alternative to more aggressive exfoliators in the market, creating a gentle action for the top layer of skin, whilst infusing moisturizing agents to prevent peeling or flaking. But for oily and combination skin, you’re likely going to want a more aggressive agent and will see less improvement with such a gentle exfoliator.

Looking for gentle, nourishing skincare? You can't go wrong with Mixsoon for sensitive, rich formulas that deliver plant-based care. Check out the range on Arktastic.

Want to learn more about K-beauty? Check out our review of exfoliators and why they are amazing for all skin types. Or check out our review of the Skin1004 Exfoliator for acne.

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