Arencia Retinal Boosting Eye Mask Review | Perfect Smooth Eyes in 30 Minutes?
Arencia has worked hard to develop rich, nature-inspired products that work for a variety of skin types. From their beloved Mochi Duo Cleansing set, to their rich Red Smoothie serum, they’ve created iconic products that are deeply infused with botanical extracts to bring out the best in your skin (whilst maintaining a gentle identity). With entirely vegan formulas and eco-friendly practices, they are a budding favourite in Korean beauty and developing fresh products every month for us to try. One of their new products is their Retinal Boosting Eye Mask – a pack of delicate hydrogel eye masks that matches their Retinal Booster Shot (released at the same time).
This is Arencia’s first foray into spot treatments, looking at the classic benefits of retinal at improving fine lines and refreshing the skin. These eye patches are made of a biodegradable seaweed blend, which makes it not only eco-friendly, but better to infuse ingredients into the delicate skin under the eye. Balanced with cocoa, skin restoring peptides and allantoin, it seems like the perfect soothing eye patch. How does it work in real time? Let’s test out Arencia’s newest line and see if its worth adding to cart.
What's In The Bottle?
Niacinamide: brightening vitamin B3 that helps reduce appearance of dark under-eye and improve natural radiance.
Seaweed Powder: forms the base of the hydrogel, helps infuse deep hydration and maintains close contact to skin barrier for absorbing nutrients.
Panthenol: hydrating vitamin B5 that helps nourish and strengthen dry or damaged skin.
Allantoin: powerful humectant that helps cool and hydrate dry and irritated skin, for improved healing and regeneration. Improves general skin barrier function.
Adenosine: boosts collagen production and reduces wrinkles and fine lines, whilst improving cell energy levels for reduced smile lines and frown lines.
Caffeine: acts as a rich antioxidant for skin cells, reducing redness, puffiness, dark circles and irritation (making it a favourite for eye treatments). Improves cell protection against environmental pollutants.
Cocoa extract: improves rich skin brightness and improves collagen levels in cells, for firmer and naturally radiant skin.
Retinal: reduces fine lines by boosting collagen and firming skin underneath, whilst increasing cell turnover and shedding dull and dry outer skin for improved radiance.
Ceramide: small molecules that help seal the skin barrier and lock in moisture, for refreshed and hydrated skin appearance.
Rice extract: helps brighten and nourish skin appearance, whilst gently improving exfoliation for improved natural radiance and glow.
PDRN: small DNA fragments that help repair cell energy pathways for improved radiance and better cell healing, for more youthful glow.
Peptides (9 different types – including Copper Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 and Hexapeptide-11): helps refresh fine lines and trigger collagen production, to boost definition of skin and create smooth and clear appearance.
Who Should Avoid?
These eye masks are gentle and hydrating and generally are good for anyone looking to refresh and brighten their eye appearance. They contain a low level of retinal that can be irritating for sensitive skin, so perhaps pick a more light formula if you are sensitive to retinal. They also are less hydrating than some hydrogel eye masks, so less suitable for dry skin. They are best suited for minimal fine lines and dark circles to help plump fine lines.
The Results
I always love a good hydrogel eye patch to relax at the end of the day. Having followed Arencia's skincare line for a while, I was really curious about their only hydrogel skincare product. It felt like an interesting departure from their usual rice-based products (although this does contain a minimal amount of rice extracts) and I hoped it would be deeply brightening and refreshing to use.
These eye masks are incredibly thin and quite strong, so they don't break apart easily like some hydrogel masks do. The immediate complaint is that the are nigh impossible to get out of the packaging. It comes with a little spoon, but the little masks cling to each other tightly and since they are vey thin, it's hard to separate them out. Multiple times I ended up putting on two masks under one eye by mistake, only for the second to unceremoniously slide off unexpectedly.
Otherwise, these masks are really gentle and low-irritation (for retinal product) and I could easily use it every day without irritation. It has great adhesion and doesn't slip and they are so subtle that I could wear it around the house without people noticing I had them on.
Here's the before-and-after of two weeks of use (almost every evening as part of my routine). Over this time, there was a gentle improvement to brightness and reduction in dry bumps and fine lines around the eye. Although the results are non-dramatic, it was a refreshing and high-quality eye mask. The peptides help firm the undereye, for a more refreshed and smooth appearance and it gently fits into a routine with other actives and exfoliants.
I wouldn't buy this eye mask with dramatic expectations, but if you are looking for gentle and ongoing results this is a really solid pick. the caffeine and niacinamide form good synergy to relieve dark circles (although gently) and the combination of retinal and peptides are reviving without irritation. This eye mask is perfect for oily/combination skin types who need a little targeted eye care.
Final Thoughts
Similar to a lot of Arencia's products, these eye patches are a gentle and nourishing addition to a routine. They are hydrating and balancing for oily skin types, but I wouldn't overly recommend them for dry eyes (as a deeper eye cream would be more beneficial). They will help lift dark circles and fine lines, but results will be slow and steady.
These eye patches are perfect as part of a gentle, soothing skincare routine and where you want a little bit of peace (without the retinal burn).
Looking for gentle, vegan formulas? Check out the exciting new releases from Arencia, all available on Arktastic~! From their new hydrating toner pads to their vitamin C shot - check out for the first time in Australia.
Looking for more exciting K-beauty reads? Check out our guide to using retinol safely; giving you all the benefits without the irritation. Or check out our review of the Numbuzin eye patches, to see the results of K-beauty's fanciest eye patches!
