Balanced Pore Perfecting Water Gel Moisturiser

5 Reviews

1. 

   dearLemur9

   Reply

   Good primer under Ellis Faas Skin Veil foundation – especially for hot, humid days. Goes on semi-mat, but with a slight golden glow so it does not look flat. Feels comfortable.
   But I have not used it for several weeks consecutively to tell if it makes my acne-prone skin break out. I know that Avene is one of the few product lines which do not make my face break out longterm. I am OK with lots of other products on the neck or hands – not sensitive there, so Tatcha long term in those sites is just fine.

2. 

   trustingLapwing0

   Reply

   Meh. If this was a 5$ moisturizer, maybe. I was so excited to try this. I love the packaging, and the way it spreads on. Very easy and thin. But it kind of just sits there, in like a glossy, cloudy veil on your face for about a minute then it’s like I never used anything in the first place. It only adds a ‘glow’ as long as it’s still wet on your skin. After that my skin looks weirdly dull and dehydrated? Definitely not worth 65$+ for. I’m pretty disappointed.

3. 

   adoringBobolink2

   Reply

   I purchased this moisturizer due to raving reviews off Sephora website and decided to visit my nearest store to sample in person. I’m looking for a lightweight “summer” moisturizer – gel/cream consistency, oil free, great ingredient list, anti-aging and I prefer pump bottles rather than jars (hygienic reasons).

   Whilst at Sephora, I sampled this product on the back of my hand and it felt extremely lightweight. Liquid felt refreshing, absorbed quickly into my skin and I could see tiny little gold sparkles where I applied the lotion. I decided to purchase a full sized bottle rather than requesting a tiny sample container (time consuming mistake – request 3 samples of the same product if you need to ladies/gents! Better than having to waste time and adding more mileage to your vehicle to go back and return).

   I used moisturizer following morning (under makeup) and after applying usual makeup routine, I didn’t like end result. In a weird way, my face looked “ashy” and felt like a flower petal (soft but a rubbish texture). I decided to go about my day and by the 4th hour, my entire face was an oily mess. I never look oily either. I only get a bit shiny on my nose (that’s it).

   I returned back to Sephora.

   I’m not really impressed with Tatcha line, it’s a shame because I love how their bottles/jars look but the ingredients don’t work with my skin. Not worth the cost.

4. 

   outlyingPoultry7

   Reply

   I love some of Tatcha’s products, I really do. Tatcha makes my absolute favourite sunscreen, for example. Their obscenely priced blotting papers are worth every extravagant penny. And I wouldn’t dream of getting on a long haul flight without a bottle of the Luminous Dewy Skin Mist – that stuff gives me life in airplane cabins. But Tatcha does turn out some duds too and unfortunately, this product was one of them.

   I bought the Pore Perfecting Water Gel Moisturiser basically the day it was released because – confession – I’m a bit of a Tatcha fangirl. I used it for a period of about five months and finished the last of it a month ago. So a review seems in order.

   For reference, I have sensitive skin that I’d categorise as combination, due to the humid climate I currently live in. On paper, the Water Gel Moisturiser sounded perfect for me – lightweight, non-comedogenic, and ostensibly hydrating without being occlusive or overly rich. I’ll run through the claims and how they measured up to my experience.

   CLAIMS (Per Tatcha’s website):

   “What it is:
 This illuminated water gel moisturizer offers ultralight, oil-balancing hydration.
   Why it’s different:
 Features Japanese Wild Rose, Leopard Lily and Dokudami extracts to balance and clarify skin, while visibly tightening pores in 28 days. A dust of 23k gold imparts an exquisite, shine-free glow.”

   Tatcha also notes that “This item was not designed to be layered with moisturizers and works best as a stand-alone moisturizer.”

   DOES IT DELIVER?

   Ultra-Light Hydration:
   Well, I agree that the hydration was ‘ultralight’ but only in the sense that it wasn’t very hydrating, In all seriousness, I don’t know what this product is meant to actually do. Tatcha says it “works best as a stand-alone moisturizer” but I have trouble seeing how even the oiliest person would find this sufficiently hydrating to use by itself. And as a serum, I also didn’t find it to be effective at anything really. It wasn’t hydrating enough for my preferences (I still had to layer with a hyaluronic acid serum) and it had a tacky sticky finish that made layering products on top difficult.

   Oil-balancing:
   I didn’t notice any discernible difference. I don’t have oily skin in general but the humidity here means I am prone to a little bit of afternoon shine. I don’t think the Tatcha exacerbated the shine but nor did it made it any better.

   Visibly tightening pores in 28 days:
   This one is easy – nope!! Zero difference in the size of my pores after 28 days (in fact, even 5 months of using this doesn’t appear to have changed them). I admit that I generally take these sort of claims with a massive pinch of salt and so am not overly disappointed when the magic fails to materialise. But it does irritate me that manufacturers put such blatantly unrealistic, misleading claims on their products. I’m okay with slow results or some results – I would really just prefer honesty at the end of the day.

   Dusting of 23k gold which imparts an exquisite glow:
   Well, there definitely is some sort of gold pigment in here (no idea whether it’s 23 karat but I’ll give Tatcha the benefit of the doubt). When you pump out the product (it’s a slightly viscous, slippery gel consistency), it comes out semi-translucent, with a iridescent golden sheen that’s very pretty indeed. It definitely has a real luxe factor and Tatcha doesn’t skimp on the gold dust, to their credit. Whether this has any benefits for the skin is up for debate (what research has been done tends to be skeptical of gold’s benefits as a topical skincare ingredient). Applied to the face, it doesn’t look super sparkly or golden goddess-y. It has a sort of shiny finish that’s more related to the viscous texture imo – I suppose you could be generous and call it luminosity. I think the consistency of this and the subtle illuminating properties makes it more suitable as a daytime product since any glowy golden effect is going to be strictly temporary and therefore useless while you’re asleep. As for whether this imparts a shine free glow, I do think that you can use a powder to tamp down the shine. On its own, it will look shiny though.

   So, I’d say that Tatcha fails on delivering 3 out of the 4 major claims. I’ll give it the exquisite golden glow (although if we’re being honest, you can achieve that by using the highlighter of your choice). Every other respect it fails in.

   PACKAGING:
   Standard Tatcha. Beautiful and luxurious and just a total treat to open. I love the little touches that Tatcha incorporates into their products to make them feel super special and personalised. It’s all very indulgent and fancy feeling. I also appreciate that this gel moisturiser is packaged in a pump bottle rather than the usual jars that Tatcha uses for their creams. It is far more hygienic in a pump bottle and I appreciate not having to worry about contamination as much.

   OVERALL GRADE: C/C+. This sounded so promising but it was a real let down. Now that summer is approaching, people will likely be looking for lighter weight moisturisers and lotions. I don’t recommend this one at all – if you want golden iridescence, there are vastly cheaper ways to achieve that effect (illuminating base, highlighter, glowy finishing powder, etc).

5. 

   excitedCod6

   Reply

   Love at the first sight!

   So I’ve been searching for a lightweight gel moisturiser for oily & prone skin for a while and found out that Tatcha just launched one with pore-perfecting formula! Sounds perfect, right?

   My first week was amazing (after switching from milky texture moisturiser from SK-II Aura Essence), my skin absorbed this gold-gel moisturiser really well, it reduced my scars and calmed down the blemishes. But not for a long time, :(.

   After months using this product, my skin started to behave crazily, small acnes started to show up along with the excess oil (but not as bad as my previous skin condition tho). So now, I’m not using it anymore (to prevent any greasiness on my face) and I need to find the better substitute for this moisturiser before my skin gets worse.

   I really have high hopes with this product because the ingredients are really suitable for my skin type along with its benefits. Overall, I’m just impressed with the luxurious packaging and the gold-gel texture.