In an industry with an overwhelming amount of product launches daily, The Empties Edit helps you cut through the noise. To help you find your new beauty and wellness favorites, this series highlights the tried-and-true products our writers constantly empty out and re-up on.
Have you ever been to the fountain of youth? If not, it’s in my bathroom cabinet. The product is almost 50 years old, but I first heard about it 10 years ago. I was in high school and my best friend at the time, who was a skincare fanatic way before I was, never shut up about SK-II’s Facial Treatment Essence. The brand’s signature product, originally coined “Secret Key II,” officially launched in Japan in 1980. What was the symbolic “secret key,” you ask? Well, the hands of elderly sake brewers, of course!
The essence was developed after scientists noticed their hands looked decades younger than their skin. Youthful, smooth, radiant. Turns out, it was because their hands were constantly bathing in the yeast fermentation process used to make sake. Thus, SK-II’s Pitera™ Essence was born. Each bottle contains 90 percent of Pitera™, a natural bio ingredient derived from yeast fermentation and containing over 50 micronutrients, including vitamins, minerals, organic acids, and amino acids. It’s an ingredient they haven’t changed in over 40 years and why the essence it’s famously known for selling a bottle every two seconds.
So, naturally, two seconds passed and the next bottle was all mine. I’ve tried the essence before as a sheet mask, which is saturated in a bottle’s worth of Pitera™-infused serum, but now I finally got my hands on the source. My skincare ritual is simple: Cleanser, the equally legendary Biologique Recherche Lotion P50 PIGM 400, and finally, my historic, cult-favorite Essence. I will say, if I do skip a day of skincare, it definitely doesn’t feel like it. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever liked a moisturizer more. My skin feels balanced for days at a time. Never oily, never dry. The texture is lightweight and watery, similar to a toner, but once the formula suctions onto my face it feels like radiant velvet just locked onto my skin.
It’s breathable, but once my pores sip in the external layer of dewiness there’s a lasting radiance from within. Unlike a serum or cream, an essence is the most lightweight, yet potent form of skincare. It’s everything that works, nothing that doesn’t. While my skin feels an instant hydration, over time, I see my texture smoothing, face more plump, and radiance even more alive. The SK-II Facial Treatment Essence is proof of skincare done right. It’s the holiest of holy grails and, not to be dramatic, but it feels like the one essence I could really use exclusively for eternity.
Superfix Hydra Cool Dewy Fixing Mist
This spray is the hydrating hero for those worried about their skin drying out in the Louisiana sun. It locks in your makeup while nourishing your skin so you don’t feel parched by the time the sun goes down.
ulta.com
$16