Essences as a stand alone skincare category grew popular in late 2018; this new buzz was a trend that got carried over from the K-Beauty routines that also went viral during that year. Within the 12 step routines there is generally one stepped called ‘essence’. They are products that promote softer, more hydrated and plumper skin. Their ingredients can consist of resurfacing agents, deep hydration, as well setting up a delivery system for the rest of your skin regimen.
Tatcha Beauty is a geisha inspired brand founded by Victoria Tsai. It all began from a trip to Kyoto, Japan where she met a modern-day Geisha. It was there that she discovered the holistic ingredients that would ultimately define Tatcha as a brand. Founder Tsai gave up a large majority of her possessions to create her first batch of 10,000 blotting sheets. Still a best seller in the line, but probably no longer the breadwinner out of the plethora of popular products. As someone who has suffered from acute dermatitis for many years and solely relied on Aquaphor felt that there needed to be products that could suit sensitive skin such as her own.
Ever since my personal episode of atopic/contact dermatitis almost two years ago I definitely proceed with a lot more caution when it comes to trying out new products. There is a level of hesitation in my willingness to try things upon first impression. It has definitely made me more aware of the ingredients, formulations as well as the state of my skin prior to trying something new and unknown to me. So to me, Tatcha and I began an intimate journey especially after discovering that the founder has also had dermatitis flare ups all her life.
So let’s begin: Tatcha Essence Plumping Skin Softener $95
This bottle that is currently being pictured is actually 99% empty, I’ve already finished this product and believe that it is worthy of a thorough review. Coming in at $95, is it worth it? Also, Tatcha has added a really nice touch to their products with containers that have this faded effect to them — it really allows you to know when you may start to run out of the product.
Ingredients List:
Saccharomyces/Camellia Sinensis Leaf/Cladosiphon Okamuranus/Rice Ferment Filtrate*, Propanediol, Soy Amino Acids, Yeast Extract, Water, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Dilauramidoglutamide Lysine, Phenoxyethanol *Hadasei-3.
Ingredients Breakdown:
Saccharomyces/Camellia Sinensis Leaf/Cladosiphon Okamuranus/Rice Ferment Filtrate*:
Literally a mouthful and makes you scratch your head going what in the world? It is basically a fermentation of utilizing a genus of fungi, tea plants, seaweed and sake ferment. Think of this as a major detoxifying treatment for the skin, mushrooms, teas, seaweed, and even sake is known as bacteria inhibitor fighters — where these strong antioxidants can help to remove toxins that your skin and body can absorb overtime from free radicals such as the sun, the pollution, and especially during this time — the stress.
Propanediol:
A glycol in natural form derived from corn is often used to enhance absorption and penetration of ingredients into the skin, often colorless and nearly odorless with a faint sweetness under the umbrella of Propolyene Glycol family. It naturally has hydrating properties which gives the skin a ‘glow from within’ feeling.
Soy Amino Acids:
This one here is a powerhouse on it’s own, amino acids from soy protein actually contains all 9 of the essential amino acids your body naturally cannot produce. Obviously I am not saying that you should consume this skincare product to fulfill these amino acid requirements. Generally these amino acids are present in foods that we consume such as animal protein and animal byproducts — and obviously soy.
The following 9 essential amino acids are present in soy proteins: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. These amino acids help to connect peptides and proteins so that everything can work together in maintaining healthy conditions for your skin.
Yeast Extract:
A derivative of the first ingredient Saccharomyces is known to have flavonoids, sugars, vitamins and amino acids. These ingredients help to reduce oxidation stress in skin (such as sun spots) and helps to calm and soothe the skin.
Ethylhexylglycerin & Phenoxyethanol:
These two ingredients serve as a mild natural preservative for naturally derived ingredients as well as skin conditioning capabilities.
Sodium Dilauramidoglutamide Lysine:
This is plant derived and has attributes to help rejuvenate skin and hair, but is often also used as an emulsifier to prevent different polarity liquids from separating as easily.
Hadasei-3:
This is the hero blend that defines Tatcha Beauty, it’s a mixture of green tea, rice, and algae and boasted for it’s ability to repair skin health, and create youthful radiance. In fact this bottle of essence contains 98.7% of this as the main ingredient. Think about the antioxidants in green tea, the clarifying properties in rice, and the soothing and balancing in algae…
Application:
The top of the bottle features a very interesting rubber tapered dispenser, so when you pour this product out it doesn’t just spill out — it essentially has an over-sized stopper to prevent over-usage of the product.
I generally take it in the palm of my hand roughly 4-5 drops of it and gently spread it all over the face starting with my cheeks and working outwards towards my ears and then followed by my forehead and chin. Since my cheeks are the driest areas I want to deposit a lot of the product there, versus my chin which can be dehydrated but also oily I’ll tend to deposit less product in areas like this to prevent congestion.
Before 
After
If you take a look at the photo on the left, areas of the skin are a little bit more red, lethargic, with deeper lines. And as for the photo on the right, you can see that the knuckle areas are less red, the skin is plumper, and the dehydration lines have filled in quite a bit.
So was it worth it?
At $95 for this beautiful product, it is definitely a hefty price point, but so worth it! The product is moisturizing, plumping, and light-weight all at the same time. It is probably one of the best essences on the market for delivery of high levels of hydration without the congestion. The best part is that despite a high level of concentration of fermentation in this product I did not experience any sort of tingling or mild skin reaction to it at all. As someone who has more sensitive skin due to a dermatitis episode, every so often fermented ingredients require a little bit of ‘getting use to’ before my skin can fully adapt to it’s potency.
I hope that this review and breakdown of this product has been helpful to you. Please do let me know if there are any types of skincare products that you are more curious about and I’ll definitely give my two cents on products that I’ve tried and found to be efficacious to specific concerns.
Link to Purchase: Tatcha The Essence Skin Plumping Softener $95
Disclaimer: Please note that all images are my own and not intended for any copyright infringement. If you would like to use my images please just ask for permission. All images and links are affiliated, meaning that with every purchase it will generate a tiny commission for the referral. This post is not sponsored and not paid for, all opinions are my own and always will be.