I was eyeing this product ever since I fell in love with the Beyond God of Patches line because I love the effect but I try to save where I can. I haven’t tried any other patches that have come in a container, so I can only compare the Secret Key Gold Racoony patches to the ones that come wrapped individually. The box arrived a bit beaten so I couldn’t post a pretty photo =[ I found the illustration irresistible so I had to get it!
I normally never upload before and after photos because I am pretty self conscious about my no makeup face, but it doesn’t hurt to show just my sun spots and dark circles I suppose 😉 [Before and after shots are near the end] I always seem to have trouble updating as often because photobucket goes funny nowadays and doesn’t link the photo properly once I’ve cropped it on their website – so I have to give it time and by then my motivation to blog disappears. (I never used to have a problem with it a few months ago).
First Impression: I used this on my boyfriend first because I was curious and couldn’t wait to see how it performed. The only thing I noticed was how easily it continued to slide off for 5 minutes. It did eventually stay put after numerous tries. After trying it myself I didn’t feel to keen on using it further.
Second Impression: I was intrigued by how this can be dissolved in water – I find it dissolves best when you can shake it around in a little container of hot water. Don’t put too much water if you don’t want it too runny. It dissolves rather slowly, but sometimes if it is too runny I drop a condensed sheet mask in it.
Third Impression: I usually use masks and eye patches at night, but since I got back home from work at 2:30 am and couldn’t sleep til 4 am, I looked in the mirror after waking up and saw dark circles. I popped some on and I noticed it had a comfortable cooling feeling. After some time the mask shrank a little bit which made me feel that it sank into my skin.
Positive:
- Affordable
- Cute packaging
- Includes a spatula
- The packaging feels secure
- Multi – purpose product
- Dissolvable in hot water = no waste
- Feels nice and cool upon application
- Brightens the eye area
Negative:
- It slides very easily due to the excess serum
- You need a bit of time to adjust the patches as they slide off easily at the beginning
- The shape isn’t perfect for any eye shape – eyes larger(wider) than mine may have trouble placing it close
- Because there is no mesh to hold the shape, , if you leave it on too long (over 35-40 minutes) it can move your skin as it shrinks away
Ingredients: Sorry I can’t say as I can’t read what is on the box.
Weight: (consists of 60 eye patches and 30 spot patches)
Before & After: You can see my eyes have redness from 4 and a half hours sleep. Normally my eyes are more clear when I get to sleep 8 hours >=]
How I use this/tips:
- At first I got sick of adjusting this, so I used it under a sheet mask to try and keep it in place. Eventually (after using it for over 3 weeks) it didn’t slide as much as there wasn’t as much serum stuck to it as time went on (each new patch).
- If you find that you have too much serum left after adding hot water, you can add a compressed sheet mask 🙂 or soak some cotton eyes masks.
- It is best to dissolve one patch at a time (I tried 2 and it took longer to dissolve – I find that dissolving one is enough if you want to apply it as a serum. Any excess I use where I need to like elbows etc etc.
- I find it is best to leave it on for at least 25/30 minutes
- I sometimes use this after applying all my skincare steps (first essence, toner, serum, eye cream, emulsion, cream) because I never realise how bad my eye area looks til the end or just after serum/emulsion
- I don’t always use the spot patches for spots so I use them for my smile lines as well
Rating: 3.5/5
Repurchase: Most probably
Last words: I think that the two things the Secret Key Gold Racoony has over the Beyond eye patches is that it is a multipurpose product and very affordable. The downside about this product is that I don’t feel like the results were as obvious in terms of fine lines, so don’t expect a miracle, but it slightly brightened up the dark circles and made them look smoother(as you can see from the before and after shots 😦 ). I feel that I am still willing to spend my money on the beyond god of patches line because I’m getting older now and I do need the extra help. I feel that this definitely grew on me and I find myself reaching for it at least once a week. This is a product that doesn’t hurt to give a shot for dark circles when you’re on a small budget 🙂
Any questions or think I should add something to this post? Feel free to leave a comment =]
heartairou 