I bet you have already know, read or even tried the all-new Estée Lauder Micro Essence Skin Activating Treatment Lotion by now 🙂 . It is not a secret that Estée Lauder will be launching a brand new revolutionary product following a few series of teaser on their official Facebook page since the beginning of 2014. I too leaked a picture on my Instagram too, oppss! 😀 . I’ve been using Estée Lauder Micro Essence for a good full month now, plus the product was officially launched on the 15th January 2014 and stocks are already stock up at all Estée Lauder counters nationwide. It is only fair that you read on and digest it throughout the weekend before dashing out of the house to the nearest counter. Trust me, it’s going to be a good one. *Hint: I have a Before and After comparison picture*

Before I start, you might want to note that this is Asia exclusive only product. The idea, development, testing and proven result of this Micro Essence are all based on Asian women’s skin care needs. Plus we Asian just love a brighter and fairer skin don’t we 🙂

A lot of people are confuse with Estée Lauder Micro Essence. Honestly I was too at the beginning. Is it a toner? Is it a pre-serum? Softener? Or Essence? Let’s make things simple for you. Micro Essence is a treatment lotion aka essence-in-lotion. In Asia, lotion is also another word for toner. According to Estée Lauder, Micro Essence is the first-of-its-kind “essence-in-lotion” that strengthens skin’s foundation with micro power to reveal a translucent, “angelic glow” from within. Micro-Nutrient Bio-Ferment is then invented which was inspired by the strength and resilience of extremophiles, nature’s “Ultimate Survivors” that works by activating the skin’s multiple pro-youth functions and help to reset skin’s look. I often talk about the importance of skin’s ability to reset all cell counters to ZERO in order to boost the youthfulness process in epidermis. Micro Essence work in a similar way too. Prolonged use of Estée Lauder Micro Essence will help to strengthen skin barrier making it more resistant toward all signs of aging.

Estée Lauder Micro Essence is said to give skin the translucent and angelic glow from within. Add in the combat towards signs of aging and you get these nine characteristics of a youthful, angelic glow such as:

• Clear, translucent skin
• Youthful radiance
• Even-toned skin
• Refined texture
• Smooth, supple and silky to the touch
• Stronger barrier
• Skin is calm
• Reduced fine, dry lines
• Hydrated skin

The name and description on the bottle confuse me even more on whether this is a toner or essence but no worries. I sorted out the confusion after a short visit to the counter. Now that you know this Estée Lauder Micro Essence is a lotion, this means you need not to use any other toner prior before and preferably follow-up immediately with Advanced Night Repair as both product work so well hand in hand that it complement each other’s benefit onto the skin with even more efficacies.

Using cotton pad
Pour a generous amount of Micro Essence (approx 3cm in diameter) onto a cotton pad. Start from the chin, gently press and pat the cotton pad from the center out, then work upward to the cheeks and forehead.

Using hands
Pour 5-6 drops of Micro Essence into palm of one hand and rub both hands together. Starting from the chin, gently press into skin from the center out and move upward to cheeks and forehead.

Estée Lauder Micro Essence comes in a heavy, classy, frosty glass bottle. There is no pump or glass dropper. Just a simple pour system bottle. Thankfully the dispense hole is small and controlled in a way so drops of lotion are dispense out rather than a gush of lotion. I’ve tried using the Micro Essence with both method – cotton pad and by hands. I started my Micro Essence trial with pouring 6 drops onto my palm, warm the product with both palm and press onto my face starting from the inner face to outer face, from bottom to top. Just for fun, I then switched to using cotton pad. Maybe because I have super large pores and that I have oily skin, I find using cotton pad work much more better for me. I see and feel better.

You can expect Micro Essence’s scent to carry it’s signature Estée Lauder lotion scent. The scent is quite neutral so I think most people will be able to accept the scent 🙂

I get to find out why the effect of Estée Lauder Micro Essence is much better by using ANR thereafter. It’s pretty simple and yet interesting. Here’s why. ANR alone will take time to absorb into the skin although it’s super light. Remember I said before the percentage of absorption of active ingredients to the skin via topical application is only 30% due to the skin’s natural barrier? One out of three powerful feature of Micro Essence named as Micro-Targeted help the lotion to penetrates rapidly and deeply within skin’s surface to reach where skin needs it most. The lotion is so light that it “carry along” ANR with it, penetrating deeply into the skin surface. As you can see below, ANR alone doesn’t budge on my hand but if used together with Micro Essence, it just glides off my hand!

Here is a better explanation on the theory of Estée Lauder Micro Essence carrying ANR, penetrating faster and effectively into the skin.

I’ve gone through a few bottles of Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair before this. I used to wake up to a plumper, well-rested skin. Before using ANR my skin texture was at it’s worse. ANR does good things to my skin but after pairing it with Micro Essence, I can finally get the best out of the best on ANR. I do understand that my skin and your skin may be different therefore our skin’s acceptance towards the same skin care may or may not be the same. I wasn’t quite sure if I need to use the combination of Micro Essence + ANR day and night but I went ahead with it. As I have oily skin, I find it to be too rich for me during the day. After two weeks of using the combo product on day and night, I’ve decided to just use it at night. I have to thank my oily skin sometimes because I don’t experience dryness on the face at all so a little bit of hydrating product like this Micro Essence and ANR will do wonders.

Honestly I would prefer using Micro Essence with ANR. My skin will just drink up ANR everytime I apply it after Micro Essence. So my face is not sticky at all after application. I mentioned earlier that I switched to pressing Micro Essence onto my face to using a cotton pad, mainly because I find that cotton pad is able to lift off dirt and dead skin cell from my face so Micro Essence is well distributed at the same time. Somehow this method improved the product efficacy for me 😀 . At the beginning I have breakout but it stopped immediately after I switch the application method and stop using it in the morning. Remember I have oily skin and I can’t over-moisturize my face? I was able to pin point the root cause of the breakout and my face was clear from impurities in no time.

When I first started Micro Essence journey, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. So I took a photo of my skin before using. I know with my skin I won’t be able to achieve that angelic glow but I do have hope that it will at least give me a hint of angelic glow? I’ve been staring at my face for the past one month but I couldn’t see anything probably because I look at myself so often that I won’t be able to notice any difference if it’s nothing major, besides feeling a smoother, tighter skin and less visible pores.

Just this morning I took a After photo, paste it beside the Before photo without expecting anything and I amazed myself with the outcome. I wasn’t expecting to see a brighter skin, with pink cheeks and the best part is my face is pinkish! I’ve always wanted a pinkish complexion! No photoshop here. Lighting is obviously darker than the Before photo if you look at the white background 😉

There are two things that I didn’t expect from Estée Lauder Micro Essence and that is less visible pores and reducing sebum. Probably my skin is more hydrated at night so I experience less oily skin during the day. Frankly speaking I’m a bit slack off with my day skin care for the past few weeks as everything seems to be on the right path at the moment.

Is this Micro Essence worth checking out? For me it’s always a yes. I’m always intrigued with new products in the market. There are some that compare this with SK-II’s Facial Treatment Essence but I won’t do that. SK-II Facial Treatment Essence is an essence that are to apply after toner. Estée Lauder Micro Essence on the other hand is a lotion that you are not required to apply any toner before that and the essence-in-lotion are like a pre-serum or softener that further enhance any skin care applied on thereafter 🙂

Another reason for you to dash out of the house. Actually a few reasons 😀 . Estée Lauder is currently doing sampling exercise for it’s new Micro Essence. You can apply for sample at this link http://bit.ly/1kXmXLP and Metrojaya have also sent out email for sample redemption. Either way, you will be given a few sachet of Micro Essence sample upon skin consultation. If you are looking to purchase it, head over to Isetan as they have Micro Essence Introductory Kit for RM320 worth RM460 😉

Disclaimer: Product was sent to me for review consideration. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.