Y’all know how I am crazy about my skincare routine, how I will use minimum 7 products and above at one go. But I am also the all or nothing at all kinda girl. Which means I would either do the full on skincare routine using more than 7 products or I will not use anything at all. I do go through days where I am just too tired or too sick to apply any skincare. I have seen many of my friends having a simpler skincare routine and I go “why can’t I do that?”. My skin now is as dry and dehydrated as a Sahara desert. If there is anything that is able to boost the efficacy of all my skincare, sign me up! I would love to spend lesser time applying skincare and enjoy double benefit from my skincare at the same time. My latest discovery? The Face Shop THE THERAPY First Serum. This pre-serum helped me to get all my skincare on in just 5 minutes. Or maybe lesser and I am here to show you how this pre-serum had helped me and what it does to my skin.

Pre-serum is not a new trend. In fact it has been lingering around the beauty community for quite some time. I have never gotten on the trend because I always thought it is a gimmick or something like that. I have tried a sample from one expensive Korean brand before and it is so heavy and oily on me. My friend told me that I would see immediate result with The Face Shop THE THERAPY First Serum. I cringed at that because usually I test my skincare for 2-3 weeks. Immediate result within first application? You must be kidding, me I said. Then, I have to eat my own words because I was blown away. I stared at the “after” application photos on my camera in awe.

What is pre-serum? Pre-serum is the first step serum that you apply immediately after cleansing to boost the efficacy of every other skincare products that you apply thereafter. Some said after toning but The Face Shop THE THERAPY First Serum is best applied in between cleansing and toning. It helped with product absorption deep into the skin therefore it is able to boost other skincare efficacies. In another word, it prep you skin so skincare works better 😀 . The Face Shop THE THERAPY First Serum is an anti-aging product so it is recommended for users aged 30s and above. It is formulated from Europe therapist’s essential oil recipe and French Thalassotherapy essential ingredient that provides crystal clear shiny anti-aging effect with 3 main function – anti-aging, anti-dryness, and high moisture. Although this is a pre-serum, you can also turn this serum into a mild exfoliation product by using The Face Shop Green Tea Cotton Pad, which will give you the exfoliation effect.

THE THERAPY First Serum is housed in a heavy, French-feel frosted glass bottle. It comes with a cap that close down with a tight click. This cap in particular I like so much because I always grab my skincare bottle by the top cap. The tight click ensure that I do not drop the heavy bottle to the floor. It comes with a pump dispenser which works perfectly fine. I have learnt that this First Serum is also suitable to be used as face mist so you may find a pump to replace the pump or even transfer some of the serum into a spray bottle, which I will do just that tomorrow. I loveeeee face mist and I was delighted to find out about this pre-serum doubling as face mist!

THE THERAPY First Serum has three features – Micro Crystal Particles, Thalassotherapy Essential Water and 3 types of natural essential oil. The main ingredient in THE THERAPY First Serum is Thalassotherapy. The word Thalassotherapy is from Greek. ‘Thalasso’ means the sea and ‘therapia’ meaning treatment. It brought a meaning of using healing and beneficial properties from the sea and marine for the wellbeing. The sea water used in creating Thalassotherapy water is from the sea of France which contains 100X more mineral than Evian water.

The serum itself smells amazing. It smells fresh and maybe a tiny bit of floraly. It is as light and as watery as water so it is not sticky or heavy on the face. Thalassotherapy Water in the First Serum is made out of 3 ingredients – Sea Water (Mineral), Blue Algae (for Anti-Oxidant), and Oligofurcellaran (for Moisturizing).

This is a whole pump on the back of my hand. Within a few seconds, the serum absorbed slowly into my skin and it feels as if I have nothing on. Absolutely light, which was contrary to other pre-serum I have tested before. When all three essential oils blended with natural polysaccharide, it created Micro Crystal Particle which enables the serum to spread softly on the skin. The essential oils then penetrates into the skin to heighten the anti-aging effect. All this forms a crystal coating layer that is smooth and glowing to prevent all the moisture to evaporate so that the skin stays hydrated. I will show you later on the crystal glow effect on my skin that kept me in awe. Complete stunned!

My 5-Minute Skincare Routine

I have a tricky skin with a tight schedule. I am constantly rushing my socks off and my mom always complaint that I spent too much time on my face. You see, I have a really dehydrated skin. If I skip any of my skincare, I am doomed. This is how The Face Shop THE THERAPY First Serum got me out of the house in a jiffy. I spend only 5-minutes on my skincare routine. It always start with cleansing. Then I follow up with THE THERAPY First Serum. Although I read that I need to apply toner thereafter, I actually don’t bother with toner. THE THERAPY First Serum can be applied using a cotton pad or just pat with both palms. I chose applying with palms because I like to feel my serum and get the most out of it, just like how I like running with lighter shoe as I want to feel the ground. One to two pumps is recommended. I am using two pumps most of the time although I feel I could use another pump extra. My skin soaks all the serum up in no time! That is how dehydrated my skin is now 🙁

This is how I apply THE THERAPY First Serum. I pumped two pumps onto my palm, rub both palms together to warm the product up, and gently press onto my face. This way, I can feel the serum and let my skin completely soak in all the serum. Is it heavy doing so? Surprising not at all. It really does feels like water and nothing on my skin. I find it to be a bit waste if I use it on cotton pad. This is more environmental friendly lol!

You can follow up with toner but I did not want to wipe off all the goodness from THE THERAPY First Serum so I leave it as it is. Then I follow up with my usual eye care and whitening serum. These two is a must for me. I have gotten so much tanner from being under the sun more.

I always, ALWAYS emphasis on ending a skincare routine with a cream or moisturizer. As for me, a hydrating cream is a must for my Sahara desert-dry skin. I am so happy that The Face Shop include in a huge jar of THE THERAPY Moisture Blending Formula Cream for my trial. Anything hydrating is what I am going for these days.

THE THERAPY Moisture Blending Cream is one of the most unique cream gel I have seen. It comes in two layers in a tube – top layer containing lightweight essential oil and bottom layer containing intense moisturizing cream.

For the first few days, I have no idea there is another layer at the bottom and that I needed to mix both layers up. Then one fine day I saw the white layer at the bottom. I quickly went online to check and true enough, I have to mix both layers up. Can you see how blur I was? What’s new? 😛

Upon mixing, Moisture Blending Formula Cream is indeed a cream-gel moisturizer. It carries the same distinctive scent as First Serum. Cream-gel is usually meant for normal, combination or oily skin. Despite the bottom layer of this cream is the intense moisturizing cream, I did not find this cream to be heavy, sticky or oily on my skin. It feels absolutely heavenly on the skin.

As usual, I go generous with my cream especially when it is a moisturizing cream. I normally apply a 20 cents coin size on each part of my face. Amount to be used depends on your skin and your personal preference I say. You do not have to use as much as I do.

THE THERAPY First Serum is suitable to be used with other skincare range or brand but it does works even better with other skincare products within THE THERAPY range. And I find the Moisture Blending Formula Cream sort of seals the deal for me. Like icing on the cake, they say. I never knew how effective THE THERAPY First Serum is until I finished applying all my skincare products as above. This after application photo puts me in a speechless mode. I was in shock! My skin is glowing and plump. This plumping effect meant so much for someone who once had oily skin that turned to dehydrated skin. I can never emphasis enough how important it is to have a properly hydrated skin. I can only achieve half of this effect with all 7 (or more) skincare products. This 5-minutes skincare routine using only 4 products had a boost thanks to The Face Shop THE THERAPY First Serum.

So, am I sold on using a pre-serum? Indeed I am! This review had changed my perception on how pre-serum is. I can’t say the same for other pre-serum because THE THERAPY First Serum is the only one I really used in my day to day skincare routine. Is it a gimmick? Definitely not. Not after seeing the amazing results.