Review: Tosowoong Special Edition Cocoon Monster Pack (Pore Tightening Mask)

Even though Halloween is over, you can still get a kick out of gory-themed skincare thanks to zombie shows everywhere. There have been human flesh printed sheet masks, “bloody” shower gels packaged in IV bags and face cream with subtle, yet cute vampire teeth printed on the jar. During these past two weeks I’ve been using The Tosowoong Special Edition Cocoon Monster Pack provided courtesy of Cupidrop for my review. I chose the pack and the oil cleanser from the line so I’ll review the oil cleanser in the next post. The pack is a wash-off mask that actually dries and almost warps your face into a rotting zombie while providing nourishment, hydration, pore-tightening and ridding blackheads, whiteheads all at the same time. Oh, and it also contains silkworm coocoon extracts, volcanic ash, EGF and syn-ake peptides. You wouldn’t usually find these ingredients in American skincare which is what makes this line particularly scary unique. Click to see my zombification!

What It’s Supposed To Do

The main promise of the Tosowoong Monster Pack is to provide intense pore care in only 15 minutes. You spread a layer of medium coverage on your face and as it starts to dry, it will visibly tighten and distort your face like a rotten brained zombie. There were a lot of claims on this product:

• Firming/wrinkle-reducing
• Hydrating/nourishing
• Gentle exfoliation
• Skin barrier enhancement
• Pore tightening
• Blackhead and whitehead elimination

I’m most interested in seeing if it will truly rid blackheads and whiteheads because I have blackheads along the sides of my nose and get the occasional whitehead. Note that it does not promise any brightening for hyper pigmentation concerns so I won’t measure brightening in this review.

Ingredients List

Cupidrop provided the ingredients list in English since the packaging is in Korean. The highlight of the mask pack and monster theme is cocoon extract but you’ll see below that this ingredient isn’t that much of a stomach-churner as it initially sounds.

Ingredient highlights:

• Silkworm Cocoon Extract: Silkworm fibers contain a tiny amount of powder protein called Sericin that delivers moisturization to skin. Sericin can be mixed with other oils and liquids for skin benefits. Another popular way to use silkworm cocoons is to put the actual silk balls on the tips of your fingers and use to gently massage and exfoliate away dead skin cells.
• Volcanic Ash: Rich in sulfur, an active mineral in resisting and killing bacteria, volcanic ash is also known to detox and suck out impurities from pores. The ash does not dissolve in water so its fine powders are very gentle as an exfoliant. People with acne, eczema, psoriasis would benefit from volcanic ash because of it’s anti-bacterial properties.
• EGF Peptide: EGF is known as Epipdermal Growth Factor and written out as  rh-Oligopeptide-1. This is an important protein found in fibroblast cells of the dermal layer of your skin. It communicates to other cells to either regenerate, produce collagen or repair themselves. EGF peptides have wound-healing properties so people with acne will find this very beneficial. It’s advantageous after using acids, enzymes or microdermabrasion to protect the vulnerability of your skin. Laslty, EGF aids in cell repair after UV-ray/sun damage (source).
• Copper Tripeptide-1: Copper is another ingredient that exists currently in our tissues and “Tripeptide” refers to the combination of three amino acids, the building blocks of our cells. Copper is the mineral that weaves together collagen and elastin and promotes skin elasticity although this source says that we shouldn’t stray too far away from more established and proven ingredients like Vitamin C or retinol.
• Acetyl Hexapeptide-8: A synthetic peptide, this ingredient has been compared to Botox because it’s marketed to erase your expression lines and wrinkles. While results are not as effective as Botox, it has water-binding properties as well as theoretical cell communication abilities to repair cells (source).
• Bonus Ingredients: Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, various fruit extracts that are amazing antioxidants and a ton of amino acids that are great for your skin.

Overall, the ingredients list is jammed pack with lots of skin-repairing goodness. Researching that the cocoon extract is actually a powder makes the mask a little less gross. According to the CosDNA analysis, only one ingredient is rated a 1 as an acne trigger but there seems to be a lot of benefits for my acne readers since the pack is concentrated in skin repair and detoxing.

Water, Sodium Polystyrene Sulfonate, Hydroxypropyl Starch Phosphate, Butylene Glycol, Portulaca oleracea Extract, Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, Bifida Ferment Lysate, Centella Asiatica Extract, Glycine, Glutamic acid, Serine, Aspartic acid, Leucine, Alanine, Lysine, Arginine, Tyrosine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Proline, Valine, Isoleucine, Histidine, Methionine, Cysteine, Silkworm Cocoon Extract, Volcanic Ash, Vaccinium Myrtillus Fruit Extract, Saccharum Officinarum (Sugar Cane) Extract, Acer Saccharum(Sugar Maple) Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Extract, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Dipeptide Diaminobutyroyl Benzylamide Diacetate, Copper Tripeptide-1, rh-Oligopeptide-1 (EGF), Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 , PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Chlorphenesin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Propanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Illicium Verum (Anise) Fruit Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance(Parfum)

Packaging, Price, Size, Etc.

It’s in a normal plastic squeeze tube(100 grams) – nothing fancy or top-shelfie worthy but mainly the gimmicky print turns me off. I guess the monster label looks cute if you’re a 12 year old but I’d like my package design to not look out of season or out of my age range if someone were to sneak a peek at my vanity. It would be hard to believe that this cheap looking tube costs $28 on Cupidrop so I don’t think the price point matches the packaging expectations however the ingredients seems to be totally worth it after doing my deep dive into its benefits.

Other ways to buy this product are obviously online with other Korean etailers but you need to account for the extra shipping costs and 2-4 weeks wait time for arrival depending on what country you live in.

• $14.06 + Shipping + Wait Time on Korea Depart
• $18.38 + Shipping + Wait Time on RoseRoseShop
• $20.07 + Free Shipping + Wait Time on RubyRubyShop on ebay (which is basically RoseRoseShop’s ebay account).

The first couple of times I used this, I only snapped the lid shut halfway and some of the product poured out into the cap and solidified. Not a huge deal but be mindful to snap it closed completely or you’ll let the cocoons escape! It was easy to clean off as I peeled the jelly layer and threw it out.

The Masking

This is recommended for all skin types. You can use it 2-3 times a week and I did just that for these past three weeks. I always used a toner to remove any dirt and dead skin cells and applied a medium coverage layer. The product was a transparent yellow and doesn’t smell offensive but doesn’t smell great either. Not sure how to describe the scent as it’s not really floral or herbal. Either way, it’s bearable to use on my face and starts fading as it dries.

The directions on Cupidrop say to wear the mask for 15 minutes and I recommend taking it off immediately once it’s time! I was doing computer work my first time and didn’t pay too much attention until the tightening feeling started to bother me. Since the mask is supposed to literally tighten on your face, it WILL give you some pain uncomfort. No wonder zombies are so resentful to humans – they just have major, painful skin problems.

If you remember playing with apps that will age a photo of you in 50 years, this mask will show you IRL just that! I look absolutely terrifying and aged. To take off the mask, you simply rinse it off with warm water. It instantly relaxed the tightening on my skin and turned the hardened surface into goo. Not too sticky to wash off but then I saw two glaring red spots on my face:

This was probably because it was my fault that I wore the mask passed the recommended 15 minute mark but I had two red spots that seemed irritated by either an ingredient or the tightening effect of the mask. I was stressed out these past few weeks from starting a new job and I kept compulsively touching my face because of it. Usually I’ll start to get a pimple in these areas because the constant contact from my fingers would clog my pores so it seems that this mask has the magic ability to exacerbate my irritation. But again, I left the mask on way too long at 25 minutes which was not recommended!

I continued to use the mask at the proper 15 minute duration in the next few weeks and my skin came out feeling well hydrated, smooth and supple. The red splotches did not come back and in fact, the first time I used it too long, it went away on its own after about 15 minutes. I did not get the anticipated pimples in those areas as I thought I would so it seemed to prevent the pimples from forming.

Lastly I wanted to check if it got rid of my blackheads but what do you guys think? I’m not a professional photographer and I know the After picture is a little less focused than the Before picture but I think I see the same amount of blackheads as before. I think the mask took off the oils from my nose but overall I still see blackheads! I think pores look a little smaller as it probably sucked out some surface dirt but the black deep dwellers survived. Since the pack is a wash-off and not a peeling one where it could extract them out better like a nose strip, the mask under-delivered in this area. However, nose strips aren’t good for your skin either because of the harsh removal process.

Conclusion

I have mixed feelings about the Tosowoong Cocoon Monster Pack. It delivers the hydration, skin refinement and nourishment but there must be an easier way than bearing through the tightening process. I’m not a fan of those mud masks that tighten your skin as it dries because I don’t like feeling uncomfortable and this one isn’t an exception. Once the pack starts to zombify, even if it’s not quite 15 minutes, I’ll rinse off as long as it dried completely.

Another time I used the mask for 15 minutes, I saw a red splotch begin to emerge near my nose again. There’s something about the product that irritates that part of my face so I’m careful to time this out properly. It’s just a visible issue as it goes away after a few minutes and in fact, my pimples didn’t come in as anticipated.

I would not repurchase this because I also have issues with its package design. The cheap plastic tube and the monster theme in blood-red is not the packaging porn I dream about. There were so many other creative ways Tosowoong could’ve played on the silk ingredient – dainty, elegant and wispy are some words I would’ve used in their creative concept but they wanted to go with horror and monsters! It’s more of a horror to see my blackheads. What did you guys think of this product after my review?

Rating: 3 out of 5 – An okay product that delivers on most of its claims but there are better things out there