The Oil You've Never Heard Of Before, But You Have To Try - Hanyul Yuja Oil Review

Pigmentation has been a problem of mine for ages and if I can do anything to remove it - I'll (probably) try. Knowing that sour fruits are a source of Vitamin C, I decided to give a chance to a product which I found on Instagram - Hanyul Yuja Oil. I wanted to try Hanyul before but Yuja series sounded like the best match for me to clean my face from all the discolourations and add some sunshine to my routine. 

Is this a lemon or mandarin?

Is this a lemon or mandarin? Yuja is neither lemon nor mandarin, but I can't deny - it looks like a combination of both. Yuja is a Korean word for a fruit which is called Yuzu in Japan, it's a fruit bit bigger than mandarin - some can even look like grapefruit. The roots of this fruit come from China but in Japan and Korea, Yuzu or Yuja became popular during the Tang dynasty and since then you can find it in local cuisines of both Japan and Korea. Lately, Yuja became popular in other countries as well - it might be not the cheapest fruit but if there's an occasion to try it then just do it. But why Hanyul decided to choose Yuja over other ingredients full of Vitamin C. Couple months ago Calamondin also known as Calamansi was quite trendy and some brands like The Saem decided to release products inspired by this trend. So maybe it's time to give a chance to Yuja? Hanyul is not the only brand that used Yuja in a product - Skinfood and illiyoon did that as well. 

Hanyul - couple words about this brand

Hanyul's choice of using Yuja oil in a product shouldn't be surprising - Hanyul is a brand which we can clearly classify as a Hanbang brand because the main inspiration of Hanyul is Korean traditional medicine. Hanyul is not scared of using folk remedies used by women for ages. The brand is drawing inspiration from nature by using ingredients known in Korea for ages. Besides Yuja, Hanyul offers product inspired by ingredients such as rice, artemisia, red beans, brown pine needles and other local plants. The Yuja line is quite small and young - besides Yuja Oil, there's Yuja Sleeping Mask, Yuja Sheet Mask and Yuja Toner. 

Product design

The thing that really got me with this product is the design. I can't deny that design of Hanyul's product is 10 out of 10! They had a great coherence between product design, the idea behind the brand and photography content which you can see on Hanyul's Instagram or website. Somehow the packaging feels to me like it was inspired by Pantone. What's original - the packaging has two different sides - one with Korean name of the brand and product and second - with English translation. There's also instruction in Korean and English translation - that's bit unusual but I guess the non-Korean speaking customer is going to choose this option over full Korean packaging. Inside the box, we can find a yellow bottle made out of the glass with a pipette. The bottle contains 30 ml of Yuja Oil. On the bottom part of the bottle, you can find information that this oil should be used in 12 months and stored in 10°C-30°C (50°F-86°F). 

Hanyul Midnight Yuja Series

The Yuja Oil can be used on its own or with Sleeping Mask and Sheet Mask, I tried it alone. According to the instruction Hanyul attached to the packaging, the Yuja Face Oil should be used as the last part of the skincare routine and 1-2 drops are enough to cover the entire face. The oil is moisturizing but also whitening and relaxing. And I can totally agree - the scent is incredible and when we look at ingredients you'll understand why, so let's take a look. 

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Squalane, Dicaprylyl Ether, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Citrus Junos Peel Oil (3,000ppm), Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Root Extract, Tocopherol, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Beta-Carotene

Do you see here any artificial fragrance? No, there's none and that's the biggest plus of this oil - the scent is very pure and I enjoy it - it's sweet and sour, very similar to lemon with a hint of bitterness. The scent disappears after about 15 minutes but for some people, it might be too weak or too strong, in my opinion, it's a relaxing scent.  Because Yuja is a citrus fruit I would recommend you to do a patch test before you try it - just to know if you've got any allergic reactions to Yuja or other ingredient found in this product. 

The ingredient list is quite short in comparison to other skincare product but I clearly saw oils with fewer ingredients. I wouldn't use Citrus Junos Peel Oil in 100% concentration so I think it's better that there are more ingredients because you're going to be surprised with some of them. 

Dry oil?

The oil doesn't leave the skin oily, it literally melts into skin leaving the healthy glow on the skin. You can't feel the oiliness under your fingers - all you can feel is this velvet 'aftertaste', the skin feels ultra soft and firm. The secret of (non-) oiliness is Caprylic/​Capric Triglyceride. I was fully surprised that the first place takes an emollient. The magic of Caprylic/​Capric Triglyceride is this feeling it leaves on the skin - soft like silk. It has no scent so it's a good 'transferring' ingredient for other scents. 2nd place is also taken by ingredient similar to Caprylic/​Capric Triglyceride, also an emollient but this time it's called Dicaprylyl Carbonate. The properties of this emollient are literally the same as Caprylic/​Capric Triglyceride - makes skin soft, firm and nice in touch, you won't be able to stop touching your face - this might be a small disadvantage since we are not supposed to touch the skin all the time so remember to clean your hands before you touch your skin to make sure if the oil works as it should. If your skin is dry then I would really look up to Dicaprylyl Carbonate because it might be helpful with Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL). 

I can't say that I was 100% sure that I won't have a comedogenic reaction to Hanyul Yuja Oil, there's an ingredient I was a bit afraid of - Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate. Even if the comedogenicity scale is not a legit way to check if your skin is going react because skin's reaction is an individual thing, it might be a key to figure out what can be the key of the reaction to the product. It's another emollient on a list so this ingredient will make your skin moist and soft in touch. The ingredient that follows Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate is Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, it might not be a Korean traditional ingredient but for sure it's an ingredient which I know since I was a child because Sunflower Seed Oil, just as sunflower seeds are taking an important place in Slavic culture. When I was a child every building had a staircase full of sunflower seed shells. Halva - a dessert which is typical for Eastern Europe but also Western Asia is usually made out of sesame seeds but in Ukraine Halva is made out of sunflower seeds so this ingredient is really special for me. But does Sunflower Seed Oil has any meaning? It's another emollient but because it's an oil what matters the most to us is linoleic acid to oleic acid ratio. Linoleic acid dominates oleic acid in Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil and that's good news for acne-prone skin because acne prone skin is not a fan of oleic acid, it feels better in linoleic acid. 

Ingredient that surprised me the most - Squalane

I was surprised - in a positive way - to see Squalane in the formula. There are two ingredients which we usually mistake - Squalane and Squalene. The difference of Squalane and Squalene is in the structure. Squalane is a more stable form, usually made out of olives. This ingredient is usually liked by the skin - it's pretty rare to see skin reacting badly to Squalane. It's a great moisturizer but you don't have to worry, it won't make your skin oily and the feeling on the skin is similar to Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride and Dicaprylyl Carbonate. It helps prevent Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL) and makes your skin soft. Talking about Dicaprylyl... there's a second ingredient Dicaprylyl Ether - another dry emollient. Another oil on the list is Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil - I don't know why but it seems like people freaks out when they see Castor Oil just like when they see Mineral Oil, but do you know that Castor Seed Oil is usually recommended as a natural substitute to lash conditioners? Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil is the first (and hopefully last) oily emollient. This oil is quite popular as a base of oil used in the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM) - at least the recipes for homemade cleansing oils I saw were based on Castor Oil. 

Yuja Oil and a some other interesting ingredients

Hanyul Yuja Oil contains 3,000 ppm of Citrus Junos Peel Oil - a star ingredient. I won't disagree, this oil really has an aromatic, relaxing scent - ideal for aromatherapy.  It is told that Yuzu is an antioxidant and it can be helpful for mature skin. It's high in Vitamin C so it's useful if you have problems with pigmentation or dull skin. What has Yuzu and Carrot in common? Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Root Extract is not oil made out of carrot but a Carrot Root Extract mixed with other oil that can work here as a transferring oil. It's nothing else than Beta-Carotene, this ingredient is usually recommended for people who plan to get some suntan during the summer - it gives the skin nice colour (still I do not recommend to go out without SPF). It's an antioxidant, it makes skin soft and it's good for wrinkles. Hanyul Yuja Oil has Beta-Carotene too - it's also an antioxidant and it gives colour to the product, Hanyul Yuja Oil has a yellow colour so you know now that Hanyul decided to go natural instead of using fake colourants. I'm not surprised at all to see Tocopherol, also known as Vitamin E, the mix of Vitamin C (which we can find in Citrus Junos Peel Oil) and Vitamin E is the best combination ever if you want to brighten your skin and protect it from negative effects of UV. It's an antioxidant and natural preservative. And last but not least, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, the oil I'm personally not a fan of because it's Soybean and my relations with this ingredient is not always as good as skincare and food producers think. It's a natural emollient, oily skin should love it because it's mostly made out of linoleic acid and it contains Vitamin E. 

Is Hanyul Yuja Oil effective?

The ingredients looked like it'll take 5 minutes to talk about them but they took longer, it's normal but now let me focus on the right part and the part that I guess you're most interested in and you've been waiting for it for ages - so is Hanyul Yuja Oil effective? Is it worth a try? I haven't tried the other products from this series but this oil made me sure that I need to give Hanyul another chance and try rest of Yuja series, especially that couple weeks ago Hanyul released new product from this series - Hanyul (Moonlight) Yuja Toner. On the other hand, have you seen a commercial for this series? It's ultra cute! 

I also found Handcream + Body Cream set from this series and I hope that this series will have more interesting products because Hanyul Yuja Oil dethroned my favourite skin care oil - Korres Wild Rose Oil! My over 2 years long love to Wild Rose Oil is done because I do not like heavy scents anymore. Yuja Oil fits my skin the best - it works with my skin in harmony, I can even use it instead using a moisturizer or with a very light moisturizer. The oil is not oily at all, it gives the skin velvet feeling but I do not think that you can use it during the morning routine because in general oils + foundations are sometimes a recipe for a disaster. It's way better for the evening routine. If you follow my Instagram then you probably know how hard February was for me - I had problems with the skin after using shampoo (that's why after using a shampoo remember to clean your skin with a good cleanser aka pH=5,5 cleanser) so I wasn't able to see full effects of this oil but what I can really observe (and measure) is that my skin is lighter and it's really moisturizing even if it's dry in touch. My skin doesn't like the sun so I think that small amounts of Beta-Carotene and Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Root Extract in this oil will help my skin get used to the sun even if I do not plan to go out without sunscreen on. It's definitely an oil which you can use on young skin, I'm not sure how it'll work on mature skin but I'm sure it's not a bad product still for some people the dry feeling on the skin might not be enough - I like my oil dry while some people like to swim in the oily feeling on the skin. Acne-prone skin and oily skin will love this. 

Hanyul Yuja Oil - price

But what about the price? 30 ml of this precious Hanyul Yuja Oil costs $35.07 on Jolse but the moment I wrote this review the price was $28.06. It might be a lot but during over a month of testing this oil I used a very small amount of it and I guess I'll need at least 6 or 8 months to use it all. 

You might not be a fan of Lemon but I'm sure Yuja is an ingredient which you have to try (as long as you're not allergic to Yuja). Have you ever tried Hanyul? What do you think about this oil?

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*** This post was made in collaboration with Jolse, even though it still shows my personal opinion on the topic and product**