REVIEW: Snoe's "Snow White Special Black Beauty Bar"

The best time to test out whitening products is the rainy season. You spend your days mostly indoors, and even when you have to go outside, the sun is not glaring at you all throughout the day. (Even so, you should still put on sunscreen when going out as whitening products often make your skin a lot more sensitive/reactive to the UV rays.) 

That is why I decided to try the Snow White Special Black Beauty Bar from the brand Snoe Beauty Cosmetics. I have been a fan of this local brand for years because most of the products that I tried from their skincare line worked well on me. I especially loved their Magic Apple Whitening S-rub because it really made my knees and elbows lighter and smoother when I targeted those areas. (It’s comparable to Asian Secrets Lulur Scrubs). I tried it years ago but I forgot to repurchase it since then so my knees and elbows have gotten darker again (LOL). 

I don't usually prefer whitening skin care products because my skin usually break out from them as my skin is sensitive to some whitening ingredients. One example is kojic acid from which I get rashes and pimples whenever I use soaps with it. With that said, this Snoe "special black" soap will be my first whitening soap after a loooong while. I got this variant over the others from Snoe, because the saleslady said that it is their most potent whitening soap bar within their entire selection and that it works even better than the soap bar from the Magic Apple line.

So what is in this beauty bar that makes it "Special"? This is how Snoe Cosmetics describes the product on their official Shopinas online store:

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SPECIAL BLACK BEAUTY BAR

now P349

Multi-Fruit Acids. EGF Technology. Deoxyarbutin. Tomato.

New, improved version of our best selling beauty bar for luminous skin. Like any magic recipe, Snoe Beauty’s special formulation helps bring out your fairest. This product will effectively help fade dark spots, blemishes, freckles and melasma for renewed clarity and effective hyper pigmentation correction.

Snoe’s Special Black Beauty Bar removes impurities to refine skin tone and promote cell renewal for a complexion with inner radiance. It will remove dead surface cells to boost clarity and luminosity.

photo credit: snoebeauty.shopinas.com

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Its claims are what really prompted me to buy it. My biggest skin problem is uneven skin tone, mainly caused by acne scars on my face and back. I am also bothered with my arms being darker than the rest of my body (due to my being too lazy to put on sunblock everyday HAHA). My knees and elbows are also darker because of friction and lack of moisture (I don't always put on body lotions or creams haha). Needless to say, I have high hopes for this product. Let's see how effective it was on tackling these skin problems of mine.

The saleslady told me (and this is also written on the packaging) that I can also use it for up to three months straight and then I would have to use other gentler soaps for one month before using this again because of how potent the ingredients are in this beauty bar. What I decided to do is use just one bar regardless of how long it would last, given that I would use it on my face and body everyday. This lasted for a little more than a month, so this review is on the performance of this one soap and not the three month prescription. 

I started using this soap last July 9. I followed the instruction that I should lather it on my body and face and leave it on for up to 2 minutes (for best results) before rinsing it off. What I have was put it on my problem areas (arms, elbows, knees, back, face) first so it could sit on my skin longer than the rest of my body. But not one minute has passed and I felt a bit of stinging on the sides of my nose and my eye area, so I immediately rinsed it off my face. I did not experience the stinging on the rest of my body, though. So from then on until I used the soap up, I followed my initial routine except the part where I left it on my face for a minute. 

RESULTS:

I used up practically the entire soap bar last August 16. I am sad to say that the Special Black soap was not able to do much to tackle my uneven skin tone. I focused on whitening my arms compared to the rest of my body, but after using up the soap, I can’t even tell that it had made my arms appear even at least one shade whiter that it was. So on its main purpose of intensive whitening, it sadly disappointed me. :(

Left: July 9, 2016

Right: August 16, 2016

It did, however, make my skin smoother overtime. (Note: I did not change my body care routine during the review period). I think it is because of the other ingredients included in the soap (ie. tomato, etc.). I noticed that lately, my skin has felt so soft and smooth that when I forgot to apply body lotion, my skin wouldn’t get any dry patches at all. I did not expect this result from a whitening soap because I have never experienced that on the other ones I have tried before. On that aspect, I was pleasantly surprised.

Would I repurchase? Maybe, but only because of its smoothing and softening effect on my skin. I do not want to recommend it to those who want to buy this Special Black soap to whiten their skin, but since it is one of the few whitening soaps that did not break me out or dry out my skin, I think it could be good for those with sensitive skin.

photo credit: snoebeauty.com

Perhaps you need to purchase the rest of the products from the Special Black line in order to actually see great results in terms of whitening. Other products from the line include:

1. Special Black Bleaching Body Shampoo = P799

2. Special Black Scrub Mask = P399

3. Special Back Jumpstart Whitening Concentrate= P999

I did not purchase them because they were a bit too pricey for me if I buy them all in one go (huhu). But if you have the budget for it, you might as well include them with your purchase of the Special Black Beauty Bar to optimize the effects of the line. Goodluck on your shopping! <3

-Hershie