Lioele Waterdrop Sleeping Pack Review

This week we're going to review a "water drop" product, specifically the Lioele Waterdrop Sleeping Pack.  Sleeping packs are a sort of wash-off mask type that you apply before you sleep and wash off in the morning.


It's also a "water drop" type of product, which literally beads up into water droplets on your skin.  To be honest, I am not really sure what the point of having water drops form on the surface of your skin, because I don't see how that is supposed to help retain moisture inside your skin.  So it seems really gimmicky to me, but I promised myself I would test it in both winter and summer conditions before I made a decision.

So here's the review!

Details
Full product name: Lioele Waterdrop Sleeping Pack
Purpose: A nighttime mask meant to hydrate the skin as you sleep, with added moisture from the "water drop" function.
Scent: Like shower gel or shampoo.  Floral, but in a sort of cheap first-generation Herbal Essences sort of way?  Fairly strong, and it lingers.
Texture: Initially, a cool-feeling gel that melts into a thin film with water droplets.
Quantity: I got the 120ml, but it comes in a 60ml size as well.
Availability: Several places online, I got mine from Pretty&Cute but it's pretty common.
Price: About $16 for the larger size, $10 for the smaller one.
Rating: 2/5
Repurchase: Nope.  Not a fan.


Full Review:

I have to say, I have seen a lot of water drop type products on the market, everything from BB creams to moisturizers, so I assumed they were everywhere for a good reason.  I fully expected this to be nicely hydrating as it was recommended to me by the (very sweet) girls of PrettyandCute.com as a way to combat my winter dry skin.  It was also very highly reviewed on their website as well, with a high number of reviews (44) so it seemed like a safe bet.

Since it's not always clear from the packaging, the idea is to smooth the gel in a thin layer over your face, and as the water droplets form, lightly pat your face to absorb the water.  There's just one problem in this equation-- in the desert, the water drops evaporate right off my face before they ever have a chance to absorb.  To be fair, I think part of the issue is that they have to work through the layer of film on my skin, and that just takes too long in arid conditions.

Worse, it didn't really work to keep my skin hydrated overnight, and my pores weren't happy with the layer of goo blocking them.  I noticed that whatever breakouts were forming, they were worse after a night trapped under the sleeping pack, so I would have to rub off the mask in those areas so the breakouts could dry out.

Also, the gel is a pain to apply, as it quickly gets 'melty' when it touches the warm skin of my hands, so it's sort of part-gel part-sticky part-slimy part-water as you try to hurry it onto your face before the texture becomes impossible to work with.

Starting to slide off the back of my hand as it 'melts'
On the left, you can see how in the length of time it took for me to apply a strip of the sleeping pack, pick up my camera, and snap a picture, it has already started to 'melt' and slide off the back of my hand.

When it comes to actually applying it to my face, I would try to mix it a bit on my hands to make it thin enough to apply on my skin, just like I do with ... well, everything.  Cleansers, toners, serums, etc.

Beginning to be runny and sticky and chunky at once
I assume this is pretty standard application for skincare, so I don't understand why this is so freaking difficult.  When I start to apply it to my face, it sort of smears on in streaks which means the thinner parts start melting and the thicker parts clump up and are sticky.  I don't want you to misunderstand; it's not like I am taking longer than a few seconds to apply it to my skin.  Nonetheless, it turns into a sloppy, watery, sticky mess in that length of time, and it's awkward to try to get an even coating on my face.
Water droplets forming

When it does finally spread out evenly, it turns into this unpleasant sticky film/residue with that artificial cooling feeling from whatever ingredients they've added for that feature.

That's something else I am going to rant about in a second, but in the meantime, take a look at how it forms the "water drops" on the skin, which yeah yeah yeah it looks so cool and heyyy it really does contain water guys!  But think about this for a second in combination with the heavy film I mentioned earlier. How are these wee drops of water supposed to penetrate through that thick goo and absorb into the skin?

Moreover, since I live in a dry climate, those water drops are going to evaporate straight off my face in minutes, long before the skin underneath the film gets any of that moisture.

Lastly, to return the concern about them adding unnecessary ingredients for gimmicks' sake, not only am I not a fan of adding artificial "cooling" ingredients as they irritate my skin, but they've clearly put a lot of pigment/filler in this to turn it a pretty blue colour to match the packaging.  Also has a fair bit of fragrance added.  Was it really necessary to add all the blue stuff?  As long as the natural colour of the product doesn't look like it was distilled from corpses (fresh or otherwise) I really don't see the point of playing russian roulette by adding extra ingredients that could trigger breakouts.



All of these things I would have tolerated if it had lived up to the hype.  Since it was recommended to me by the P&C staff and has highly rated by review on their site and by bloggers in my google searching, I really was expecting it to do so much more.

Final thoughts:

Not everything works for everyone.  This may have been an amazing product for others, but it really didn't work for me.  I disliked the film it left on my face, it exacerbated existing breakouts, made my skin feel suffocated, and worst of all, didn't really seem to do a good job of imparting long-term moisture to my face.  I noticed as soon as I wiped it off the next day using a cotton swatch with water, my skin would go right back to being tight and dry with no lasting hydration or firming effect.  Very disappointing.

This may be product that fell victim to being over-hyped, so I could be expecting too much out of it, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect your hydrating products to leave your skin ... well, hydrated and soft instead of greasy, clogged, and irritated.  Definitely pass for me.


Leave me a comment if you have your own favourite night time face masks, or your own much-hyped products that fell flat.

All the best,
-Cat

**Disclaimer: All products reviewed/mentioned in my blog, are 100% purchased with my own money, with a single exception of a press sample I tested & reviewed in 2015 which swore me off of them forever.  This blog contains  both affiliate and non-affiliate links, and clicking the former before you shop means that this blog may receive a small commission to assist in this blog supporting itself.  Please see my Contact Info & Disclaimer policy for more information.

12 comments

  1. Aw disappointing :/ I'll probably pass on this as well, since I'm pretty content with my Laneige Sleeping Pack :)

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    1. What do you like about the Laneige? I'm definitely interested in seeing what else is out there after my disappointing experience with this one.

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    2. Same here... Laneige quality was much better and I got allergy of this o ne.

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  2. This is definitely interesting and confirms my suspicions. Glad you reviewed it :)

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    1. I really don't understand the hype about this product, and why it has such good reviews. :( Curious what your 'suspicions' were. ;)

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    2. The suspicions were that my skin would feel suffocated, basically. I've never been able to do the cold cream to bed routine that some women do.

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    3. Yeah, the feel of the film was very odd. I have done moisture bombs with the Nature Republic Aloe Vera gel I reviewed, where I put a thick layer on and go to sleep, but it does slowly absorb until it's just a thin residue that can be rubbed off with my fingers the next morning. Sometimes I will do it during the day as well. I think the Aloe works better because it's got so much water in it and is not creamy or rich at all.

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  3. My fav is still laneige in my fridge. It give cool sensation n my skin gets better with laneige. tho I haven't try this one yet xD

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  4. thanks for your review! I think I'll just buy the laneige one :) please check out my blog if you have time <3 http://cosjane.blogspot.com.au/ Just followed you :3

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  5. This is such a bummer!
    It is so sad when products are both too rich and not hydrating enough. I was actually about to get his, now I am happy I didnt.

    I have used a lot of sleeping packs but unfortunately none that were actually hydrating enough for my face :(

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    1. Yeah, it's so weird that it's the worst of both worlds. Have you tried the Laneige Ex sleeping pack? I'm not 100% sold on it, but it's vastly superior to the Lioele Water Drop.

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  6. The Laneige water sleeping pack is so bae. Also, the thought of water drops forming and probably just staying there on my face makes me feel suffocated and hot. Out of my wish list you go!

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