Hanbang, traditional Korean herbal medicine) set of 6 products that I purchased with almost no knowledge of what was in it. In my recent Avecko Haul - Products I purchased directly from Korea (Part I) I finished with a teaser image of the 한방 (akatraditional Korean herbal medicine) set of 6 products that I purchased with almost no knowledge of what wasit.

In this post:

Outline of my plan for the month

Gratuitous photos of this gorgeous set

What I've learned about the set so far

More gratuitous photos of this gorgeous set

gratuitous photos of this gorgeous set My translation progress

Outline of my plan for the month:

Gratuitous photos of this gorgeous set:





With bated breath, I opened one of the boxes to see if the jars were as lovely as I imagined, and before I had even opened the box all the way, the light caught the lid inside and I gasped:





What I've learned about the set so far:





I have been furiously translating the product copy, but it's been very slow going as I don't know Korean, so I am learning the language and translating at the same time.





I'll be posting some of the translations in the weekly updates, but here's the rundown of what this set is:





The brand is Buyonghwa (부용화, a type of flower) and this is the Princess Jeonghyo (정효) line. As I mentioned earlier, this is a Hanbang (한방 케어 = herbal care) set which includes the following products to be used in this order:

수액 - Sap 유액 - Lotion (This translates to 'latex', or 'milky lotion', so I think I’m going to go with translation option #2 here, yikes!) 아이크림 - Eye Cream 자생크림 - Wild (herb/flower) cream 백수오 활력 크림- Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality cream 석류팩 - Pomegranate Pack





So this will give me a full routine: Sap = First Essence, Lotion = Lotion/Emulsion/Serum, Eye Cream = Same, Wild herb cream = light cream, Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality cream = heavy cream, and Pomegranate Pack = sleeping pack. At least, that's my estimate until I learn more; the info card it comes with has the steps numbered, SCORE!





Now have some more pictures!





More gratuitous photos of this gorgeous set:





Although it's winter, because I live in the desert, it only gets cold while staying dry. I took advantage of this to take some photos in natural daylight.





Be still my heart!

My translation progress:

Cosmetics with Wrinkle Improvement Function

Obtain the benefits of Hanbang natural ingredients and precious Cynanchum wilfordii and Pomegranate, prepared via traditional bamboo cask fermentation techniques, with the Buyonghwa Jeonghyo line.

A fresh new dawning, as if the flow of time has stopped; bring your face back into bloom with the elegant ancient northern pine mushroom.

Made for the Asian skin type, fermented Hanbang cosmetics help ease troublesome aging.

Precious Hanbang ingredients carefully fermented in natural bamboo casks.

The brand (Buyonghwa) follows the careful, rigorous practices used in fermenting traditional herbal ingredients in bamboo casks with Cynanchum wilfordii and Pomegranate added for superior compatibility with skin, consider how you can find your skin’s natural beauty.

Experience the heavenly skin effect of the fermented extract of 15 different kinds of Hanbang herbs

Relieve facial flushing and redness with the all-natural wild (herb/flower) cream

Princess Jeonghyo Entire Line: Anti-wrinkle function cosmetics!

Superior chemical attraction to the skin

Bamboo casks fermentation techniques!

Contains Cynanchum wilfordii and Pomegranate extract



사용법

잠들기 전에 사용하며 기초 마지막 단계에서 충분한 양을 덜어 얼굴에 펴 바른 후 두드려 흡 수시켜 줍니다. 다음날 까지 촉촉하고 탄력 있게 가꿔줍니다.

Directions for Use:

The last stage before you go to sleep and have used your basic (routine), apply a sufficient amount and spread over the face, patting afterward. Pampers you (by keeping your skin) moist and supple until the next day.

I will say from what I have experienced so far, it's not kidding about keeping your skin moist and supple for a long time; I've been using it as a final moisturizer for a few days and it actually keeps my face from becoming painfully dry during the day.



That's also the answer as to why I'm throwing my careful testing schedule out the window; the current weather is making my face hurt. Nothing I was doing was hydrating my skin enough, and oily, occlusive 'heavy' moisturizers were just sealing in the dehydration. Testing schedules are important, but when your face is so dry that it is physically hurting you, ain't nobody's skin got time for 2 week introduction periods.



And I might as well give this entire line a spin since Rome is burning; at least for a month and explore the novelty of using a dedicated line.



I'm excited about the updates as I learn more about the other products and translate more of the content!

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. Directions for Use of the Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality Cream:I will say from what I have experienced so far, it's not kidding about keeping your skin moist and supple for a long time; I've been using it as a final moisturizer for a few days and it actually keeps my face from becoming painfully dry during the day.

Considering that the product image looked like this, though, can you blame me?1. it was a Hanbang set, 2. it was on a Holiday sale for $24 down from $120+, and 3. it was the most beautiful packaging I had ever seen. I don't normally buy things that I haven't been able to exhaustively research, but when this gilded, mysterious beauty batted its ornate lids at me, I had to have it.As you know, I have a rigorous testing schedule organized by my spreadsheet , but since this was going to be a one-time purchase and I bought this in the spirit of adventure, I'm going to do something a little different. I am going to patch test this for allergies, but I am not going to introduce things 2 weeks apart.When I found this set, I was using Google Translate's plugin in Chrome, and was bemused to see it advise me that this set contained a "Sap, Latex, Eye cream, Native Beasts, Oh Unemployed cream, Pomegranate Pack." Oh, Google. You tried.Nonetheless, I was undaunted + enamoured of the packaging, so at the very least, I could reuse the jars if the products did turn out to contain Unemployed Latex Beasts.So here's the deal: since I have never used a complete set of anything (I mix and match brands and lines to customize my routine) this seemed as good a time as any to give a dedicated set a try. Thus, for the month of February and barring any skin freakouts, I will be using this full set instead of my usual patchwork of products for the post-cleansing portion of my routine.**Other exceptions will be things not in this routine, such as spot treatments (i.e. 3M Nexcare Acne Stickers Mizon Acence Blemish Out Pink Spot ), sheet masks, and sunscreen.The reason for this is pretty simple- not only is it a fun project, there is a lot of work to be done, especially for translating and ingredients research, because this information for this set just isn't available outside of Korea.When the package arrived, I was worried that the reality wouldn't match up with the expectations, but as soon as I pulled out the first two boxes, I knew it was going to be amazing:The gold detailing, the soft patterns, the overall design, it just blew me away and I had to take a minute to calm down before opening anything lest I drop it.The main box was still wrapped in bubble wrap, but I was impressed already. The boxes were substantial and the contents were heavy.Oh lord. Glowing amber and gold filigree.These are a challenge to capture on camera, because of their depth and the gilding.The lids have a depression in the center which is filled with a beautiful amber/red clear layer (like transparent lacquer) and then topped with a gold design.The effect of the gold filigree over the clear lacquer gives it an amazing depth and glow in the light. Although you can't see it yet, the colour of the bottom half of each jar matches its respective box shade.You'll see that later.I moved on to the rest of the box, but as it was at night and I have a terrible camera, I was thwarted by the lack of light and struggled to capture the soft cranberry of the box.However, that's the end of the gratuitous unboxing photos for now; I decided that the next attempts should be done in daylight, which we will see later!After I figured out that 백수오 was actually a type of traditional medicinal plant native to Korea, and not "Oh Unemployed" as Google was insisting, things got a lot easier. (Really, Google?! And don't get me started on Lotion = Latex.) I've actually already patch tested this and am using it daily, and oh lawd. Every time I apply it, my eyes roll back in my head a bit because it feels so good.The box contains an info card, and that is lifted away, these beauties are revealed!So gorgeous. I realized once I had the others to compare them to, the additional jars actually have a subtle difference in colouration of their lids; they all match their jars and the overall effect is so luxurious and beautiful.Here's a close up of the info card; as you can see, all in Korean. That's onlypiece of my translation project; I will be translating not only the info card, but also all the product copy/marketing for it.You can see the differences between the jars more clearly on the info card, as well as the rapid fading of my afternoon light., gleaming in the thin winter sun:Currently, I have translated two pages of the giant marketing copy and also the Directions of Use for the 백수오 활력 크림-Vitality cream.Since this is all pure Korean with no loan words, and all emulating a more poetic style, the translations are not always literal, but I've confirmed them as accurate (especially accurate to the intent/feeling of the text) with fluent Korean speakers.I'm actuallythe hangul from these images instead of using an image-to-text generator, because there are too many errors in that method. I then input it into Naver's translator and research all the nonsensical translations while I sort out what it's actually trying to say. It's slow, but it'sto lean a new language, so I am enjoying myself.First page:Second page, clockwise from bottom left: