Korean skincare brand Tonymoly dropped a collaboration with Pokémon in December, and I finally got my hands on it. It sucks.
The Tonymoly Pokémon collection had a ton of products, including some makeup items that I’m not sure make it to the States, but I was mostly interested in the cleansers and moisturizers. It was a hefty collaboration, all in pretty cute packaging. Who could resist Instagram ads like this?
When I finally got my products, I was a little disappointed. It’s cute, sure, but it feels really uninspired. While I like how the Isanghessi foam cleanser is a lovely teal, the primary hue in Bubasaur’s design, but it’s just a tube of face cleanser with a picture of Bulbasaur on it. The Pikachu Honey Moisture Cream is much the same, but it also came with this barcode sticker across the top. My fault for ordering from Amazon, I suppose.
I put on a full face of makeup to test the products out. I don’t normally wear makeup to work, but I got $36 worth of lipstick from Colour Pop recently, so I had fun with this look. It’s way more makeup than I normally wear, but I really wanted to see what the Foaming Cleanser could do.
Here’s the answer: not a lot. This is my towel after I washed the cleanser off. It looks like I murdered someone.
While my foundation sort of got scrubbed away, I definitely still had some on my cheekbones and near my hairline. I also had to scrub off my eye makeup and got some cleanser in my eye. I don’t recommend it.
After wiping off the rest of my face, I dutifully applied the moisturizer. It smells amazing. It’s a very light scent of honey without being overwhelming. However, while the moisture lasted all night as I sat up and played games, my face felt unpleasantly sticky. Not greasy, but sticky, like it left a residue on my skin. It was weird. Compared to my normal moisturizer, Belif’s True Cream Aqua Bomb, my pores definitely felt more clogged and my skin less refreshed. You get way more product from Tonymoly by comparison, but it’s simply not very good product.
The Tonymoly Pokémon collab is both not cute enough to warrant having just to have, nor good enough products to make up for the lackluster packaging. There’s a certain novelty in having a tub of moisturizer with Pikachu’s face on it, sure, but now I have to be responsible for all this. Anyone got a niece I can send this to? Thanks in advance.