I’ve never been particularly good at keeping up with trends. And that is not a hipster humblebrag. The truth is that I can barely dress myself, which is why I tend to stick to my basics and neutrals and classic styles. Harder to go wrong.

I’m a lot more experimental and forward-looking with skincare, obviously, but even there, I tend to have my tried and true ingredients that I go back to over and over, because they just work for me. They’re the perfectly fitted charcoal gray tee of my skincare wardrobe. Snail is one of those ingredients, as you might have guessed–and lately I’ve been having a serious snail revival. That may be why my Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule gets more use than all of the All In One ampoule products I still own. After two months, I’m already halfway through the jumbo-sized jar of the stuff and ready to talk about it!

Purpose: Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule is a multipurpose hydrating, brightening, anti-aging, and antioxidant serum.

Best suited for: All skin types.

Do not use if: You are sensitive to snail mucin, botanical extracts, or anything else in the ingredients list.

When and how to use: At any stage of your skincare routine between cleansing and emulsions, creams, and/or oils, scoop a small amount of product from the jar and spread over face. Pat in or allow to absorb before continuing.

Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule ingredients:  Snail secretion filtrate, water, glycerin, betaine, butylene glycol, ethoxydiglycol, glycereth-26, niacinamide, trehalose, adenosine, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, centella asiatica extract, polygonum cuspidatum root extract, scutellaria baicalensis root extract, camellia sinensis leaf extract, glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) root extract, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) flower extract, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, rh-polypeptide-7, acetyl hexapeptide-8, illicium verum (anise) fruit extract, hydrolyzed silk, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, polyacrylamide, dimethicone, sodium polyacrylate, carbomer, laureth-7, PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, C13-14 isoparaffin, 1,2-hexanediol, caprylyl glycol, triethanolamine, disodium EDTA, phenoxyethanol, fragrance

CosDNA analysis

Notable ingredients: Snail secretion filtrate constitutes a full 50% of this product, and you can interpret this in a couple of different ways. My initial reaction was disappointment. I may be snail spoiled, but 50% snail just doesn’t seem like all that much snail to me. If you consider this from a different perspective, however, the fact that the Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule is only half snail means that this ampoule stands a chance of containing more than a fraction of a drop each of the other nice ingredients in the list.

Like pretty much every All In One Ampoule ever, the Snail AIO contains an herb garden of botanical ingredients. The assortment here looks focused on emollient and anti-inflammatory extracts, making the product (on paper, at least) well suited to calming sensitivity and smoothing rough, irritable skin. The product contains a couple of peptides as well. In cosmetic preparations, peptides are typically touted as having cell rebuilding and collagen and elastin production-stimulating abilities. I’m not super enthused about peptides in skincare, having used several products containing several peptides for pretty long periods without seeing any significant effects, but then again, I may have been using poorly formulated products. I don’t have any problem giving peptides a chance in products that contain other ingredients I do feel confident about.

Performance

A common complaint with many of the Scinic and Shara Shara All In One Ampoules is their tendency to get sticky. Stickiness is the reason the Shara Shara Berry Bomb All In One Ampoule is my least favorite (and not yet reviewed) of the category, and many people have issues with the honey varieties as well. So I was pretty relieved to find that the Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule isn’t sticky at all for me, even when I go a little bit overboard and use the included spatula as a scoop rather than a dipping stick.

This lack of stickiness is most likely due to the more watery texture of the ampoule. Thinner than all the other AIOs except maybe the Scinic Aqua All In One Ampoule, the Snail AIO has a smooth and very runny gel texture with the slick feel of a good snail product. It glides on easily and pats in effortlessly, and though the peachy fragrance is a little bit weird for a snail product, it’s light, pleasant, and fades quickly.

Hydration isn’t the key effect of this product. Over the course of my testing period with the product, I took a lot of skin moisture measurements using my little digital skin analyzer thing and found that on average, the Scinic Snail AIO increased my skin’s water levels by about 10%, much less than the Scinic Aqua AIO but equal to my precious COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence.

Where the Scinic Snail AIO excels is in emollience. To put it another way, this stuff makes my skin velvety soft and smooth. Fine lines are softened (an effect particularly noticeable on my hands, because yes, I use this on my hands, because come on, the jar is friggin’ huge) and the texture of my skin overall improves instantly. I also find the Snail AIO effective at calming down minor redness and irritation, giving my skin an overall brighter and more even appearance, especially on days when a lack of sleep or an excess of stress are showing on my face.

Over a long period of use, the product also has a mild lightening effect. I did some testing of the product on one of my tan-lined feet but not the other; after a few weeks, there was some visible softening and fading of the pigmentation on the test foot. Thanks to the adenosine and peptides, this may also have some slight wrinkle reduction effect over the long term as well, and the antioxidants may contribute preventative anti-aging protection (of the kind that can’t be measured without a lot of time and dedication).

Conclusion: Add Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule to the list of snail products that I like better than Benton’s and Mizon’s. In fact, this one and the COSRX snail essence are running about neck-and-neck for the title of Fiddy’s Favorite Snail Goo Right Now. The COSRX snail essence, with its higher Snail:NotSnail ratio and ultra-simple formulation, is a better pick for more sensitive or reactive skin types, but if you’re looking for a multipurpose snail product that can brighten and deliver antioxidants, and you don’t have many concerns around plant extracts or fragrance, the Scinic Snail AIO may be a great choice.

Rating: 4/5

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Where can I buy Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule?

The ginormous 250ml jar of Scinic Snail All In One Ampoule is available from the following Fiddy-approved sellers (affiliate links marked with an asterisk*):

• Memebox for $20*
• Jolse through Amazon for $20.98 with free shipping*
• Jolse via Jolse.com for $17.58 with free standard shipping
• TesterKorea for 15,300 won (currently about $13.19 USD) if you are willing to run the risk of a possibly very long order processing time, an issue that TK has grown a bit notorious for.

Oh, but I’m not quite done yet! As promised, here are bonus mini-reviews of a couple of the snail sheet masks in my collection.

Mini-Review: Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheet

Ingredients: Water, glycerin, dipropylene glycol, butylene glycol, alcohol, snail secretion filtrate, PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, hydroxyethylcellulose, xanthan gum, cellulose gum, disodium EDTA, methylparaben, phenoxyethanol, parfum

CosDNA analysis

Want dewy, juicy, plump and bouncy skin that’s so suffused with hydration it glows from within? These Skinfood sheet masks do the job for me reliably and without a sticky residue or film left over afterwards, making them excellent for use in the morning. I also like using them in the morning so that I can flaunt the full sproing-sproing skin effects all day.

These masks are made from the same type of smooth, comfortable pulp as the old My Beauty Diary masks and non-silk My Scheming and L’Herboflore sheet masks. I find this material really nice, since it holds a lot of essence. That’s a good thing, as the Skinfood Hydro Fitting sheet masks are absolutely drenched with liquid. They do drip, which to me just means a nicely hydrated neck and chest as well as face. A little more concerning for some will be the fragrance, which is a pretty floral scent but may be a bit strong for people not used to Skinfood levels of fragrance. These masks also contain alcohol, which I do not consider problematic but which some people may find irritating. The mask sheets are cut long and narrow.

Rating: 3.5/5

Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheets are available in boxes of 5 on Amazon Prime with free two-day shipping for $11.50.

Mini-Review: Tony Moly Pureness 100 Snail Mask Sheet

Ingredients: Water, glycerin, butylene glycol, PEG-32, PEG/PPG-17/6 copolymer, glacier water, PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, panthenol, allantoin, hydroxyethyl acrylate/sodium acryloyldimethyltaurate copolymer, betaine, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, arginine, xanthan gum, disodium EDTA, snail secretion filtrate, dipotssium glycyrrhizate, sodium hyaluronate, phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin, fragrance

CosDNA analysis

I’m always pretty surprised when I end up liking a Tony Moly skincare product, as I haven’t had the best experiences or impressions of their products, which I typically find a little too focused on cutesy packaging and a little too lackluster in terms of actual formulation. But enough about my brand prejudices. I actually really like the entire Pureness 100 line of sheet masks, which are made from unbleached 100% cotton. The cotton masks hold a generous quantity of essence but release it willingly into my skin.

For me, these sheet masks are wonderfully calming and soothing. They’re marketed for “Sun Damage Care,” and while I doubt there’s enough snail goo in them to actually repair much damage, I can’t deny how refreshed and revived my skin feels when I use one of these after a long dry day out in the sun. The fragrance of these is lighter than that of the Skinfood snail masks, too. Their scent reminds me of the Scinic Snail AIO, actually: there’s a hint of peach in it.

Rating: 3.5/5

Tony Moly Pureness 100 Snail Mask Sheets are available as part of a 7-mask assortment for $10.98 with free two-day Amazon Prime shipping or individually for $2 apiece through the Tony Moly US website.

What are your favorite snail sheet masks?

This post contains affiliate links, which generate commissions that support Fifty Shades of Snail and Fiddy’s further skincare adventures. Full disclosures can be found here.

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