After seeing the Etude House barrier cream recommended by many K-beauty fanatics on Tiktok, I wanted to give this cream a try for myself. I heard it was a great cream for dry, sensitive, and acne prone skin. I have dry skin so I am very picky about choosing moisturizers that will keep my skin hydrated in my dry climate. Let’s see if the Etude House barrier cream lives up to the hype and keeps my dry skin hydrated!

Consistency

The Etude House barrier cream has a lightweight, yet hydrating consistency. It takes a little bit of massaging to get it absorbed in the skin, but it’s really not an issue. This cream does not feel greasy on the skin.

I have very dry skin and I live in a desert climate so I need a very thick moisturizer to keep my skin hydrated. This cream is not moisturizing enough for my dry skin. When I heard “2x barrier intensive cream”, I thought it would be way more hydrating and thick than it actually is.

That being said, this would be an amazing moisturizer for someone with normal skin. My skin is just too dang dry for anything with a lightweight texture. Even when I slugged over this moisturizer at night, it still didn’t feel like enough.

Scent

The Etude House Soon Jung line is formulated without fragrance or dyes to be sensitive skin friendly. If your skin is easily irritated by fragrance or if a strong fragrance gives you a headache, this is the cream for you! The barrier cream has zero scent whatsoever.

Highlighted Ingredients

Panthenol– anti-inflammatory, hydrating, and soothing for red and irritated skin

Madecassoside– (derived from centella asiatica) soothes and heals red and irritated skin

Sunflower seed oil– contains Vitamin E which helps protect skin from pollution damage

Shea Butter– full of fatty acids that protect and hydrate the skin

How does it perform under makeup?

This cream does quite well under makeup! I did not experience any pilling when applying concealer or foundation over this moisturizer. This moisturizer looks really glowy and hydrating on the skin, but that faded for me after about an hour because of my dry skin type. As long as I applied my makeup in the first hour after the moisturizer, it made for a nice makeup prep. If I apply makeup a long time after putting on the moisturizer, I like to use something like the Laura Mercier hydrating primer for the glowy, moisturized look I desire for my makeup. 

Price

The Etude House barrier cream is $18 for 2.2 ounces (~$9 per oz). As far as moisturizers go, this is really affordable! Usually I stick to the $30-50 range for my moisturizers so it’s awesome that this one was actually under budget for me. 

Packaging 

The tube of the Etude house barrier cream is quite unique! To dispense the cream, you twist the applicator and it squeezes out in a ring. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a good picture of the dispenser. I don’t understand why they didn’t just use a typical squeeze applicator, but I don’t dislike it! Overall, the tube works quite well, but the last few uses of this cream are very difficult to dispense. That’s my only complaint with this tube!

Results

Like I said earlier, this moisturizer was too lightweight for my dry skin type. This is a really great moisturizer with great ingredients. I love that the SoonJung line is formulated without dyes or fragrances so that sensitive skin types can use it as well. I would not repurchase this in the end, but I would highly recommend it to anyone with a normal skin type that isn’t super dry like me. If you’re looking for good moisturizers for dry skin, I would recommend my 3 favorite creams: the Innisfree ginger honey cream, the Innisfree youth enriched orchid cream, or the Laneige water bank cream.

While researching and writing this blog post, I came across the Etude House Soon Jung Hydro Barrier cream on Soko Glam. I would be interested in giving this cream a try to get the gentle ingredients from the Soon Jung line in a thicker moisturizer. I’ll keep you posted when/if I give that cream a try! 🙂

Have you ever tried Etude House products? This was my first time, but I’ve heard so many great things about the brand over the years. I’m excited to try more of their products in the future!