What’s the deal with ceramides?
Ceramides exist naturally in your skin and they help your skin function properly, they’re part of the “mortar” that holds the “brick” cells together to keep moisture in your skin.
You want these cells to be functioning well to stop moisture evaporating from your skin, known as transepidermal water loss (“TEWL”), so you can keep your skin hydrated!
Skincare with ceramides can also help restore a damaged barrier, even in skin disorders, that’s how good ceramides are!
ILLIYOON Ceramide Ato Concentrate Cream
Texture
It looks like a very thick cream when you squeeze it out of the tube – as you apply it to your skin, it becomes supple and spreadable. There’s something really comforting about how thick it is and yet it applies so smoothly.
Don’t be alarmed if you see or feel little tiny beads in the cream: it’s encapsulated ceramides, which is one of the most important features of this cream – I’ll talk more about this below.
All you need to do is massage the cream into your skin and the beads will dissolve, delivering the ceramides to your skin!
Personally I love being able to see the little beads because it means that I’m going to get a decent amount of ceramides when I apply this cream.
Ingredients
Ceramides are great so why aren’t they in every skincare product? Surely skincare companies know we want as much help as possible to keep our barrier strong!
Ceramides are expensive, sometimes derived from animal products and hard to make into a formula that will effectively get the ceramides to your skin.
The Illiyoon moisturiser uses encapsulated ceramides in tiny beads, which I mentioned above. Encapsulating ceramides is a great delivery system for getting them into the skin and the one in this moisturiser is even patented! The ceramides are made in a lab (not an animal product) so they’re not so expensive, hence the excellent price of this huge tube of moisturiser!
Illiyoon vs Isntree
The occlusive properties of the Illiyoon are superb. I find it does an excellent job of keeping moisture in my skin and I particularly appreciate it in the colder months. I have used it all year round with no issues but I don’t really need it in the summer, I prefer a lighter occlusive like the Isntree Hyaluronic Water Sleeping mask then. Dry skin will find the Illiyoon great any time and oily skin might just want it for the winter, unless you use a lot of actives and want to soothe your skin.
I do think the Isntree is very good at soothing, too, although I’d argue the Illiyoon has the edge for barrier repair because of the ceramides. The Isntree does have ceramides but they’re much lower down the ingredient list and they may be a less effective version of ceramides because the Isntree doesn’t use the special type of ceramides that you find in the Illiyoon. However, without doubt the Isntree is more hydrating than the Illiyoon.
I love Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Water Sleeping mask, as you might know if you’ve read any of my reviews – I mention it a lot! However, you may have also noticed I talk about it being shiny.
Whilst makeup will get rid of that shine, if you’re having a no make up day, Illiyoon will be your new bestie. The great thing about Illiyoon is that it dries down pretty matte without obscuring your K-Beauty glow. I’ve never had any issues with applying sunscreen or makeup on top of it.
Illiyoon vs other sleeping masks
As you might have read in my recent article on sleeping masks, slugging doesn’t work for me so finding a great last step is very important. A last step that dries down well, meaning it genuinely forms an occlusive film that doesn’t rub off easily (because I’m a sweaty, restless side sleeper) will therefore keep moisture in my skin better.
All the sleeping masks or last step moisturisers I’ve tried do a good job but some are better than others: Illiyoon and Isntree do the best job, although I get why some people might prefer the ingredient list or texture of other masks: extracts like propolis in a gel format, rice in an very moisturising cream, and ferments in a super light gel. I’m mainly looking for something that will lock moisture in most effectively, soothe my skin and work on barrier strengthening so most nights the Illiyoon tends to win!
My Moisturizer Routine
Pairing the Illiyoon with my beloved Mary & May Idebenone + Blackberry Complex Intense Total Care cream is my holy grail combination. Whilst I find the texture of the Illiyoon just right for what it needs to do, the Mary & May is more cosmetically elegant, delivering the perfect balance of emollients and hydration to my skin.
For my older skin which needs a lot of cream, I do find I want something under the Illiyoon in addition to its benefits of delivering ceramides and locking in my previous steps. However, lots of people use the Illiyoon as their only moisturiser and it can work very well – I’ve got a friend who uses it for her child who has dry skin and a couple of friends with oily skin who love it. My best advice is to pay attention to how your skin reacts!
Although I’ve tried the Mary & May by itself and it does a good job of keeping moisture in my skin overnight, I find putting the Illiyoon on top gives me the best results in terms of my hydration levels in the morning. The Isntree sleeping mask works very well too, I just find the Illiyoon to have the edge. And that might be partly down to the formula but partly down to actives drying out my skin so I need all the help I can get to keep moisture in my skin.
My neck is very dry and wants even more cream than my face, despite how good the Mary & May is! I’ve recently been trialling Etude House moisturisers and there will be reviews on these coming soon.
Final Word
I’ve been using the Illiyoon for over year, tried a lot of other moisturizers and it’s one of the best last steps I’ve found.