[Swatch & Review] Lipcerin - OHUI & The History of Whoo Initial Impressions

 

IT CAAAAAME!!!

I've been mostly radio silent because of life. I'm also at a pretty good place in my routine so most of the AB news I've been browsing hasn't really been that interesting, EXCEPT LG's absolute bombardment of the market with their new innovative lipcare tech.

Intro

I will just be parroting what Odile has said, so go over to her IG and look at her "Innovations" saved stories. Frankly if you don't follow her, do you even KBeauty? 😂

A sampling of Odile's amazing coverage of the LG Lipcerin release.

PLEASE go to her IG for full coverage.

I've pulled some stories in the image above, but basically LG spent 5 years of R&D to introduce "LG Lipcerin Penta Turnover Recovery Complex" to the market that addresses anti-agining lip concerns such as dead skin, wrinkles, dryness, to name a few. They absolutely blitzed the market by releasing new Lipcerin products across SIXTEEN of their brands.

Why I Wanted It

My lips have been a headache for me for a long time. I finally got them to an okay state with the help of UZU's lip treatment, specifically the green one. But of course UZU went and discontinued them.

 

A My UZU Lip Treatment haul in the summer of 2022

 I bought 9 while I still had one. Currently still surviving off this stash.

I have about 6 UZU treatments left from my last haul, so I still had a ways before I was going to get really worried. And well...I just assumed LG being LG, and saying they spent five years on this and believing in it so much to release it across all their brands...it must be good.

Can I just say: the way they released Lipcerin tickles my marketing interest immensely. I really am in absolute awe. They flooded the market with this. This is clearly not just talk thatallthedumbkbeautySMEsareabout. It takes real belief in your scientists and their innovation to be this brilliant and ballsy. This is LG throwing down and saying we are the conglomerate for anti-aging lipcare, catch up kids. 

In one of the images I shared above from Odile's stories, she said her suspicions were confirmed that LG pits its own lines against each other - survival of the fittest - so it was actually difficult to coordinate this release. I asked her if this was common and she basically said it's not unusual in the industry at all, just that she feels the Korean conglomerates take it to an extreme level because of how fast-paced the Korean beauty market is.

Odile's reply to me on IG asking her about

the competitiveness among a company's lines

Swatches & Initial Impressions of Whoo's and OHUI's Lipcerin

I chose Whoo because it's the top line of LG and it has gold, how could I not want to try the best of the best? I chose OHUI because I do love their Prime Advancer PRO and if Lipcerin was really going to work out for me, I figured the OHUI line would likely be the one to come through for me. If I was going on packaging alone, I probably would have chosen su:m37's. If it leaves any sort of tint, Sooryehan's looks quite lovely. I don't know if I would truly go for one of the drugstore brands, but Glint's looks beautiful as well.  

The directions of use of Whoo (top) and OHUI (bottom). Both have

similar directions of telling you to turn the bottom counter clockwise.

All the Lipcerins come in the similar twisty tube to keep the product airtight and while I don't mind needing to twist then apply on my lip with my fingers, I know some people do. I'm glad they provided directions and the Whoo box even says if it's your first time it may come out even slower. For the first time, I think I twisted each about 12 times before anything came out.

Not the best packaging for a lip product, but I don't mind it.

The OHUI (left) comes out thicker than Whoo's (left)

 

As you can see from the picture, the OHUI Lipcerin comes out slightly thicker/clumpier than Whoo's. They both smell similarly floral, though the Whoo does smell more refined than OHUI's (yes you can still smell OHUI's on the lips for a while, Whoo's less so). While they come out in different textures, they end up melting on the lips in a similar fashion. But I think the...waxiness(?) of OHUI's almost amplifies the smell a bit more.

 

Google translate of the ingredients. Whoo on the left, OHUI on the right.

The OHUI one has squalane as the second ingredient which probably adds to my feeling that it serves as a better lip mask, whereas the Whoo is a better treatment. That said, I have used pure squalane on my lips before and it leaves a scratchiness in my mouth when some of the product makes it's way in, so I might be slightly allergic. For that reason, I'll likely not be rebuying the OHUI.

Swatches to compare textures against my previous UZU lip treatment.

For those unfamiliar with the UZU, it doesn't show green on your lip, it has a

temporary "cooling" look on your lips, but it's not obvious at all.

Right now, Whoo wins, but I may consider trying one or two other brands' when I rebuy the Whoo. This is an initial impression though (I literally picked up my package today), so I can't say anything about how well I think it addresses any of its anti-aging claims.

Packaging

Since I swoon for packaging, I thought I'd add that neither of the boxes are particularly special to me. The only thing I thought was interesting was that Whoo has an English introduction to the product on the box but OHUI didn't. Which is weird because the packaging of OHUI's Lipcerin looks more like that generic minimalist, globalist look that a lot of Kbeauty brands are going for right now. 

 

The back of the Lipcerin packaging for Whoo (left) and OHUI (right).

Whoo has an intro to the produc that OHUI lacks. 

As for the Lipcerin packaging itself...I really hate that the top of the Whoo's attracts fingerprints like no other. I don't mind the simplicity of OHUI's and I really do love the pink, which fits the fact that it's under their Miracle Moisture line, but...the font doesn't match the rest of the line at all? Is that line going through a rebranding soon? 🤷🏻‍♀️

zzoom_zoom brought up a really good point that perhaps the packaging (designs) got rushed because they had a deadline to release Lipcerin to create this Lipcerin ambush effect. So to be given this generic tube and a generic box and told to make it work with the products/lines you have isn't going to create the most exquisite packaging. 

PS: for people in the US, don't buy the Whoo one Amazon. The price is ridiiiiculous. I got mine on KoreaDepart. They're tiny too, so since shipping is by weight, it won't cost an arm and a leg. Otherwise there are quite a few of the drugstore ones on OliveYoung.

Further Impressions & Thoughts

Day after impressions: I used the OHUI as an overnight lip mask despite the slight annoyance of what it feels like in my mouth/throat and I will say I think it works better than the UZU. My lips overall look and feel more moisturized than what UZU provides. And while I am using my fingers to apply, it's at least more pleasant than say the Laniege lip mask or the Aritaum (now Etude) ginger lip balm were. Time to step up your game, AP. 

1 week after impressions: I cannot for the life of me figure out which I like more between OHUI's and Whoo's. I still have the issue with slight allergy to the OHUI but my lips seem to like the heavier formula and with the results, I'll tolerate the slight annoyance no problem. It could be mental though because unlike the rest of my body, my lips seem to crave the heavier feeling because it feels like it's sticking around more. The Whoo does go on like a dream though and it almost feels like I need less "clicks" (=less product?) with the Whoo's, but true or not, it doesn't feel like it stays on as long as OHUI's. I put in an order on TesterKorea (new site, easier to navigate) for more Whoo's though, and they also had ISA KNOX's Lipcerin under their Te'rvina line (which has placenta). Sooo...we'll see!

2 weeks after impressions: I've been dealing with a chest cold for the past month that's been slowly making it's way up. But I started to get stuffed in my ear/nose/throat cavities, which is a strange "move" for my usual chest colds, so I've been a little worried that it's a reaction to the amount of squalane or wax I've been ingesting in my Lipcerin application, particularly OHUI's. Therefore, I've sadly paused Lipcerin usage for now and gone back to my UZU. When my body returns to normal, I plan on trying the Whoo first, since I feel like if it is the Lipcerin, the squalane being lower in Whoo's compared to OHUI's might help.

In the meantime I did order two more Whoos and a ISA KNOX Lipcerin from Tester Korea. The box it came in was a lot bigger than OHUI's or Whoo's...

 

The ISA KNOX Lipcerin Box compared to a Whoo box.

...because it comes with a free pretty scrunchy! Super cute. 

The bigger box is apparently to house the free hair tie. It's cute, 

and the metal accessory is heavy, but overall quality of the hair tie is just okay.

No initial thoughts on this as I'm on my Lipcerin break, but on the chance that the OHUI doesn't work out for me, the ISA KNOX also has squalane a little further down so maybe this could work instead of OHUI's.

 

 The ingredients of the ISA KNOX Lipcerin (google lens translation)

Isa Knox's whole thing is also their placenta tech. This is my first ISA KNOX product so I'm excited! 

The English section of the paper instructions that talks about ISA KNOX's tech.

2 months after impressions: I still haven't tried the ISA KNOX and I gave my mom the OHUI one which she loves (she loves heavy lip blams). I've returned to the Whoo as my regular lip balm. I took it into (thus far) the coldest, snowiest days in NYC and my lips were completely fine. Not a hint of a dry flake in sight, no extra wrinkling, no need to lick my lips to temporarily solve a problem but ultimately making it worse. This is so freaking huge for me so yeah, I'm in love. I've also gifted the Whoo Lipcerin to friends and one of them wrote saying how much she loves it, so it makes a great gift too. You just have to let them know about the extra twists needed to start it up.

4 months-ish after impressions (last edit): I tried the ISA KNOX, no scratchy throat but booooooy does it make my lips dry and wrinkly. I don't get it. I tried it twice before I gave it to my mom and she said she felt like it was more moisturizing than OHUI's so I have no idea what's going on. Despite Lipcerins from Glint, Belif and Beyond all available on Amazon, I'm just not going to waste any more time and money on trying any others. I'm in a committed relationship Whoo.