This Skin-Plumping Essence Just Won the First K-Beauty ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

Each year Soko Glam releases its Best of K-Beauty Awards highlighting the most innovative and efficacious products to enter the scene. This year, they introduced a new category, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the winner is Neogen Real Ferment Micro Essence ($38).

This essence is considered a holy grail product in the Soko Glam community, with over 1,000 reviews and a 4.5-star rating. It also won a 2018 Soko Glam Best of K-Beauty award. To win the Lifetime Achievement Award, Neogen’s essence had to have been available to purchase from Soko Glam for over three years, have over 500 reviews, and be well-loved within the Soko Glam community.

Shop now: Neogen Real Ferment Micro Essence ($38).

Deeply hydrating and brightening, this Neogen Essence contains more than 93 percent naturally fermented ingredients. Just like fermented foods are great for your gut, fermented ingredients are great for your skin, explains Angelina Umansky, founder of Spa Radiance.

“I love recommending products with fermented ingredients because the fermentation process gives them a super boost,” says Umansky. “When fermented elements are added to natural beauty products, the microbes break down the molecules into a smaller, more absorbable size.” This means the ingredients are better able to do their job. For the Neogen essence, fermentation provides all of the amino acids, antioxidants, and organic acids that help create a healthy environment for the skin.

It’s also formulated with birch juice to add hydration and rice extracts to give you a lit-from-within glow. Rachel Lapidos, beauty and fitness editor at Well+Good, loves what this product does for her skin.

“Whenever I use the essence, my skin’s hydration level basically triples,” says Lapidos. “It’s like a moisturizing super-shot, and it gives me that dewy glass skin look throughout the day which I’m all about.”

Nine other products also won Soko Glam awards this year. To be considered, the products had to have been added to the site within the past year, not have won a previous Best of K-Beauty award, and be a trusted best-seller. These products were chosen by votes from the Soko Glam community members and a panel of judges including beauty YouTuber and Em Cosmetics founder Michelle Phan, model and Mianik founder Olay Noel, Very Good Light founder David Yi, journalist Johanna Ferreira, and CEO and co-founder of Wander Beauty Divya Gugnani.

Shop all of the winners below. Use the code ELITE15 for 15 percent off the following products from Monday, October 5 at 10 a.m. to Sunday, October 18at 11:59 p.m. EDT

2020 Soko Glam Best of K-Beauty Award Winners

1. Lifetime Achievement Award — Neogen Real Ferment Micro Essence, $38

This deeply hydrating and brightening essence that contains naturally fermented ingredients, including bifida ferment lysate and saccharomyces ferment filtrate, to deliver moisture and plump skin. It’s fragrance-free and formulated with birch juice and rice extracts for hydration and glow.

Shop now: Neogen Real Ferment Micro Essence, $38

2. Best Anti-Aging Treatment — Acwell Licorice pH Balancing Intensive Eye Cream, $30

This Soko Glam exclusive was formulated with Acwell. It contains licorice water and licorice extract to hydrate your skin and brighten dark circles and hyper-pigmentation. Peptides and antioxidant-rich ingredients like glutathione, green tea, and blueberry extract provide anti-aging benefits while caffeine tightens your skin and reduces inflammation and puffiness.

Shop now: Acwell Licorice pH Balancing Intensive Eye Cream, $30

3. Best Soko Glam Product — Good (Skin) Days C’s The Day Serum, $26

This Soko Glam exclusive is it formulated with 10 percent pure vitamin C, licorice root extract, and niacinamide to diminish dullness, improve tone, and minimize the appearance of pores and fine lines. It also contains a blend of ginseng and mushroom, to help calm and nourish skin, and antioxidant-rich camu camu, a potent cherry-like fruit that contains 40 times more vitamin C than oranges.

Shop now:Good (Skin) Days C’s The Day Serum, $26

4. Best Newcomer — SkinRx Labs MadeCera Cream Double Essence Toner, $26

Known as the “strawberry milk” toner in Korea, this Soko Glam exclusive is a double essence, dual-layer toner. It combines of ceramides, madecassoside, and beta-glucan to fortify your skin barrier against external pollutants, revive dull-looking skin, and moisturize and plump. The natural AHAs within milk protein help to gently remove dead skin cells.

Shop now: SkinRx Labs MadeCera Cream Double Essence Toner, $26

5. Most Innovative Formulation — Then I Met You Living Cleansing Balm, $38

From Then I Met You, the skincare line by Soko Glam co-founder Charlotte Cho, this cleansing balm melts away oil-based impurities such as excess sebum, sunscreen, and makeup without leaving behind an oily residue. Seaberry oil softens and protects while persimmon extract brightens and olive oil and vitamin E nourish.

Shop now: Then I Met You Living Cleansing Balm, $38

6. Most Reliable Results — Some by Mi AHA-BHA-PHA 30Days Miracle Toner, $16

One bottle of this cult -favorite, multi-tasking toner is sold every three seconds, says Soko Glam. The formula boasts three types of chemical exfoliants (AHAs, BHAs, and PHAs) plus papaya and witch hazel extracts to boost cell turnover, keeping skin smooth and healthy. Tea tree water extract also promotes clear skin and soothes inflammation, while adenosine and niacinamide target wrinkles and a dull skin tone.

Shop now: Some by Mi AHA-BHA-PHA 30Days Miracle Toner, $16

7. Best Skin Barrier Protection — Missha Time Revolution Artemisia Treatment Essence, $47

This misting essence contains 100 percent mugwort, an antioxidant-rich herb that has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and is rich in antioxidants. Use the mist as an essence, or mist it over makeup.

Shop now: Missha Time Revolution Artemisia Treatment Essence, $47

8. Most Innovative Packaging — Mamonde Red Energy Recovery Serum, $40

This hydrating serum provides a boost in the skin’s barrier function, improves firmness, and clarity. It also contains antioxidant-rich ingredients like pomegranate extract and rosa canina fruit extract to help ward off free radical damage, reducing and combatting signs of premature aging like fine lines, wrinkles, and hyper-pigmentation.

Shop now: Missha Time Revolution Artemisia Treatment Essence, $47

9. Best Texture — Hanskin Real Complexion Hyaluron Moisture Cream, $30

Made with a special matrix of three types of hyaluronic acid, this cream helps to draw moisture into the skin and keep it hydrated all day long.

Shop now: Hanskin Real Complexion Hyaluron Moisture Cream, $30

10. Best Overall Experience — Mediheal Tea Tree Blemish Control Sheet Mask, $10

This blemish-control mask not only treats current breakouts, but also helps prevent new ones from forming. It contains willow bark, rosemary, and tea tree oil to exfoliate pore buildup, purify, and targets breakouts, while chamomile and Asiatic pennywort work to visibly soothe redness.

Shop now: Mediheal Tea Tree Blemish Control Sheet Mask, $10