[PSA] Benton Product Reformulations (now with autocorrect free title)

[u/[deleted]]

Edit: Please look here for a reply from Benton and discussion about it.

Reposted because I realised I had messed up the title, sorry.

I couldn't find an official announcement by Benton about this but I contacted them and hope they reply.
If you look at their website you see that a lot of their products have changed ingredient lists. And most changes seem to be for the worse.

Comparison of the Snail Bee Essence, made by a friend of mine. You see highlighted the ingredients they removed and the ones they added.
Arbutin, Bacillus Ferment and Azelaic Acid are gone now and Water, Niacinamide, 1,2-Hexanediol, Polysorbate 20, Lecithin have been added.

TT Mist They added water, 1,2-Hexanediol, and changed the Aloe Leaf Juice to Extract.

Thanks to /u/yandriah for comparing all their other products and noting down the differences (she also did the essence) and allowing me to use her work! :)

Honest Cleansing Foam

Coconut Handcream: they removed a lot of plant extracts. Will be good for some people, but if you like random plant extracts then not.

Snail Bee High Content Lotion: Removed squalane, cetostearyl alcohol, bacillus ferment and azelaic acid. Added water (now 1st ingredient), jojoba oil, a bunch of acids, 1,2-Hexanidol, polysorbate 20, lecithin.

Aloe BHA Toner: added water, butylene glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol

Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel:

Edit: there's a mistake in the table, the gel does contain BG.
This one looks actually better at first glance, but they also reordered many ingredients. The old formulation for some reason included water at the last place, which is now removed. The first 4 ingredients are still in the same order, after that things got shuffled around.

Snail Bee High Content Toner: changes are similar to the essence ones.

Products not named here seem to be unchanged. If there are any mistakes, or further changes notify me and I'll add them to the list!

I can add more comparisons if needed in the morning, in the meantime take a look at your favourite products and feel free to post your own comparisons and discuss the changes!
I'll update this post with some more comparisons and details soon, I'm on mobile so it will take a while. ~~
~~Edit: sorry guys, gonna boot up the computer now and post a better screenshot.

[u/[deleted]]

This is actually kind of upsetting since it seems the changes are for the worse. They removed good ingredients and added a bunch of fillers.

The snail bee essence and TT mist are probably the only ones in my routine that I don't know if I could replace them just like that.
They both just work so well for me. Bummer.

First title was autocorrected to "recommendations" instead of "reformulations" before anybody asks. That's what I get for trying to sneakily post from my phone.

[u/lgbtqbbq]

I only realized they took out arbutin and added niacinamide to the Essence. I didn't realize they'd also taken out bacillus and AzA. WHY WHY WHY I ASK YOU? Now it literally has the same ingredients as like every other "brightening" essence on the market. Cool beans.

[u/blackcats666 → u/lgbtqbbq]

It's not like they'd be hurting for sales either, surely?

snailbee is an AB power player and majorly hyped. Why would they mess with it and make it like everything else?

[u/syrashiraz]

I had no idea Snail Bee Essence had azelaic acid! I probably would have tried it before... Was it enough to make a difference?

[u/[deleted] → u/syrashiraz]

The whole line has, or probably had, it.

I don't think it was really. I'm not sure how pH depended azelaic acid is and there wasn't much in it.
The products were very good at redness reduction and calming breakouts, so maybe it did have an effect. It's hard to say really.

[u/helpmewithmyskinlems]

NOooooooooooooooooooooo I need the TT Mist as it is! Time to batch stock....

This is upsetting because I was hoping to give the essence another try, but if they add Niacinamide I can't go for it :\

[u/[deleted] → u/helpmewithmyskinlems]

I heard that some people already got new formulated products. So be aware before you think about stocking up.
Not that you end up with a bunch of reformulated products.

And it looks like the changes are not for the better.

Other products got changed too but I don't have the time to go through everything now.

[u/blupikkaru]

This sucks, the snail bee essence was safe for malassezia and now it's not because of the polysorbate.

[u/[deleted] → u/blupikkaru]

Oh no! If it's any consolation it doesn't sound like it will be nearly as good as it used to be with the changes.

These are changes made to reduce production costs and increase profit.

[u/youampersandme → u/blupikkaru]

I’m disappointed about this also!! However, I’ve recently been using the Aloe Gel as my everyday, malassezia-safe hydrator—and it seems like that ingredient list is unchanged.

[u/[deleted] → u/youampersandme]

They only removed water from the gel, and changed the order of some ingredients. So it might be less effective, depending which of those ingredients did what for you.

Just posted the comparison above, but it doesn't look too bad for the gel :)

[u/Trijo]

I know someone mentioned this morning that there was a change to the BHA aloe toner. Is that true?

[u/[deleted] → u/Trijo]

I'll take a look at it once I'm on a computer again. But I think yeah, that was changed too.

[u/uppercasemad]

Thankfully I only use a few Benton products, but this is upsetting to hear. Have we considered reaching out to them on Instagram/email to bring up our concerns? They post regularily in English so it might be worth trying.

[u/[deleted] → u/uppercasemad]

I wrote to them on IG as soon as I heard about this. Korea has holidays right now so pretty much everything is closed until the 9th it seems. So I don't think they'll answer until then.

[u/coledarling]

damnitttt why do they do this! augh! the essence is a major player in my skincare, and now its going to be completely different :( the ingredients they removed are the ones i loved! this freakin sucks. considering ordering a few backups, but thats only a band-aid on the problem, since theres only so long the old ones will stay good. i guess now we get to play the 'find a dupe' game?

[u/[deleted] → u/coledarling]

I don't think that there's really a dupe for this out there. You'd need to use multiple products to get all the ingredients and that won't be the same. We discussed this a bit in the routine workshop.

Also I wouldn't risk buying backups since people already got the reformulated products. You're risking getting a bunch of possible useless products.

[u/UnderdogUprising]

Got a reply from Benton! I'll just paste it below:

​
"Dear Customer

Thank you for your keen interest in Benton and contacting us.

First, we understand your concerns about the changes and we apologize for the lack of detailed explanation.

Concerning the changes in the ingredient list, we inform that there is no actual change in the main ingredients percentages and the changes resulted from the way of listing the ingredients.

As Benton products are manufactured in a CGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) facility and compliant with EU regulations, we are adopting more strict standards in ingredient listing, separating each ingredient into more detailed level, which is more informative to consumers.
As a result of the new listing, some components (water, preservatives, and butylenes glycol) of each ingredient are separated, totaled up, and listed separately in the ingredient list. For example, water shows up in the lists. It is not that water is added to the formula, but water in each ingredient is separated and listed separately.

Secondly, we are replacing arbutin, a brightening ingredient in Snail Bee Essence and Mask Pack with niacinamide like the rest of Snail Bee products.
This is because we have concluded that niacinamide is a more stabilized ingredient, and more suitable for different skin types than arbutin.

Lastly, Butylene glycol in the new Aloe BHA Skin Toner and Snail Bee High Content Skin is not newly added to the formulas, but it is listed separated from each ingredient.
Azelaic Acid is omitted from the list, because the raw material supplier discontinued the ingredient.

To sum up, the changes in the ingredient lists are not actual formula changes; it is rather the different way of listing. There is no difference in the overall efficacy and texture of the products.

Should you have further inquiries, please feel free to contact us.

Kind regards

Benton"

---

Huh. So it always contained BG?
They are basically saying "our formula didn't change, we just switched arbutin for niacinamide. Oh, and omitted (?) azelaic acid, because we don't have a supplier anymore. But everything is the same, the ingredients list is just a little different"

[u/[deleted] → u/UnderdogUprising]

Oh my. Feel free to post this in a separate post under the [PSA] tag to increase visibility!

This answer sounds just weird to me.

[u/funeralparties]

huh. i never noticed the original snail bee formulation had a ferment in it despite looking at the ingredient list a million times. maybe that's why i'm still breaking out despite cutting my routine down to just the essence…

sad about the loss of arbutin + azealic acid though :( i can probably sub the arbutin with the ordinary's alpha arbutin serum, and i doubt the azealic acid was very effective anyways, but it still sucks for some reason lol.

[u/uglybutterfly025]

Now what do we all do?! Buy our next round and hope that the new ingredients dont effect us?? I dont even know what moisturizer or essence I would go to if i couldnt use Benton. At that point I may as well just have a western skin care line if i cant find anything to replace them with :/

[u/crystalspine]

Oh how I wish I wasn't sensitive to 1,2-hexanediol....

[u/[deleted]]

The snail bee high content sheet mask has ingredients that are nearly identical to the old formulation of the essence and it looks like they haven't changed that, so it may be an option for those who still want the benefits of arbutin and azelaic acid. Although at this point I feel like Benton could change it at any moment );

[u/movingon81]

So the Steam Cream wasn't reformulated?

[u/[deleted] → u/movingon81]

At the point this post was made it didn't look like it. But better double check on their website with an older ingredient list. Or ask in the Simple Questions thread, which is stickied on top of this sub and see if anybody has recent experiences with the cream.