Cosrx Snail Mucin Essence vs. Dual Essence vs. Galactomyces Essence: Differences and Reviews 2025

• About COSRX

A hero K-beauty brand to treat sensitive and troubled skin, COSRX is dedicated to creating products with high concentrations of active and effective ingredients that are committed to bringing lasting results since 2013. Designed with a mild formula to alleviate irritated skin, all COSRX products are cruelty-free and skin-friendly with natural ingredients such as propolis and CICA extracts. 

COSRX offers an extensive range of skin care products that aim to provide the best solutions targeting the root of all types of skin concerns. The COSRX best seller list includes the COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patch which has perfect COSRX review for spot treatment, as well as the COSRX toner and serum line-up that feature active ingredients to help exfoliate and clean your pores, not to mention the famous Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser from the COSRX face wash collection that comforts and balances your skin in the morning.

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• The Difference & Reviews

| Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence

($13.49/100ml, up to 3% cashback at Stylevana)

What Does It Do? 

Like a multivitamin for your skin, COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence helps to nourish, repair, and plump the skin with moisture. Formulated with 96.3% Snail Secretion Filtrate, this essence repairs and rejuvenates the skin from dryness and aging. It improves skin vitality by reducing dullness and soothing dehydrated skin. This lightweight essence fastly absorbs into the skin and gives you a natural and healthy glow. Guarantees long-lasting hydration without heavy feeling on the skin.

Key Ingredients:

- Snail Secretion Filtrate (96%): This helps to repair and hydrate the skin, while containing high levels of antioxidants. Some studies have shown a positive effect on reducing the appearance of fine lines, so potential anti-aging benefits too.

- Betaine: An amino acid derivative which helps to hydrate the skin through it's humectant properties as well as providing anti-inflammatory benefits.

- Panthenol: A vitamin B5 precursor, panthenol also has humectant and anti-inflammatory properties, helping to both moisturise the skin and maintain a healthy skin barrier.

Best for: Various skin types, including normal skin, oily skin and sensitive skin.

Texture & Fragrance: The texture of this product is so interesting. It's not as sticky, but it definitely has some 'bounce' to it. It's the kind of substance that forms 'threads' as you pull your fingers away. This viscosity obviously goes away when it dries though! Despite being somewhat on the thicker side for an essence, it doesn't feel heavy on the skin at all. It rubs in really nicely and feels really moisturising. 

The ingredients list doesn't contain any fragrance so it's safe to assume that this would be suitable for sensitive skin.

Review: Meant to be used after cleansing but before moisturizing, upon application, the COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence has a slight white cast that disappears once completely rubbed in. Though it resembles a serum, instead of sitting on top of the skin, it sinks into your skin and gives you an added boost of moisture. 

Though the concept of applying snail excretion to my face took some getting used to, the results speak for themselves. If you're looking for an essence or serum to add to your skincare routine that won't break you out, cause irritation, or break the bank, this one is it. 

| Cosrx Advanced Snail Radiance Dual Essence

($23.42/80ml, up to 4% cashback at Yesstyle)

What Does It Do? 

High-efficacy snail essence mixes with the radiance essence upon pumping to create a refreshing combination of plumping and brightening care. The essence delivers hydration deeply into the skin without leaving a sticky residue, making it an optimal essence to add to your daily routine. The key ingredient of 74.3% triple snail complex - land snail, black mucin, golden shell mucin, and 5% niacinamide locks hydration in the skin to improve the complexion and boost the skin’s radiance.

Key Ingredients:

- 74.3% Triple Snail Complex: A complex that combines the existing hydrating and plumping effects of snail secretion filtrate and fortifies it with the anti-aging, pore contracting benefits of Black Snails and the anti-bacterial, antioxidant and UV protection effects of Gold Snails and more.

- 5% niacinamide: Brightening the skin for simultaneous plumping & radiance care, strengthening skin's barrier.

- Glutathione: Improving skin tone and skin complexion.

Best for: All skin types and skins that look dull and dehydrated.

Texture & Fragrance: Compared to the original Snail 96, the Radiance Dual Essence has a thinner and lighter consistency, which makes sense, given the lower concentration of snail mucin in it. It spreads on easily and sinks in more quickly, making it a little more ideal for a rushed morning routine. Like the Snail 96, it has no scent and feels instantly soothing on the skin, and like the Snail 96, it creates smoother texture and improved hydration immediately upon application.

Review: It's a great essence hybrid that works very well for someone with combination skin. This feels cooling, softening and hydrating. The essence is great but lacked that moisture from emollients; so creating a product that's a hybrid of the essence and cream together is a great way to get both hydration and moisture while thinning out the texture.

If you mainly want full snail benefits–the hydration, the moisture, the soothing protective layer that provides extra resilience against external damage–and you either already have, or don't really want, an added brightening component, then the original Snail 96 will make more sense for your needs.

If, on the other hand, you want to include both a solid brightening serum and some snail benefits in your skincare, and especially if you don't want to have to add two layers to your routine to do so, the Radiance Dual Essence makes more sense. 

| COSRX Galactomyces 95 Tone Balancing Essence

($22.05/100ml, up to 5% cashback at iHerb)

What Does It Do? 

The COSRX Galactomyces 95 Tone Balancing Essence is a highly concentrated essence with 95% Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate. This essence works to enrich your skin cells with hydration, giving you clear, glowing and moist skin. It also helps repair the skin, reduce hyper-pigmentation and wrinkles. If you have dry, rough, or uneven patches, this essence will help remove roughness and dead skin cells, and give you visible improvement in evenness of skin tone.

Key Ingredients:

- Galactomyces ferment filtate is the key ingredient that helps brightening tired and dull looking skin while delivering hydration and antioxidants to the skin.

- Niacinamide: Brightening the skin for simultaneous plumping & radiance care, strengthening skin's barrier.

- Hyaluronic acid and panthenol also maintain the skin hydrated and smooth by holding moisture inside the skin. 

Best for: Those concerned with fine lines, hyperpigmentation, rough texture, dry and/or uneven patches.

Texture & Fragrance: It's noticeably thicker than water and has a lot of slip to it, making it easy to spread evenly across the face. When applied it might feel a bit sticky but after a few minutes, it will be fully absorbed into the skin. For those that have dry skin, this will work best under a moisturizer. It's completely odorless, though others report a yeasty or even peachy smell.

Review: This is a solid, though not particularly groundbreaking, product from COSRX. The company does a great job of devising simple and effective formulations. So, if you're looking for something that could improve your skin appearance and texture, highly recommend this Galactomyces 95 Whitening Power Essence. But, if you’re main concern is something else, like maybe hydrate your skin or heals acne, it's better to look for another product, and maybe use this essence too as a booster.

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