Nots Aqua Barrier Level Up Cream review

3:17 PM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

When I was offered to test some of Nots products I was both excited and worried. Excited to try out a new brand with promising ingredients and worried I might actually like any of their products.
Why? Well, money of course. As a permanently broke person finding an HG product in a higher end brand is always something to be wary about.
After having worked and used a lot of high to high-high end European brands I am not dazzled by expensive skincare any more. After all, if I am not impressed by smearing a 400$ serum on my face (but a little guilty to be honest) because it did nothing for my skin, yet being totally obsessed with a 15$ one for its efficacy, I believe money means little to me in terms of quality influences and outcomes.
So I approached this testing period with a good dose of scepticism.
The reason why I chose this particular product was that I am always on the look out for the perfect  moisturiser to soothe and hydrate my super duper dry and dehydrated skin. Something that really isn't easy to accomplish (if not impossible!). The words aqua and barrier attracted me in particular since I have good experiences with hydrating Korean mositurizers and having a healthy skin barrier is always a struggle for me.
A look at the ingredients settled it. I quickly spotted Beta Glucan, Niacinamide, Galactomyces, Saccharomyces, Argan, Allantoin, Squalane, Emu oil, Panthenol, Cermides and Honey in the ingredients list. I wont go into detail what these do and what other magical ingredients there is in this cream since there is others who are much better at doing precisely that. Let me just tell you that as a person with dry skin I tend to have some buddy ingredients. Some of them I like seeing in my skincare, since I have had good experiences with them or because science tells me that as a dry skinned person I should become friends with them. So the ones mentioned above are in my personal buddy group.

The packaging has writing on the inside and I appreciated the wrapped applicator

So how did this moisturiser perform in the end?
Good I must say!
I emptied the entire jar in one go (which I rarely do) and when I went to get more (since I depot into a pump) I sadly realised it was empty. I tend to take forever to go through full sized products and reaching the bottom of it usually feels like a chore not something you discover by sad accident.


The cream is more or less scentless the kind of product without added fragrance (woo!).
The texture is super pleasant. It is a cream but it is lightweight almost gel like and watery. When it is applied it feels fresh and quite moist. It is quite soothing and lovely even when my skin is being weird and sensitive. There is a definite cream aspect to it which makes it perfect for skin like mine since just having a watery gel usually doesn't do much for me. It sinks in immediately and leaves no trace of it existence besides skin that feels more hydrated.
It is weird that I have little more to say about it since I really liked it quite a lot. But I guess that is just how things are when you find a functional product that does what it promises.
This has become one of the few moisturisers that I would actually recommend to people. It is gentle and works while being comfortable to use.

Partly blended on the right

I do believe that most skin types would enjoy this product as well. If you have super dry skin like I do I would add some facial oil once a day otherwise you should be all set.
Johnny really liked this cream with his normal and often dehydrated skin. His face looked quite lovely while using it which is always wonderful since he gets spots as soon as his face dislikes a product.
Mother (combo skin) randomly called me to ask what moisturiser I had sent her since there was this one she really liked. Mother is notorious for being unhappy with her cream (she wasn't a fan of my beloved Vanpir either *gasp*) so this was quite interesting to see.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants a functional and gentle moisturiser that is both pleasant yet effective.

Ingredients: See photo above

 Now one of 5 moisturisers (out of possibly a gazillion) that I would repurchase/enjoyed.
Rating: 1.Blegh  2. Pff  3. Meh  4. Oohh  5. Awwyeah 6. Wooha


Available at Q-Depot

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for review purposes and contains affiliated links. That fact does not alter my review or opinion in any matter. For more information read my Disclaimer page.