Moreish Skincare Review

Affiliate Disclosure: I receive a small commission for purchases made via affiliate links.
How to cite: Wong M. Moreish Skincare Review. Lab Muffin Beauty Science. February 3, 2015. Accessed March 28, 2024. https://labmuffin.com/moreish-skincare-review/

moreish-packaging

Moreish is a new skincare brand that’s just launched exclusively in Priceline. Hailing from New Zealand, the brand’s tagline is “Superfood for Skin”, with their key ingredient argan oil in every product across the impressively comprehensive launch range. The brand is of the organic/natural variety, with no parabens or phenoxyethanol, no artificial colours or fragrances, no sulfates, and no mineral oil or petrochemicals (except in the plastic packaging I would assume!).

moreish-boxes

Marketing

Before we continue, I need to have a little rant about this brand’s marketing. This is the text that appears on the insert for all the products:

“We are what we eat. We are therefore also what we apply to our skin.”

This makes no physiological sense to me. Firstly, we are made up of stuff we eat, but not everything we eat ends up in our body – that’s why we poop. Secondly, I have no idea how that second sentence follows on from the first – if we were what we apply to our skin, why haven’t I absorbed my pillow through my skin yet??

This statement is (I think) alluding to the myth, pushed by many natural companies, that we absorb 60% (or some other high, equally arbitrarily selected percentage with zero research to back it up) of what we put on our skin, which is not the case at all – human skin has evolved to be very good at keeping stuff out. So good, in fact, that only about 19 drugs can be delivered effectively through the skin – which sounds like a lot until you remember that the FDA has approved about 1500 drugs.

While it’s nowhere near the worst myth-pushing I’ve seen (and unlike a lot of other natural companies, there aren’t any dodgy claims being made about what the products do), it still doesn’t sit quite right with me, which is a pity because the products themselves are pretty solid.

 

Packaging

Moreish’s packaging is stunningly gorgeous, with nature macros in dreamy muted colours on the side panels, and a pretty pale blue theme throughout. The brand doesn’t use jar packaging, which is great – even if preservatives are keeping the germs at bay, it’s pretty offputting when you see bits of dust in your moisturiser. The evocative names remind me of Antipodes, another New Zealand brand.

 

Products

Most of the products have a light citrussy fragrance, similar to the scent of Sukin moisturisers. I’m not sensitive to fragrance, but it’s worth noting that there are a couple of fragrance-free options.

The range is divided into four groups:

Cleanse & Purify: 2 cleansers (a cream one called Euphoria and a foaming one, Liberation), a clay mask (Emergence) and an exfoliator scrub (Anew)

Moisturise & Hydrate: 3 moisturisers – sensitive (Empathy), day cream (Daily Redemption) and night cream (Dream), and an eye cream (Reawaken)

Treat & Restore: Argan Oil (Liquid Gold), Facial Serum (Glory)

Body & Replenish: Hand cream (Resurgence)

 

Cleansers

moreish-cleansersThe two cleansers in this range are both really good, workhorse products that are effective without trying too hard to be fancy, which I like. They’re both gentle and don’t leave your face dry and prone to dehydration. They’re advertised as suitable for any skin type. As well as the standard humectants (glycerin, aloe vera gel), they contain plant oils (argan, grape seed, sweet almond) which keep the skin from getting stripped.

Euphoria (200 mL, $14.99) is a gentle cream cleanser. It’s surprisingly effective for a cream cleanser, but left a thin but noticeable film of oil on my face after rinsing – I think it’s the sweet almond oil. The film stops being noticeable if you blot your face dry with a towel.

Liberation (200 mL, $14.99) is a foaming cleanser. It doesn’t bubble up a lot – it’s more of a gel than a properly foamy cleanser. It doesn’t strip the skin, but it’s still cleansing.

 

Moisturisers

moreish-moisturisers

There are three moisturisers in the range. They all come in air-free pump bottles, which means they won’t go off or start growing bacteria.

Daily Redemption Day Cream (50 mL, $29.99) is marketed for normal to dry skin. It contains a bunch of oils that are good for skin: sweet almond, argan, grapeseed, avocado and olive oils make an appearance, along with water-retaining glycerin and emollient glyceryl stearate citrate.

Empathy (50 mL, $29.99) is a moisturiser for sensitive skin. It’s fragrance-free and is based on ingredients that are neutral on the skin – sunflower and meadowfoam seed oils, glycerin and squalane. There’s also small amounts of soothing chamomile, aloe vera and cucumber.

Dream Night Cream (50 mL, $29.99) is a bit heavier. It has a bunch of plant oils (olive, avocado, jojoba) near the top of the ingredients list, as well as some glycerin and occlusive beeswax.

All three moisturisers are in the medium-weight range. They would be a good option if you like the results of moisturising with oil, but you prefer something a bit lighter in texture and less shiny in appearance. However, since they do all contain a good dose of oil, they’re not as good for oily-skinned people in the daytime – you’ll end up an oil slick unless you have really strong powder game.

 

Treatments

moreish-serum-argan-oil

Glory (30 mL, $29.99) is a concentrated version of the moisturisers and comes in an air-free pump, while Liquid Gold (30 mL, $29.99) is pure argan oil in an amber glass dropper bottle. Argan oil contains a lot of omega-6 (linoleic acid) – there’s been some research recently that suggests that linoleic acid may be useful in treating acne.

moreish

There’s a single exfoliating product in the range, Anew (75 mL, $14.99), which is a creamy scrub containing lots of tiny jojoba wax beads. These are gentle on the skin and environmentally friendly (no microplastics).

Emergence (75 mL, $19.99) is a kaolin-based clay mask. It didn’t irritate my face, unlike a few other kaolin masks I’ve recently tried, and it feels pretty thick and substantial, not too watery.

Resurgence Hand Cream (75 mL, $9.99) has as its main ingredients manuka honey for moisture, and shea butter and sunflower seed oil for smoothing. It isn’t too greasy or sticky. The final product is Reawaken Eye Cream (15 mL, $19.99) – I personally don’t use eye cream so I can’t really comment on its effectiveness or formula.

 

Pricing and Ingredients Table

Product NameProduct TypePriceSizePrice per mLIngredients
Liberation Foaming CleanserCleanser$14.99200 mL$0.075Water, Glycerin, Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate, Decyl Glucoside, Xanthan Gum, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Grape Seed (Vitis vinifera) Extract (and) Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Calendula officinalis Flower Extract, Manuka Honey, Allantoin, Lemon (Citrus medica limonum) Extract, Green Tea Extract, Glyceryl Caprylate, Sclerotium Gum, Citric Acid, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Potassium Sorbate, Fragrance, Linalool, d-Limonene
Euphoria Cream CleanserCleanser$14.99200 mL$0.075Water, Sweet Almond (Prunus amygdalus Dulcis) Oil, Manuka Honey, Cetearyl Glucoside (and) Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Coconut (Cocos nucifera) Oil, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Galactoarabinan, Calendula officinalis Flower Extract, Aloe Vera Gel, Carica papaya Fruit Extract, Grape Seed (Vitis vinifera) Extract (and) Kiwi Fruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Arctium lappa (Burdock) Root Extract, Daucus carota sativa (Carrot) Root Extract , Orange (Citrus sinensis) Oil, Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Leaf Oil, Xanthan Gum, Sclerotium Gum, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Totarol, Fragrance, Linalool, d-Limonene
Anew ExfoliatorScrub$14.9975 mL$0.200Water, Kaolin, Jojoba Esters, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glyceryl Stearate NSE, Palmitic Acid, Shea (Butyrospermum parkii) Butter, Glycerin, Beeswax, Stearic Acid, Gluconolactone, Aloe Vera Gel, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Oat (Avena sativa) Meal, Grape Seed (Vitis vinifera) Extract (and) Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Manuka Honey, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Geraniol, Linalool, Citranellol, Limonene
Emergence Clay MaskMask$19.9975 mL$0.267Water, Kaolin, Glycerin, Propanediol, Magnesium Aluminium Silicate, Bentonite, Titanium Dioxide, Manuka Honey, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Citrus Bioflavenoid, Grape Seed (Vitis vinifera)Extract (and) Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Decyl Glucoside, Glyceryl Caprylate, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Olive (Olea europaea) Oil, Betaine, Calendula officinalis Flower Extract, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E) , Galactaric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Beeswax, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Citric Acid, Totarol, Fragrance, Linalool
Empathy Sensitive MoisturiserMoisturiser$29.9950 mL$0.600Water, Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Olive Squalane, Meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba) Seed Oil, Betaine, Cetearyl Olivate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Beeswax, Sorbitan Olivate, Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) Butter, Aloe Vera Gel, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Olive Fruit Extract, Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Extract, Chamomile (Chamomilla recutiita (matricaria)) Extract, Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Extract, Manuka Honey, Grape Seed (Vitis vinifera) Extract and Kiwi Fruit (Actinida deliciosa) Skin Extract, Xanthan Gum, Sclerotium Gum, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Totarol
Daily Redemption Day CreamMoisturiser$29.9950 mL$0.600Water, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sweet Almond (Prunus amygdalus Dulcis) Oil, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Oil, Avocado (Persea gratissima) Oil, Olive (Olea europaea) Oil, Acacia Decurrens/Jojoba/Sunflower Seed Wax/Polyglyceryl-3 Esters, Glycerol Stearate NSE, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) Extract, Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Extract (and) Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Manuka Honey, Galactoarabinan, Betaine, Meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba) Seed Oil, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Glyceryl Caprylate, Beeswax, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Totarol, Fragrance, Citral, Linalool, d-Limonene
Dream Night CreamMoisturiser$29.9950 mL$0.600Water, Olive (Olea europaea) Oil, Avocado (Persea gratissima) Oil, Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Beeswax, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate NSE, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil,Rosehip (Rosa canina) Oil, Shea (Butyrospermum parkii) Butter, Galactoarabinan, Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Extract (and) Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Manuka Honey, Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) Extract, Calendula officinalis Flower Extract, Chamomile (Chamomilla recutita (matricaria)) Extract, Xanthan Gum, Sclerotium Gum, Potassium Sorbate, Glyceryl Caprylate, Citric Acid, Totarol, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Fragrance, Citral, Linalool, d-Limonene
Reawaken Eye CreamMoisturiser$19.9915 mL$1.333Water, Sweet Almond (Prunus amygdalus Dulcis) Oil, Glycerin, Candelilla/Jojoba/Rice Bran Polyglyceryl-3 Esters (and) Glyceryl Stearate (and) Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Oil, Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) Kernal Oil, Glyceryl Stearate NSE, Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Seed Oil, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) Seed Oil, Propanediol, Beeswax, Cellulose Gum, Alaria esculenta Extract, Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) Extract, Porphyridium cruentum extract, Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) Extract, White Tea (Camellia sinensis) Leaf Extract, Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Extract (and) Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Manuka Honey, Shea (Butyrospermum parkii) Butter, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Totarol, Potassium Sorbate
Glory SerumSerum$29.9930 mL$1.000Water, Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Oil, Glycerin, Meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba)Seed Oil, Hydroxystearyl Alcohol (and) Hydroxystearyl Glucoside, Betaine, Mango Butter, Beeswax, Acacia senegal Gum, , Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil Phytosterol Esters, Olive Squalane, Manuka Honey, Propanediol, Galactoarabinan, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Olive Fruit Extract, Panthenol, Goji (Lycium barbarum) Berry Fruit Extract, Calendula officinalis Flower Extract, Xanthan Gum, Carrot (Daucus carota sativa) Root Extract , Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Totarol, Fragrance, Linalool, d-Limonene
Liquid Gold Argan OilOil$29.9930 mL$1.000Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil
Resurgence Hand CreamBody Moisturiser$9.9975 mL$0.133Water, Manuka Honey, Shea (Butyrospermum parkii) Butter, Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Seed Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Coco-caprylate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Betaine, Glyceryl Stearate NSE, Meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba) Seed Oil, Argan (Argania spinosa) Kernal Oil, Galactoarabinan, Panthenol, Citrus Bioflavenoid, Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Extract (and) Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) Skin Extract, Papaya (Carica papaya) Extract, Galactaric Acid, Glyceryl Caprylate, Totarol, Potassium Sorbate, Xanthan Gum, Sclerotium Gum, Fragrance, Citral, Linalool, d-Limonene

 

Verdict

Moreish is a good addition to the mid-priced natural skincare market in Australia, incorporating a range of oils that many skincare addicts swear by. My favourite products from the range are the two cleansers, Euphoria and Liberation, and the kaolin mask Emergence. The moisturisers would be quite good for someone with drier skin, and the air-excluding pump bottles are fantastic. I do wish they’d change their marketing message though – I think a lot of consumers these days are educated enough to see the problems with it.

Have you tried this range yet? What did you think?

These products were provided for editorial consideration, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.


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10 thoughts on “Moreish Skincare Review”

  1. I wanted to pick up the scrub when I saw the range a couple of weeks ago. I ended up with something else but I can’t remember what it was as I haven’t used it yet. It sounds and looks promising. I didn’t even read their tagline. It just doesn’t make sense!

    Reply
  2. I have been quite curious about this range since we started stocking it at work…very good and informative post here Michelle! Agree on your thoughts about their message, I loled at your pillow-absorbing line haha! I may check these out but then again nothing is particularly calling out to me!

    Tasha // shiwashiful.

    Reply
  3. Such a comprehensive, thoughtful and candid review of their range! I was intrigued by this brand during Priceline’s latest skin care sale and was kind of surprised I found so little online in terms of reviews and things. I bought their cream cleanser but unfortunately it didn’t work for me, my skin reacted to it in a way that I hadn’t anticipated. Such a shame since the ingredients did appeal to me!

    Reply
  4. Amazing range !
    I use cream clenser Clay mask
    Eye cream and scrub also the serum for night with night moisturizer great value gorgeous natural smell has made my skin firmer love it 🙂

    Reply
  5. I loved the original exfoliator, and the packaging appealed to me in a nurdy sort of way. I loved that a percentage of their profits were donated to charity and that it was a New Zealand product.
    Now the new packaging has eliminated the New Zealand and charity text, and over feminized the graphics. The exfoliator has been whipped with air – an old trick to make it appear as voluminous as before with only half the product. Apparently Moreish’s mission statement has changed from dedication to the betterment of life, to one of profit at the expense of the immature and credulous.
    Sad.
    I used to have such a good feeling buying Moreish’s products but now it gives me the creeps to pick up a product so obviously co-opted by designers blinded by egotism.
    However, you can’t blame the designers too much when ultimately it’s the owners of Moreish who clearly want to broaden the market to appeal to …. the immature and credulous.

    Reply

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