Penta Serum's Osory Promise

Osory Oil is a big thing in Korea. It is so big that it has spawned a successful beauty brand, Beauty Innovation which in turn has won a national consumer award in 2007. All of Beauty Innovation's products hinge on the supposedly amazing properties of Osory oil-- heals damaged skin, helps acne, reverses scars.


You can google osory oil and find nothing haha! It's because osory oil is really badger oil. Badger? Yes, Badger, as in that furry animal which looks like a cross between a beaver and a squirrel with a long black and white stripe running through its back. The oil from Badgers are what is known as osory oil in Korea.

I don't know if badgers are harmed in producing osory oil haha,this is a blog dedicated to my personal narcissism, so if you'd like to raise a point about animal rights, go to the WWF site :-)

Last November, at the beginning of the winter season, to combat the dryness and the breakouts caused by the weather, I bought myself a bottle of this:

It's known as Penta Serum and is manufactured by MB Skin, a high-end organic cosmeceutical company in Korea. And yes, the main ingredient of the penta-serum is Osory Oil. This small 15 ml bottle is about 32 USD.

And though it's small, this bottle will last you months. One only needs a drop or two of the oil to cover the whole face and neck area.

It's for reviving dry and damaged skin. It is supposedly good for acne-prone skin and those with scars or redness because as its name implies, the serum is full of penta-peptides, a recent breakthrough in skincare that signals the skin to rebuild skincells. It does seem like hype right? Except big brands have jumped into the penta-peptide
hype too (Olay has it's super sought-after penta-peptide formulation too).

Aside from Osory Oil (where the penta-peptides are from), the serum has olive oil, sunflower oil, argan oil and bulgarian rose oil as ingredients. All of these oils together in one formulation supposedly provide the much vaunted all-in-one care: hydrating, acne control, and skin repair.

The bottle comes with a dropper applicator. You use only one to two drops then massage it to your face and neck area. The serum itself is---well, like a very watery oil. It has a clear yellowish tint with a distinctive smell. I have to say it does smell like it's from an animal hahaha. It's something you can use only at night, and with that smell, I think nobody in her right mind will use this outside the house.

I was really hopeful about this product,it's all natural with no preservatives and it did help ease the red flaky winter skin but it broke me out! Big, angry zits! I tried this serum straight for two weeks to see if my skin will adjust to it but to no avail. And then I checked the ingredient list again. There is the culprit -- the serum has alpha tocopherol (aka Vitamin E). I am one of the unlucky people who cannot tolerate Vitamin E in whatever form --- as part of vitamins, or in creams. Though alpha tocopherol is supposed to be the newer and better ingested forms of vitamin E, I still react to it.


This review does feel empty for me. I don't know Osory would have worked for me if it did not have Vitamin E at all, but I'll never know. If any of you want to try this Penta Serum (it still has about 90% left in the bottle), let me know by commenting below and leaving your email address.

I'm giving it away so that whoever gets it will be able to try the product and see if it'll work for her. One Caveat, if you have Vit. E sensitivity, don't even try this serum :-) I'll give away the Penta Serum for free, but you have to pick up the item at our store in Davao/House in Paranaque/or pay for the shipping.

Good luck!