battle of essence: naruko raw job's essence vs daiso coix seed serum

before i went to singapore, i'm checking my stash. i'm pretty sure i almost run out of any essence or serum and also sunscreen, so i'm planning to get both of them while i'm in singapore. i've been using daiso job's tears serum at that time and i almost finished it. and then, when i was in singapore, i went to guardian near my hotel and i spotted naruko. i was so excited since i never expected to find naruko in singapore. i took picture of the whole display and then went back to hotel, put the kids back to sleep and did a little research and decided to buy the raw job's essence. then when i was home, i realized that it has similar main ingredient as my daiso one so i decided to do a side by side comparison, just like what i did with several wash off masks.

i use daiso serum on the right side of my face, and naruko essence on my left face (it's easier to remember, daiso on dextra.. med geek, i know... can't help it). i use it every afternoon and night and take picture of comparison every week. unfortunately, the daiso serum didn't last until a month, so i only got 3 weeks comparison here.

the packaging: daiso comes in a plastic pump bottle, not too big. naruko one comes in a red glass bottle, also provided with a pump that's also covered by a cap. if you're travelling a lot and didn't like to move it to other container, then daiso is safest since it's made of plastic. me, myself, personally, i like daiso better since it's made of plastic. i have 3 kids that are very curious, so having glass bottle around is not ideal. both essence and serum come in 30 ml, so daiso one is definitely hell lot cheaper.

the scent: both has subtle scent. perhaps that job's tears has significant scent. all i can remember is the daiso one somehow smells a bit more alcoholic. the naruko one a bit more fermented. since both are subtle, i don't have any problem with both.

ingredient: let's take a closer look at the ingredients list. same ingredients found in both are marked yellow.

daiso ingredients: water, alcohol, glycerin, sorbitol, butylene glycol, coix lacryma, jobi ma-yuen seed extract, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, hydroxyethylcellulose, carbomer, PEG-40 hidrogenated castor oil, sodium hydroxide, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben

naruko's ingredients: purified water (aqua), sclerotium gum, snow fungus (tremella fuciformis) extract, gluconolactone, taiwan's job's tears (coix-lacryma ~ jobi) extract, niacinamide, sodium hyaluronate, butylene glycol, sodium ascorbyl phosphate, taiwan coix lacryma ~ jobi (jobs tears) seed oil, ethylhexyl stearate, lecithin/ crambe abyssinica seed oil/ meadowfoam seed oil, phragmites kharka extract, poria cocos extract, pentylene glycol, tranexamic acid, ammonium acryloyldimethyltaurate/ vp copolymer, glyceryl polymethacylate, job's tears (coix lacryma-jobi) water, kalanchoe spatulata extract, galactoarabinan, vitis vinifera (grape) leaf extract, alcohol, yeast extract, thiamine HCl, ptridoxine HCl, enantia chlorantha bark extract, oleanolic acid, phenoxyethanol, ethyl ascorbic acid, methylisothiszolinone, phenoxyethanol, iodopropynyl butylcarbanate, malic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, pyrus malus fruit extract, citric acid, glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) root extract, scutellaria alpina flower/ leaf/ stem extract, ginkgo biloba leaf extract, artemisia umbelliformis extract, lentopodium alpinum extract, epilobium flesheri extract, calendula officinalis flower extract, chamomilia recutita (matricaria) flower extract, solicyloyl phtosphingosine.

you can see that daiso one is more simple, but it contains alcohol and methylparaben and castor oil, which i'm pretty sure not many people will like it. the naruko one on the other hand has long list of extracts and also contains alcohol, but it's in the middle of the list. the main ingredient also found in 3 form, extract, oil and water. naruko one also has yeast extract (fermented stuff), glycolic acid and lactic acid (both are AHA), citric acid and sodium ascorbyl phosphate (one of vitamin c derivative), licorice extract (brightening agent) and other extracts which i think will bring good stuff to your skin.

as for ingredients, definitely naruko wins considering it has so many good stuff in it.

the result:

you can see here that the redness of my face is decreasing a bit

no lines on my forehead, which means it's moisturizing adequately

closer on my cheek: redness is reduced, no significant effect on pores.

redness reduces, and acne scar is healed quickly and the scar is faded quickly too

again, no lines on my forehead, so it's moisturizing enough

close up on my cheek: you can see that in one week my acne scar is healed and lightened

naruko essence also works well. it's moisturizing enough as i don't develop any fine lines on my forehead. but the most visible effect is the healing property and brightening effect. i have this nasty acne scar (well, it's my fault, i popped the zit.. my bad..) and somehow it's healed within a week. the scar is pretty lightened too. please notice that i also use vitamin c serum aside from this serum, so i think it must work well in combination with the vitamin c serum.

here's side by side comparison week by week:

both works well in reducing my cheek's redness

both works well in moisturizing my skin

again, notice the redness reduction but the star is the acne scar: notice how it's lightened quick enough on the naruko's side

both serum works well in moisturizing my skin and reducing my redness. i believe raw job's is meant for anti inflammation and soothing the skin, so i guess it works. as for naruko, since it has added vitamin c derivative and brightening agent, i think that helps in lightening the acne scars faster. if you're only looking at moisturizing and soothing serum, then daiso is a cheaper option. it delivers well. but it also contains alcohol quite high in its ingredients list and paraben, so if you're concern about it, you might want to skip this.

as for naruko, it delivers well, and i think the price is quite reasonable for a serum that works well. plus it doesn't contain paraben. if you don't mind paying more to get extra result, then you should buy this serum. as for me, although i like naruko better, i don't like the glass packaging, which is causing my reluctance to repurchase it. but naruko is definitely the winner in this battle for me.