Versus

Secret Key Starting Treatment Essence Versus Skinfood Royal Honey Propolis Enrich Essence

Essence
Essence
Korean Brand South Korea
Korean Brand South Korea

Updated on February 27, 2025

Overview

What they are

These products are both reef safe essences. They have a total of 5 ingredients in common

Cool Features

They both contain hyaluronic acid

Suited For

They're both likely to be good for anti aging, dry skin, brightening skin, sensitive skin, scar healing and dark spots

Free From

They both do not contain any harsh alcohols, common allergens, oils, parabens, silicones or sulfates

We independently verify ingredients, and our claims are backed by peer-reviewed research. Spot a product that needs an update? Let us know.

Ingredient Info

Click any item below to learn more and see relevant ingredients

What's inside (and what isn't)

What's inside (and what isn't)

At a glance

Click on any of the items below to learn more

Benefits

Concerns

Benefits

Ingredients Side-by-side

found in both products
Starting Treatment Essence

Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting

Glycerin is already naturally found in your skin. It helps moisturize and protect your skin.

A study from 2016 found glycerin to be more effective as a humectant than AHAs and hyaluronic acid.

As a humectant, it helps the skin stay hydrated by pulling moisture to your skin. The low molecular weight of glycerin allows it to pull moisture into the deeper layers of your skin.

Hydrated skin improves your skin barrier; Your skin barrier helps protect against irritants and bacteria.

Glycerin has also been found to have antimicrobial and antiviral properties. Due to these properties, glycerin is often used in wound and burn treatments.

In cosmetics, glycerin is usually derived from plants such as soybean or palm. However, it can also be sourced from animals, such as tallow or animal fat.

This ingredient is organic, colorless, odorless, and non-toxic.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Learn more about Glycerin
Humectant, Masking, Skin Conditioning

Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:

Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient that works well with other ingredients.

Though this ingredient works well with most skin types, some people with sensitive skin may experience a reaction such as allergic rashes, closed comedones, or itchiness.

Learn more about Butylene Glycol
Skin Conditioning

This extract comes from Purslane, a succulent. It has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and hydrating properties.

Purslane is very nutritious. It contains omega-3 fatty acids, NMFs, many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The vitamins found in purslane include: Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and Vitamin E.

Fun fact: Purslane is a succulent with an extensive habitat. It is used in traditional Korean medicine to treat irritated skin.

Nowadays, purslane is becoming a superfood due to its highly nutritious content.

Learn more about Portulaca Oleracea Extract

Disodium EDTA plays a role in making products more stable by aiding other preservatives.

It is a chelating agent, meaning it neutralizes metal ions that may be found in a product.

Disodium EDTA is a salt of edetic acid and is found to be safe in cosmetic ingredients.

Learn more about Disodium EDTA
Skin Conditioning

Saccharomyces Ferment is created from fermenting and filtering saccharomyces, a group of fungus that includes yeasts. It is a humectant and helps hydrate the skin.

This ingredient contains amino acids, beta-glucan, and vitamins. Beta-glucan is a potent antioxidant and may help with the signs of aging.

This ingredient may not be fungal-acne safe.

Learn more about Saccharomyces Ferment

When to use

12 Routines
67% use in am
33% use in pm
83% use every day
178 Routines
44% use in am
57% use in pm
89% use every day
When to use See routines that use it ->

Reviews

Here's what our community thinks

Secret Key Starting Treatment Essence 35 ingredients

Starting Treatment Essence hasn't been rated yet.
Rate it now

Skinfood Royal Honey Propolis Enrich Essence 15 ingredients

3.4 /5
from 8 ratings
Broke Me Out (3) Absorbs Well (3) Hydrating (2)
Butter's avatar

Butter

1 year ago
Review

โ‹†.เณƒเฟ”*:๏ฝฅ ๐ŸคŽ

๐Ÿฅฅ ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ž: ๐ƒ๐ซ๐ฒ/๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž, ๐š๐œ๐ง๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐œ๐ณ๐ž๐ฆ๐š ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ž.

๐Ÿชด ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ:

ยทหš เผ˜โ‚Šยท อŸอŸอžอž๊’ฐโžณ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฅ'๐ฏ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐š๐œ๐ง๐ž, ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐›๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ค ๐ฆ๐ž ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ. ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ‘% ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ% ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ% ๐ซ๐จ๐ฒ๐š๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ก๐ฒ๐๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง. ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž Show more

#expensive
#hydrating
#absorbs well
#no scent
Lapaki's avatar

Lapaki

4 months ago
Review

I really wanted to love this, especially since itโ€™s an affordable alternative to Guerlainโ€™s Abeille Royale line and contains some great ingredients. At first, it made my skin look and feel nice, but the longer I used it, the more I noticed small pimples appearing. Thankfully, the breakout calmed down about a week after I stopped using it.

#expensive
#hydrating
#broke me out
#light