Review: Bio-Water B9 Hydration, CicaPepta Repair & Peony Acmella Serum (Neulii)

This product was sent to me for review purposes.

If you subscribe to me on Youtube, then you may have seen the Neulii haul that I posted last year. It’s taken me a long time to actually get into using and reviewing these products (mostly because I have so many skincare products lined up for reviews), but it also means that I am definitely taking my time to thoroughly test every single product.

For this post, I want to discuss the three serums that are currently available in the range. Personal experiences will be added to this post as I go through them but, in the meantime, let’s discuss what the three are too!

At the time of writing, I have only tested out the CicaPepta Repair Serum (to really wonderful results) so the Bio-Water B9 Hydration Serum and Peony Acmella Antioxidant Serum will be to follow. If you’d like to get your hands on these and try them out yourself, then check out the Neulii brand at RoseRoseShop.

And now, let’s get into this review!

About the Brand

The first time that I tried anything from Neulii was back in 2016, when they were still relatively new. Since then, they have further developed both their formulations and packaging, to result in a brand that is more sophisticated but still maintains its original goals.

This indie brand was established by RoseRoseShop but is available at a number of other online stores too. At the moment, they have a few different lines available – their Original Line (which is what I am reviewing), the Red Line (for troubled and sensitive skin), and their Green Line (which as a very interesting number system for different skin types). Looking at their products, you can tell that they’ve put a lot on genuine effort into researching and formulating these products – in the end, the brand aims to merge quality and affordability, to become a sort of ‘no frills’ skincare line.

You can read my previous review of their older serums here but, since they have now been reformulated, that post is probably not very useful anymore. Instead, just read on 😀

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Bio-Water B9 Hydration Serum | USD$9.73 (On sale for $6.81)

The Bio-Water B9 Hydration Serum is a fairly straightforward one. According to the product description, this “contains vitamin B9, moisturising the dry skin by rapidly penetrating moisture into the skin.” It also aids no only with hydration, but also with moisture retention through strengthening the skin barrier.

The key ingredients/points for this serum include:

Bio-Water

This is made of similar parts to natural skin. It contains both water-soluable (Acetyl Glutamine, Alanine, Glycine, Sodium PCA and Polysaccharide) and oil-soluable components (Ceramide NP, Oleic Acid and Triglycerides) to help strengthen the skin barrier.

Vitamin B9

According to the website, “folic acid is one of the essential nutrients for skin”. In this serum, this ingredient is extracted by a new liquid fermentation technology.

Skin Soothing Ingredients

In addition to those, this serum also contains Catechin, Anthocyanin and Natural Green Tea Extracts, Acai Palm and Aronia Fruit. This helps to both calm irritated skin and also protect from any harmful environmental factors.

Personal Experiences

This serum has a very liquid, watery sort of texture that has a tendency to drip. Thinner textures like this generally absorb quickly into skin and would be suitable for a wide range of skin types.

This section will be updated once I have properly tried out the product.

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CicaPepta Repair Serum | USD$13.84 (On sale for $9.69)

If you’re having trouble with tired, irritated or damaged skin, then the CicaPepta Repair Serum is a good one to consider. This serum contains Centella Asiatica and Peptides to “[revitalise a] rough and tired appearance while soothing and repairing skin barrier.” This functions similarly to the Hydration Serum in that it also helps to repair the skin barrier, but this focuses more on recovery and soothing.

The key points for this serum include:

Calming Damaged Skin

Centella Asiatica Leaf Extract, Madecassoside and Triterpene of Asiaticoside help to sooth and calm damaged skin.

Moisturize and Strengthen the Skin Barrier

Contains five types of moisture ingredients to hydrate skin and also contains Panthenol to strengthen the moisture barrier.

Restoring the Skin Barrier

The serum uses five types of Peptides from Bio-Placenta to restore the skin barrier from external environmental damage.

Personal Experiences

This serum has a slightly thicker consistency which (as you can see from the texture photo right at the bottom of this post) almost doesn’t drip at all. It has an instant cooling sensation when applied and spreads over skin like a gel cream. It does feel a little bit slippery though and takes a while to fully absorb into skin – but isn’t too bad. However, this is something that I would personally prefer to use at night instead of underneath make up.

That being said, I had really great experiences with this! I turned to this serum when I as getting a lot of scarring from my hormonal break outs – in particular some atrophic scars which I had never had before. I wanted something that would help my skin to heal properly so as to prevent that happening further; and suffice to say, this worked!

By adding this serum into my evening skincare routine, and focusing it mainly on problem areas, I found that my skin healed a lot faster and better too. Since using this, I have not had any more issues with scarring (all that’s left are pigmentation scars which were pre-existing). I was very happy with this serum.

Here’s the verdict!

SO WHAT IS IT?

A gel-like serum to soothing and heal irritated and damaged skin

RATINGS

• PRICE POINT | 5/5
• PACKAGING | 4/5
• ABSORPTION | 3/5
• SOOTHING | 5/5
• HEALING | 5/5
• HYDRATION | 4/5

OVERALL RATING? 8.7/10

THOUGHTS? This serum worked really well for me. Considering that it is the first one that I tried out of the three, it’s definitely set the bar high. I would recommend this for acne prone or damaged skin.

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Peony Acmella Antioxidant Serum | USD$11.16

Lastly, it’s the Peony Acmella Antioxidant Serum. This contains Peony Root Extract and Gatuline Expression to aid in soothing and elasticising rough/tired skin. It is targeted for those who are concerned with skin-aging and want something to delay the early signs (loss of elasticity, dull or dry skin, and the development of wrinkles).

Although I have never put too much thought into anti-aging products (see my post from 2016 where I said that the anti-aging serum wasn’t suitable for me), I’m starting to feel like I should look into it. Now in my late 20’s and leading a fairly hectic and anxious-driven lifestyle, it’s probably time.

The key points for this serum include:

Purely Natural Peony Flower Extract from Mt. Jiri

High quality Peony Flower Extracts are sourced from Mt. Jiri – where the flowers bloom every May – to care for skin texture and to revitalize.

Improve wrinkles with a natural botox effect

Oleracea Extract from Madagascar contains Spiranthol – which is a botox-like ingredient. This aids with wrinkle care, as well as softening and smoothing skin.

Giving Vitality

Similarly to the Hydration Serum, this contains Catechin, Anthocyanin and Natural Green Tea Extracts, Acai Palm and Aronia Fruit to give vitality and nourish dull skin.

Personal Experiences

Since this is a more natural approach to an antioxidant/anti-aging serum, I feel like this would be a good one to start out with. Since my skin is still relatively young (I even have the break outs to show for it haha), I don’t want to immediately jump in with anything too intense. As per the product description, I feel like this is primarily targeted for later 20s to mid 30s, to care for the initial signs of aging.

The texture of this is slightly thinner than the CicaPepta Repair (which was gel-like), but is still similar to a gel. It smooths over skin easily and takes a moment to absorb – again, similar to the CicaPepta Repair. There’s no tackiness or greasy residue with this, so I think that it would be suitable for a variety of skin types. I primarily used this at night (since I don’t use serums as part of my morning routine) so I’m unsure of how it will perform under makeup.

Over the past few weeks, I have noticed some improvements in my skin appearance but it’s all subtle. With long term use, this might help with fighting those initial signs of aging but I don’t see it being much different to a typical hydration/revitalising serum. If you’d like actual wrinkle control, then it’s better to use a specialised product.

SO WHAT IS IT?

An antioxidant serum claiming to fight early signs of aging

RATINGS

• PRICE POINT | 5/5
• PACKAGING | 4/5
• ABSORPTION | 3/5
• REVITALIZING | 3/5
• ANTI-AGING | 1/5
• TEXTURE | 2/5

OVERALL RATING? 6/10

THOUGHTS? If you’re after an anti-aging serum, then I think that there’s better on the market. I’m not sure if it’s because this is a low-potency formula (since it is targeted for early signs) or if it’s just me, but I really didn’t see benefits in that area. It was similar to any other hydrating serum for me and didn’t give anything more than that.

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Let me know in the comment section below (or by messaging me on Instagram) if you’ve tried out anything from Neulii before! I’m definitely interested into their Red Line so I feel like I may check that out sometime in the future too. Remember that they are available at a number of online stores but, personally, I would always recommend to go directly to the source – RoseRoseShop. They’ve done such a brilliant job of developing this brand and proving that they are really here to deliver.

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