Laneige Water Sleeping Pack Plus

The Laneige Water Sleeping Pack Plus came out may be a year ago and is an updated version of the original Water Sleeping Pack. And when it first came out, let me tell you, like a slippery fish it was more than a little difficult to get a hold of. Well, not difficult at all if you were willing to pay an arm and a leg, but I wasn't that desperate, so stalked Sasa.com for months. They had the most reasonable prices I've seen so far, but the item was constantly out of stock. The moment it comes back into stock, it would sell out again. A whole year later, I finally gave in and bought one from Ebay. Sigh...I guess I was desperate after all.

No pictures of the box, unfortunately. I was so excited I tore into the package and threw out the box before I had a chance to take a picture. Woops.


So was this product worth the Ebay desperation? I'd say yes. There are a couple of significant differences between the original Sleeping Pack and the updated Sleeping Pack Plus, so if you are looking at both and wondering which to try, I'd say go for the Sleeping Pack Plus. And by the way, Laneige just came out with yet another updated version called the Water Sleeping Pack EX. I snatched up this latest version as well the moment Sasa.com stocked it, so I will probably review it later in a few months.



Similarities
- Texture: Compare the 2 pictures and you will see both versions of the pack look identical in color. They are identical in their light and gel-cream-like texture as well.
- Effect: both are hydrators with no oil ingredients (see the Ingredients List for the Sleeping Pack Plus below). The Sleeping Pack Plus have only a few ingredients less than the original Sleeping Pack, so thankfully that didn't change how the Sleeping Pack Plus works for my skin. When I get itchy red bumps on my cheek due to dehydration, a night with the pack on will restore my skin and get rid of the dryness. I have been using both the Sleeping Pack and the Sleeping Pack Plus end on end for many months now and I honestly don't really see a difference between the two and what they do.

Differences
- Cosmetic elegance: This is probably the most significant difference between the two and one that really win me over for the Sleeping Pack Plus. The trouble I initially had with the original Sleeping Pack was that it was so damn sticky! Only later on did I learned to use it as a hydrator instead, i.e. applying a whole lot less than the suggested amount to avoid the annoying stickiness. Mind you, the Sleeping Pack works really well in that regards, but I still can't use it as the intended sleeping pack. The Sleeping Pack Plus, however, is absolutely not sticky at all! No matter how much I put on, it absorbed so quickly and fully I would often forget I even had it on! So where as the original Sleeping Pack is limited to my use only as a hydrator, I can use the Sleeping Pack Plus as both a hydrator and a sleeping pack, just as it was intended for use.
- Fragrance: a lot of people said that they both smell the same, and while I agree they do smell a bit similar, ultimately I think they are different fragrances. First off, the Sleeping Pack Plus is not as strongly perfumed as the Sleeping Pack. Secondly, whereas the Sleeping Pack is a sharper clean scent, the Sleeping Pack Plus is a sweeter musky scent. Immediately upon application, it reminds me of the older Revlon Fire & Ice Perfume that came out in the mid 90's. Then again, this is based on my memory of what the Fire & Ice perfume smelled like and since it has been more than 15 years since I last smelled that perfume, my memory might have played some tricks on me.
- Packaging: packaging is most of the time trivial in my book as long as the product carries its own weight. I said most of the time because there are time when I buy a product solely because of its packaging. Regardless, in this case I think the original Sleeping Pack's packaging is cheap-looking and the Sleeping Pack Plus is much better packaged.



Water Sleeping Pack Plus:
Water, Butylene Glycol, Cyclomethicone, Glycerin, Trehalose, Alcohol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Vaccinium Angustifolium (blueberry) Fruit Extract, Dimethiconol, Dimethicone, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimenthicone, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Vp Copolymer, Polysorbate 20, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Polyquaternium-51, Mannitol, Arginine, Serine, Sucrose, PCA, Citrulline, Glycogen, Histidine HCL, Alanine, Threonine, Glutamic Acid, Lysine HCL, Magnesium Aspartate, Zinc Gluconate, Calcium Gluconate, Copper Gluconate, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Sodium Chondroitin Sulfate, Atelocollagen, Beta-Glucan, Yeast Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Whey, Disodium EDTA, Chlorophenesin, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben, Fragrance, Blue 1, Yellow 5.
***List of ingredients from Makeup Alley member fionam's review of both the Water Sleeping Pack Plus and the original Water Sleeping Pack.

See my previous Laneige Water Sleeping Pack post.