Bird’s Nest - Asian Beauty Ingredients Discovered

Living in (South-East) Asia, there is no doubt you have come across exotic and mysterious ingredients in cosmetics that, back at home, you wouldn’t never even consider rubbing on your face. Horse Placenta, Snail Slime, Bird’s Nest, to mention some: by our Western frame of reference, the one ingredient sounds even more shocking and horrifying than the other. Apart from some initial disgust, I can’t help to be incredibly curious to what these ingredients do for our beauty according to local Asian believes. What are the promised results? How do these products feel and what do they smell like? Someone’s gotta do the dirty job, so in the coming weeks I'll go down and dirty to test some products non-Asians would otherwise stay far away from. I bet it’s going to be quite a ride…

I’ll start off with Bird’s Nest, reviewing “My Beauty Diary’s Imperial Bird’s Nest Mask", that promises to be “ultra nourishing, firming and hydrating”. I have a bit of bird phobia going on, so coming near anything – let alone my face- associated with these feathered little monsters makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable.  Bird’s Nest’s are commonly called the “Caviar of the East” as they are particularly high prized in Chinese culture, because of their rarity and supposedly high nutritional value, exquisite flavour and healing properties. This conviction goes all the way back to the time of the Chinese Tang emperors (618-907 AD). Nowadays, in Singapore a Bird’s Nest’s retail for as much as 400 SGD per 75 grams at Eu Yan Sang, Singapore’s leading health and wellness company in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The nests, that are not only found in cosmetics but also used as an ingredient in food (mainly soup), are harvested from South-East Asian Swiftlets, a type of swallows. These birds live in limestone caves around the Indian Ocean, in South and South East Asia, North Australia and the Pacific Islands, and build their nest from strands of saliva that they attach to the vertical walls of caves. The nests are half-moon shaped and the colour depends on the type of bird and the diet of the bird, and can differ in colour from translucent white to dark brown. After harvest, the nests are cleaned (thank god), dried and/or processed before they are sold. The smell should be neutral, which is a relieve to me, although at this point I’m increasingly starting to regret my decision to test this product…

According to widespread belief, the nest’s contain nutrients that helps cell regeneration, increases collagen synthesis, tightens the skin, keeps skin luminous, and improves the complexion and radiance of the skin. Studies have detected Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) activity in swiftlet nests, in particular a study by researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. These EGF proteins are known to stimulate cell regeneration and growth. This process helps to make skin supple, while combating the ageing effects of wrinkles and sagging skin, making it popular as a skin care ingredient in the cosmetics industry (see source). I can definitely combat some starting wrinkles, so bring it on!

THE TEST: "My Beauty Diary" Imperial Bird’s Nest Mask

Easily available at a.o. Watson’s and Guardian, the masks comes in a box of  10 sachets containing 23ml of product each. The dark red and gold of the packaging give the product a very traditional Chinese feeling, and made me feel like I bravely  stepped a outside of my expat bubble, ‘doing as the locals do’. Although  traditional, the product looks kind of cute as well (as opposed to some terrifying die-hard Traditional Chinese Medicine products) which makes me less scared to try it. I took a deep breath and opened one of the sachets…

The mask needs to be applied on the face by means of a pre-shaped tissue layer (that you need to remove from a plastic layer first, which I did not do in my excitement to test the product and which made me look like the killer from the ‘Scream’ movies). Also with just the one translucent mask layer on your face, you look somewhat ridiculous so lock your bathroom to avoid anyone seeing you like this for your own sake. The actual product that the tissue layer is soaked with, has a liquid gel-like texture and smells actually pretty good, very subtle and gratefully does not reminds me of birds or their nests in any way. The product is a bit too liquid to my liking, and kept dropping off my chin on the floor and on my chest. This could also be due to the fact that the pre-shaped form of the mask was somewhat too small and round for my Western oblong-shaped face. I tried the mask therefore twice; one time I kept the tissue mask on for the prescribed 20-30 minutes, and the second time I removed the tissue after 3 minutes making sure I had enough product on my face, which I left on accordingly for 20-30 minutes. As far as I could see, there was no difference between the two methods, based on the way my skin looked and felt afterwards.

Overall the product was pretty OK to use, however I could not get over the ‘bird’ fact and was dying to get the product off my face after 25 minutes. Gruesomely, I then saw the instructions said to massage the remaining essence into my skin instead of washing it off, and apply my other skin care products subsequently as if nothing happened. Aargh!  So in the name of beauty I went where I thought I wouldn’t go; I did not rinse the product off to test the effect on my skin on one half of my face (right side), whereas I used a cotton pad with a bit of water to remove some of the product on the other half (left side) of my face. I then applied a moisturizing cream on both sides of my face. In my opinion both sides of my face felt somewhat firmer and definitely looked more radiant, so removing the remains of the product seems to work just as well. The right side of my face (with all product still there) felt a bit stickier throughout the day however, so if I were to repeat this routine I would definitely go for the option to remove a bit of the product.

CONCLUSION:

Fun experience, as I must say I found it quite an adventure to try this product. My skin did show more radiance after I used the mask, but I didn’t like the way in which the mask must be applied and the fact that the product should not be washed off afterwards. I will definitely try to find some other products that have Bird’s Nest as an ingredient, as I did see some interesting effects, but preferably in another form of product like a wash-off formula in a pump, pot or tube. 

"My Beauty Diary" Imperial Bird's Nest Mask is available in Singapore at a.o. Watson and Guardian drugstores, and retails for around 15 SGD for a pack of 10 masks.