Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence

Q: What is Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence?

A milky essence with fermented rice, ceramides, and probiotics designed to hydrate, soothe, and strengthen the skin barrier.

Q: Is Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence worth it?

Mostly yes. 8 of the 9 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 87%.

Q: What is Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence's Guru Score?

Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence holds a Guru Score of 87%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 9 expert reviewers we have collected. It is also Guru Certified, our mark for products that hold broad approval across many expert reviewers.

Q: Who is Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence best for?

Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence is generally suited to dry skin and sensitive skin.

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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Dr Dray

2.68M subs

✓Yay

"If I were going to rank the Prequel Half and Half, I would not put it above Haru Haru Wonder Black Rice Probiotic Barrier Essence, which I love. It has more of a silky, luxurious texture. It softens and smooths."

All 7 takes from Dr Dray

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"It is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotic Barrier Essence. The perfect lubricant."

Dermatologist Reviews HaruHaru Black Rice Essence: Is It Worth the Hype?

"This does not actually have any niacinamide. I love niacinamide, it [...] works really well for me, one of the most evidence-based ingredients in the cosmetic realm, but it's in everything. And a lot of people these days are like, I can't actually tolerate niacinamide. What else is there? This does not have niacinamide. It's a very nice consistency. I've been using this for a while now. First thing in the morning, I love putting this on my face. Layers really well under sunscreen. It feels a lot more emollient in comparison to other milky toners that I have used. It's also something that's great to use at night. It's very thin, but it moisturizes the skin. [...] Because it's very thin, it layers underneath things very well. [...] It's got that meafoam seed oil. And you really feel that softening, smoothing the skin surface down. It almost kind of clings as you spread it along the skin and cloaks the skin in this nice veil of softness."

Dermatologist Skincare Empties: What I’d Repurchase and What I’d Skip

"This has to be one of my all-time favorite Korean essences, milky toners, whatever you want to call this type of skin care product because it just cloaks your skin. It's very emollient. It's very soothing. It plumps. It hydrates. It has very minimal ingredients. Like there's nothing super jazzy going on in it. There's no niacinamide. There are no peptides. It has ferment filtrates, rice extract, so hydrating, enriched in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, soothing properties, and very supportive of the barrier. It is a little thicker in comparison to like a watery essence, but it's not as heavy as like a full-blown moisturizer. It's even a little thinner than a serum. [...] If you're like me [...] and you want to try something of a similar consistency that offers a similar glowy wow factor, [...] try this. It's very good."

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"This Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence is more emollient in comparison to the Cellamax one. The Cellamax one is a lot more hydrating, feels more like a quenching liquid with a little bit of support to it. This will soften very quickly any flakiness that you have because it has more of an emollient property to it while still being lightweight. It's not an oppressive film. But this is not as much of a quench as far as the sensory experience. It's more of a softening. Love this to bits. Great around the eyes."

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"The Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence is a milky essence with a lightweight, fluid consistency that's soothing and hydrating. It contains ceramides along with panthenol, a hydrating B vitamin, and fermented filtrates like galactomyces ferment filtrate, bifida ferment filtrate, and aspergillus ferment filtrate. These ferments essentially enrich for anti-inflammatory and hydrating compounds, so they're really soothing on the skin barrier. It also has panax ginseng root extract in it, which contains ginsenosides, potent antioxidants. [...] This product does not contain niacinamide, which is great if you don't get along with niacinamide but your barrier is challenged. [...] It's excellent before applying other products or on its own as a standalone moisturizing product to help support and repair the barrier, and it layers well underneath other products so you don't feel like you have too much on there."

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"This is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. This is a really good lightweight hydrator that smooths the surface of the skin as well as plumps. It's very emollient."

Dermatologist Reviews Prequel Half & Half Moisturizer

CYoung

94k subs

✓Nay

"This is a black rice barrier essence and it's basically a lotion. If you have oily or combo skin, skip it, because oils are right at the top of the ingredient list, so it ends up feeling shiny, heavy, and kind of suffocating. If you have dry or mature skin, I'll skip it too, the absorption is just too slow. I tested it side by side with Torriden and VT PDRN, and those absorb quickly and feel comfortable, but this one just sits there, your skin looks oily on the surface but still feels dry underneath, like a film. I think it's trending on Reddit because the fermented ingredients like galactomyces, bifida, and aspergillus cause extreme reactions, some people get glow and some people break out. I didn't break out, but I'm still skipping it. The texture and results just aren't worth it. Save your money, go for Torriden or Numbuzin Number 9 instead."

Liah Yoo

1.19M subs

✓Yay

"There's a lot of rice derived ingredients, a lot of nourishing emollient and it even has shea butter. It [...] also has sunflower seed oil, meadow foam seed oil as well for that extra nourishment and emollient type of experience. Despite all the ingredients, I wouldn't say this is the heaviest formula. This is definitely still a very fast absorbing, almost like a hydrating serum like formula that instantly just melts into the skin leaving your skin pretty dewy and glowy, but it's not like overly greasy or heavy."

Mad About Skin

727k subs

✓Yay

"This is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. This has been around for years and [...] has been on many a top 10 list and for good reason. I love it. Everyone else seems to love it. [...] It comes in a glass bottle, which I like. It's not super expensive, but it feels bougie. [...] It will work for all skin types. [...] It just adds a nice little lift to the skin, a bit of plumpness, a little anti-aging, calming and soothing. It's just a nice allrounder. And particularly if there's like a teenager in your life that wants to get into skin care, but you don't want to use anything too harsh, anything too strong, this is just a nice gateway into skincare. It feels gorgeous. It looks beautiful. It's giftable. I think you'll love it."

Top Pick: toner and essence

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"This is the Haru Haru Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence, and this was a revelation when I tried it. It is the most hydrating toner or essence you are ever going to use. I love the viscosity of it, it's [...] thicker than your average toner or essence and that's a good thing. It's packed full of so many beneficial ingredients, almost like a hybrid between a toner and a serum in terms of its texture. It's like a drink for the skin and you can put multiple layers of this on if you want that maximum plumping and hydrating effect. It's got so many different ceramides in it, so I think this would be a great dupe for any ceramide products that you're using at the moment and want [...] something a bit more exciting. Alongside those ceramides [...] you've also got a beautiful blend of all the calming ingredients, great hydrators and humectants, and some great skin softeners too. Using this you will have the softest, smoothest, plumpy skin of your dreams. [...] There's no stickiness [...] whatsoever. [...] It's not actually that expensive, which I love because it looks a lot bougier than the price point actually implies."

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"This is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. The reason I love this is it's actually an essence with a purpose. A lot of essences just give a little hydration, which is nice, but they don't do much more than just hydrate. I want an essence that's going to hydrate, but also have some calming and soothing properties, have some pro skin barrier elements to it, and really deliver something more than what I could just get from a normal serum. That's what you're getting with this. The packaging is beautiful. This is really heavy as well. This feels like luxury packaging, which I love to see. It's lightweight, it's milky. There's no scent to it whatsoever. It's fragrance free, but it doesn't have a chemically smell to it sometimes. Not at all. This is genuinely scent neutral, and it just feels so good."

AliceintheRabbitHole

59k subs

✓Yay

"This has a creamy appearance with postbiotics. I love this product so much, and look at the ingredients, the formula on this is so good, it's got ceramides, cholesterol, fermented ingredients, it absolutely rivals products that are three times its price. I apply it kind of heavily since this is the kind of product that can act as almost a moisturizer and an essence, you're really getting both hydrating and moisturizing properties from it."

Top Pick: essence

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"This is the best one that came out this year. It almost reminds me of using the Ilia essence, which is a lot more expensive, and yet I actually prefer the ingredients in this one, the humectant, emollient and even some occlusives in this product. It feels like such an all in one product. Absolutely love this, the only thing is remember to shake it as it is a dual layer essence."

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"I am so unbelievably happy with this. This is one of those thick milky essences, and you do have to shake it up, which is my only critique since it's easy to forget in an opaque bottle and then you won't get the two distinct layers combined. But once you pour it out you get this incredibly nourishing thick milky essence, very moisturizing, a bit hydrating, with no added fragrance. This is a very expensive product, but I'm extremely happy with it. They're using a long list of fatty acids, cholesterol ingredients, ceramides in that golden ratio, and both galactomyces ferment filtrate and bifida ferment filtrate. Wonderful product, very pleased with it."

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"This is the Haru Haru Wonder black rice probiotics essence. A lot of people have asked me for an update on this, and I just love it more and more every time I use it. It's affordable, comes in beautiful glass packaging, a gorgeous product to use. When you look at the ingredients you can't help but notice how many are in there that you want in your routine, and the results speak for themselves, it's a very moisturizing and nourishing essence."

Gothamista

684k subs

✓Yay

"I've already gushed about my new favorite rice toner from Haru Haru Wonder, their Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. From the minute you apply it you already feel the difference it makes. This doesn't just absorb and disappear, it makes everything better. This is not just hydrating, it keeps everything as well, and it's got probiotics. I mean I love this, I can keep gushing."

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"My new favorite rice toner is from Haruharu Wonder, their Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. This is less rice water and more like rice cake in liquid form. This makes my skin even look like rice cakes, it's brighter, it's plumper, it's bouncier, it's hydrated, it even feels slightly moisturizing. Love it."

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"This is the rice toner of my dreams and is so perfect for right now. I love rice in skincare, and [...] they use fermented black rice but it also has ferment filtrates like galactomyces. I think that's such a wonderful combination because both ingredients, at least for my skin, are great at just refining the texture and brightening the skin tone. This also contains the powerful barrier fortifying trifecta of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids at the golden ratio of 3 to 1:1. It's also made using a patented process of creating evenly sized microparticles so it can be light and absorb really nicely in the skin. It definitely feels moisturizing though it's not greasy at all. It's just a beautiful, beautiful formula."

Kelly Driscoll

90k subs

✓Yay

"The Haru Haru Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence is a very rich, luxurious cream essence. It's incredibly thick and it packs a lot of moisture into the skin along with all of those great barrier supportive ingredients like ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids. This is going to be really great if you are having barrier issues and it's accompanied with some dryness. It's going to be a great option. Even if you just have some dryness and your barrier is strong, you're still going to really enjoy this. Personally me with combo skin and I am a bit more prone to congestion, but I do have quite a bit of dryness on my skin too. I wait every cold season to break this one out of my skincare stash. It's a little too rich for me in the warmer months personally, but once the cool weather rolls around, I cannot wait to open. I have at least one bottle waiting for me. I absolutely adore this. I recently just started using this about two days ago and I was like, oh yes, my skin my skin wants you back in my life."

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"This is going to be your hero product. It's the investment. It's the non-negotiable. This is what heals your skin barrier. And it's because this product contains ceramides, cholesterol, fatty acids. Your skin barrier naturally is made up of these lipids: 50% of ceramides, 25% of fatty acids, 25% of cholesterol. When your skin barrier is weak, the barrier is depleted. It does not have the lipid content that it needs in order to protect your skin. And this is what leads to the dehydration, the irritation, the itchiness, the redness, the stinging and burning sensation on your skin. So when you strengthen up your skin barrier, you are replacing the ceramides, the cholesterol, the fatty acids. You are fortifying that lipid layer in your skin with these essential, crucial ingredients. [...] Plus, it has some fermented ingredients that help with your skin microbiome, which also helps to take down the inflammation, the stinging, the itchiness, and the redness. This product might feel like a bit of an investment if you're on a tight budget, but it performs just as good, if not better, than products at a much higher price point."

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"I've been using the Haruh Haru since the fall of 2024, so it's been about a year and a half, almost close to two years that I've been using this product pretty consistently in my skincare routines. And what I found through extended use of this product is that I'm absolutely obsessed with it. [...] I really do enjoy it, especially that really rich, creamy consistency. It is incredibly moisturizing, nourishing, calming for my skin. [...] Through my use of the Haru Haru, it is incredibly good at keeping your skin barrier strong. It's also incredibly good at adding in a lot of moisture, a lot of soothing, and a lot of comfort to my skin when it is in a very dry, irritated state. [...] I can't use it in all seasons though. My skin does have an oily T-zone, and it can lean a little bit more on the oily side in the summer months when it's hot and humid where I live. I find that this essence actually feels too heavy for me in that."

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"This is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. I'm obsessed with this. I have been for a while now. I've gone through a lot of bottles of this. This is an amazing barrier strengthening product, particularly for damaged skin barriers, like extreme cases of your barrier needing a lot of repair, right? Not just a little pickme up, but like repair. This is a great product for that. It does come in this cream essence format. This is very creamy. It's not milky, light, watery, runny. It is truly silky, thick cream. Therefore, it's not going to be appropriate for all [...] skin types. This is getting into skin types that are struggling with some dryness, right? This is really good for me, particularly combo skin with some dry areas in the winter time especially. It feels amazing. It can feel heavy in warm weather. That being said though, it could be used like a liquid moisturizer. Some folks do enjoy these cream toner essence types products as like final layers."

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"This is incredibly rich and it could trigger acne or [...] cause clogging. I used this all last winter, 2024 into 2025, and I used it a little too deeply into the spring of 2025, and I started to get white heads. [...] Once those temperatures start to warm up, my skin's not behaving that way anymore. I don't need as much richness. And then this combined with my other products [...] just started to overwhelm my skin. I started to get some congestion on my skin and some white heads. So I took this out and the white heads went away. I know when to take this out of my routine. It is finally empty and I feel good about this being totally empty."

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"This is a newer addition to my favorites category but quite honestly I am in love with this product. It wasn't love at first use, but this product grew and grew and grew on me. By the time my bottle was empty I didn't want to let it go. This essence contains five different varieties of ceramides, we have cholesterol and we have fatty acids. Those three ingredients are what I call the holy trinity of barrier care ingredients. These are the three main lipids that make up the skin barrier. Your skin barrier is made up of about 50% of ceramides, and then 25% of cholesterol and 25% of fatty acids. These lipids help to create that strong structure in the moisture barrier that helps to keep all the moisture or the hydration deep within your skin. It's a two-way barrier so it holds all the good stuff in, but it's also a protective barrier that keeps all the bad stuff out."

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"Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence, look at this texture, [...] it is creamy, it is silky, it is rich, it is moisturizing. This packs a rich moisturizing punch and it's exactly what my skin has been needing over the last month and a half. [...] I'm crushing on this hard right now. It's also bringing some great barrier strengthening ingredients: ceramides, cholesterol, fatty acids, the rice, the probiotic content. It is unlike a lot of the milky and creamy toners or essences that are available in K Beauty which tend to have a wateriness or a lightness to it, this is very rich. It's truly a cream, it's not milk. [...] It is definitely a heavy cream, but it feels so nourishing when your skin needs that nourishment. It is truly a masterclass in some fantastic humectants for the skin, and I think really the beautiful hero ingredient here is the 5% of urea that they're using. This is a fantastic humectant that is not only great for skin that is feeling dehydrated because it is a natural moisturizing factor, it hydrates the skin, it supports your skin barrier, it's just very good for skin health."

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"This is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence and this is so creamy so moisturizing. It's definitely starting to get cooler and so my skin is needing this extra moisture. I have noticed that as I have gotten older, my skin and my body just in general needs a lot more moisture as each year goes by."

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"The word essence makes you think it's going to be a lot lighter. This is one of the most moisturizing creamy essences that I've ever tried. Like it is quite unique. [...] This is my girl Friday when it comes to winter. I started using this last winter and [...] it just gives me everything that my complicated combo skin really really craves. And when that triangle of doom is flaring up, [...] one layer is really all my skin needs. But I will take a couple more drops, just a few, and [...] put a second layer just in the triangle of doom. It feels very soothing."

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"The Haruharu Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. [...] This is the creamiest, the richest, the most moisturizing essence that I've ever tried in my life. It's been my ride or die since last winter. My skin loves this so much. But I will be honest with you, if you have really oily skin, I don't know that it would be my recommendation for you. And [...] with combo skin that can start to get a little bit more oily in warmer temperatures, I [...] was using this into early spring and once my combo skin started to kick in with the oil production, I started getting white heads around my nose, which is my oily area. [...] That's how rich it is. So if you do have oil on your skin, this is not where I would suggest you start."

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"When I first got this at the end of August, it was very moisturizing but a little heavy, a little too rich for my skin at that point in time. I have combo skin and it fluctuates with the season, so I was a little bit more oily at that time. Then in November when it got cold and my skin started feeling really dry, I brought this out and it has been in my routine ever since. My skin just drank this luxurious creamy silky moisturizing essence up so much. However, I do recall a time when this felt thick, it felt heavy, it felt greasy for my skin in the warm months. So knowing that spring is here, I'm questioning whether I should really be repurchasing this."

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"This is the thickest, the most luxurious, the most moisturizing, nourishing, really rich product. And it's all about the barrier. As the name suggests, we do have ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acid content in here. Those are the three lipids that you really need to not only strengthen your skin barrier, but to help repair it if it has been damaged from overexfoliation or if your skin barrier is really worn down by the weather fluctuations. This can be a great product for that because not only does it help to address the dryness and maybe the flakiness or the redness that you're getting or even the irritation, but it actually gets down to the source, which is your moisture barrier. And [...] they're using the golden ratio of them, which basically mimics the ratio of those particular lipids within your skin barrier. So they're just a little bit better for helping with repairing the barrier or helping to strengthen it up or keep it strong."

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"Here is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. And this is a very creamy, incredibly rich, very moisturizing type of essence. And this would be my recommendation if you have a more dry skin type with your dehydrated skin. This is very, very nourishing."

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"It's rich and moisturizing and it feels amazing on my nose, that area when I woke up and looked in the mirror this morning I was seeing some little flakies on my nose because that area is just feeling so dry, so I'm really pressing it in and making sure it gets there, but it just feels so good in this season. I've been really obsessed with this over the last two months or so. It really started to impress me in November, really started to become a staple for me all through December. I've been using this and my bottle is way more than halfway gone. Even for two months of almost continuous morning and nighttime use, this is really something special. Even though it seems like a standard size, you don't need that much because it is so rich. I tend to be an over applier with watery products like toners and essences, but with this one, because a restrained amount really does bring full benefits to your skin because it's so rich and moisturizing, I find that I'm using the appropriate amount and the product's actually lasting me a lot longer."

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"The product that I was referring to being distracted by is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. I remember this from the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. I could not stop using this. [...] I was like, "Guys, I know I kind of have to stop using this because it's starting to get warm outside and this is a very moisturizing essence, but I literally cannot. I think I'm addicted to this. My skin is addicted." I actually tried to stop using this product like in the early spring, like in March and April. I tried to stop. I even emptied a bottle and I was like, "This would be foolish to open a new one because I know I'm not going to get through it by the time the real warm weather starts to roll around." And because it's so moisturizing and my combo skin gets dry and oily depending on the season, it's not going to be a good match. But I stopped using it for a few weeks [...] and I couldn't deal. My skin was missing this product so hard. I was like, I'm just gonna open this other bottle. I just can't. My skin needs it. It's yearning for this product. This is probably the thickest, creamiest essence I've ever used."

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"It makes your skin feel very soft. It feels great if your skin is very dry, but I think it's going to feel oily and overwhelming if your skin's not dry. It's not sticky and doesn't leave your skin too shiny, [...] but you can definitely feel there's [...] a layer of that on top of your skin. [...] I have some mixed feelings on this one. It's slowly starting to grow on me, but I struggled with this product when I first started testing it because it felt too moisturizing, too thick, and it kind of overwhelmed my skin. [...] When I first started to use this, I didn't even want to put a serum on top of it because it was feeling like so much on my skin. It was feeling thick and like it wasn't quite absorbing as well."

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"I absolutely adore it. I am missing it. My skin is kind of craving it right now. [...] This was bringing so much strength and moisture and comfort to my skin. [...] I tried quite a few different things and there was some things I was like yeah I could get on board with this but just wasn't quite hitting properly until I kind of circled back around to this product. [...] It really came out ahead as one of my faves."

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"Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence, OMG it's so silky, it's so rich, it's so creamy, it's so nourishing for the skin and it's giving you all of those good lipids that help to support the moisture barrier. This is a particularly good essence to add into your routine if you're also suffering with dryness and flakiness on your skin. This is a very rich product and I would never recommend this for folks who do have oily skin, it's going to feel too much, it's going to be very heavy and rich for your skin type. I personally do have combination skin but once winter comes I almost treat it as borderline classically dry and that seems to work really well for me."

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"This is a very creamy, milky type of essence, very moisturizing. My skin has gone through it this winter for sure, but this has definitely helped it get through a lot easier. This is really focused on strengthening your skin barrier, but there's also some great antioxidants in here, some fermented content, and some rice which is a great strong antioxidant. It's a category of product that can play into that healthy lit from within glow. It's not just about having even skin, it's about having healthy skin that's truly the difference between people who just have clear skin and people who have bright skin."

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"The Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence is extremely rich and creamy and moisturizing. It has a little bit more moisture and it's a little less wet, so I'm going to use it with a hydrating spray to add a layer of wetness."

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"This product is very true to the name with rice content, which Haruharu is really known for, rice is a nicely moisturizing type of ingredient with various skin conditioning, skin softening, and [...] brightening effects. There's probiotic content in here which can be helpful for the health of the skin barrier as well as the skin microbiome. There's ceramide content, [...] quite a bit of fatty acid content, vitamin sphingosine and phytosterol which do bring some cholesterol content into the formula, so it really does live up to the name as a barrier essence. The texture is pure cream, [...] not a milk toner, not that watery white toner, but straight up silky, nourishing, rich cream. That's how it feels on the skin: it's luxurious, very creamy, very elegant. Even though it does bring a good amount of rich moisture into the skin, it still has a really good absorbency."

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"This is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence and OMG this is thick, creamy, rich, luxurious, and ultra moisturizing. I have combination skin but in the winter time my skin really leans way more dry than it does combo oily, so I really treat my skin nearly like a dry skin type would. I actually started using this product at the end of summer 2024 and I was like this is too heavy for me right now, and so I put it on my shelf. Then the deep fall months rolled around and then winter came and I was like this is it, this is your time to shine, and it did not disappoint me. I am obsessed with this. My skin drinks this beautiful creamy luxurious essence like nobody's business. It feels amazing. It's so barrier restorative, it's so moisturizing, it's so skin softening. It feels awesome. So I absolutely love the ingredients here because there's such a really great mix."

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"The Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence is a straight-up cream essence with no hydration, this is all about moisture, [...] richness, and comfort for the skin. It's absolutely [...] for dry skin. It's silky rich. I've never tried an essence that is this rich. It's emollient, luxurious, elegant. While it's rich, it doesn't feel overly greasy. It still has great absorbency and sinks into the skin like gorgeous thick creamy milk. [...] Such a beautiful texture, such a beautiful experience, and such amazing moisturizing results. I went through three bottles in a row last winter. I was obsessed with this product. I still am."

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"All of these ingredients offer antioxidant protection. They help to boost elasticity within the skin. They help with the anti-aging journey, but they also bring out a healthy vitality to the skin because there's all these micronutrients within these ingredients, especially the fermented ingredients that tease out that really even glowing and healthy complexion. [...] Even if you didn't drink all your water, you will still get this really beautiful glowing complexion by using these types of ingredients because they have all those little micronutrients that your skin needs to tease out that healthy lit from within glow. Plus, I love this texture. It's milky. It's creamy. It's silky. It's luxurious. It's incredibly moisturizing, soothing, nourishing. It will leave your skin so incredibly soft, so incredibly smooth, glossy, plump, and glowing. Like everything you want for glass skin in fall, this texture achieves."

That Was a Mixed Bag of Skincare Empties!

"This is a 10 out of 10 holy grail. Can't recommend enough. Can't live without. I've emptied so many bottles of this. [...] As soon as this one was empty, I immediately opened another bottle, and that one is now [...] about half empty. [...] This is a cold weather staple for me since last year's winter into 2025. The first time I ever used this, I couldn't stop using it, and it's the same story this year. [...] So creamy, so luxurious. This is the thickest, most rich, most moisturizing essence I have ever used, ever tried, ever really seen. It's not watery. It's not milky. It is straight up thick, heavy, almost like whipping cream texture. [...] Heavy cream. Heavy whipping cream. [...] Definitely thick, rich, luxurious."

My Haruharu Top 5 Faves!

"The fermented rice is a very good brightening ingredient for the skin with a lot of antioxidant capabilities. [...] This is an extremely rich, creamy, nourishing essence that packs in a ton of moisture. It's not for oily skin. It's very nourishing, very skin softening, and very good for dry skin. [...] With the lipid content and that [...] creamy texture, it comforts and envelops dry skin and it feels so baby soft. It's delicious. However, when I first started testing this back at the end of August when it was still really hot and quite humid, my skin felt like it was a little thick and a little heavy feeling."

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"This is the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence which you know I absolutely love and I don't have very much left I'm savoring every drop of this. This has been saving my skin this winter."

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"This is a very creamy, very rich, very nourishing essence that contains ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids to really help strengthen up your skin barrier. And it also provides probiotics to the skin, which helps with skin vitality and brightness. The texture is so creamy, silky, rich, and moisturizing. This really is for skin types that are suffering with dryness. So, if you're really feeling it on those chilly spring nights, this is perfect for your PM routine. If you're still feeling dryness in the morning, this is actually a really great combo with that round lab toner because this creates that perfect balance between that hydration our skin is craving and that rich comforting barrier supportive moisture that your dryness really needs."

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"The scent is there. It does linger. Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence. And yes, it is an essence. In my notes, I wrote good enough to be a serum because it truly is that good. Most essences are watery, lightweight, thin, runny. This is not that at all. This is one of the creamiest, richest essence products I have ever used. And it really does blur the line between an essence texture and a serum texture. But it also blurs the line between essence ingredients and serums effective repairing qualities. In the ingredients list, we do have ceramide, cholesterol, and fatty acid content. Haruharu is claiming to use the 3:1 golden ratio of the ceramide cholesterol fatty acid content that actually mimics the ratio that you find in the human skin barrier. It is made up of 50% of ceramides and then 25% of cholesterol and 25% of fatty acids. And then they've married it with some really great fermented ingredients that help to strengthen up the skin microbiome. There is so much emerging research showing that the skin microbiome is your skin's like first line of defense that actually works in tandem deeper in the skin with the skin barrier to help protect your skin overall."

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"Haru Haru Wonder Probiotics Barrier Essence. This is one of the most sophisticated barrier repair products that I use. It has multiple ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids in the golden ratio of 3:1 that closely mirrors what's in your actual skin barrier. It's a bit of an extra product in the routine, but it's balancing and replenishing my skin while building in ceramide, cholesterol, and fatty acid content that's crucial for healing."

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"I started using this in the fall of 2024 and I really haven't stopped using it since, though in warmer weather it feels a little too heavy so I retire it for the three months of very hot weather where I live and then bring it back. It has the right mix of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids in the right ratios that mimic the natural lipids in your skin barrier, which is what you need to keep your barrier strong and healthy or repair it if it's weak or damaged, and that's why it's one of my favorite recommendations for barrier strengthening or repair. There's also some probiotic content in here that helps with your complexion. It's incredibly nourishing, one of the richest, most moisturizing products out there, but also one of the most healing and barrier strengthening essences I've ever tried, and it's actually powerful enough that I often use it like a serum too."

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"One of my all-time favorites to recommend, Haruh Haru Probiotics Barrier Essence. This has all of the lipid content that you are looking for and it is designed to help strengthen up your skin barrier. While this is an essence, this actually has that creamy moisturizing texture that can be very beneficial for skin types that have a little bit more dryness. I personally have combo skin and my dry areas which are around my chin go way more dry as the temperatures start to get cooler and this product really hits in that circumstance. If your skin is a little bit more oily, you may enjoy this as a liquid moisturizer product, but please know that this is a very rich product."

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"This is really the hero when it comes to barrier repair. Something like this that you layer in your routine that is a replacement for those actives that could potentially be adding to the irritation. What this is is just this beautiful lightweight emollient milky texture. This product's actually viral on social media, and I think it's because of how good it feels on the skin, because I think a lot of people, even influencers who try lots of different products, have an irritated skin barrier, and so they end up gravitating towards a product like this. Like you can see, it's very milky, and that milkiness just feels so good on sensitive skin. But, it's not just milky for no reason. This has those barrier restoring ingredients. It actually mimics the natural skin barrier. So, it has the ceramides, the cholesterol, and the fatty acids in the ratio that our normal skin barrier has it. It just feels so calming on the skin, and it has those incredible ingredients, and it's fragrance-free. The elegance of the packaging actually meets the elegance of the formulation of this product. It just plays well with so many skin types, and it's a great foundation for hydration and soothing your skin. Because it's not like a rich cream, you will be able to layer a richer cream and occlusive on top of this to help lock everything in and protect your skin even further."