Verified Beauty Data

Dupe report Nº 011 / Galactomyces ferment filtrate essences

SK-II Facial Treatment Essence dupes, ranked by formula match

Updated

MIZON lists 94.5% galactomyces, the main ingredient in SK-II, for $23.30. SK-II costs $99.

02 / The scoreboard

3 formulas, one number that matters

Read the actives column first — it is the apples-to-apples comparison. $ per gram of active is what the working ingredients cost you; the base-formula score is supporting evidence, not the verdict.

Product Actives vs original $ / g of active Price Base formula Verdict
SK-II Facial Treatment Essence Ingredient disclosed; concentration undisclosed in INCI (brand claims >90% Pitera) — not disclosed $99.00 75 mL · direct 100% the reference The original
Same active percentages differ or are undisclosed
MIZON Skin Power Original First Essence Concentration disclosed on product (94.5% Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate) $0.12 $23.30 210 mL · Amazon 82% highest measured The winner Amazon →
PURITO Galacto Niacin 97 Power Essence 92% galactomyces and 5% niacinamide stated on PURITO's Amazon listing; INCI from INCIDecoder $0.32 $17.60 60 mL · Amazon 74% Fragrance-free pick Amazon →

✓ same % as original ≠ different % ? in formula, % undisclosed — not in formula

03 / The original

Why the original is the original

The entire formula is six ingredients: Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate (Pitera), two glycols, water, and two preservatives. SK-II claims the ferment filtrate makes up more than 90% of the formula and calls it Pitera — a proprietary name for a galactomyces yeast ferment filtrate produced using a specific strain and fermentation process developed by SK-II parent company P&G. Galactomyces ferment filtrate is a real and credible ingredient class: the AhR/filaggrin activation pathway is peer-reviewed (PMID:25786502; PMID:36012891) and associated with barrier reinforcement and texture improvement.

The honest context: the vast majority of published research on galactomyces ferment filtrate and Pitera is conducted by or for P&G and SK-II. Independent randomized controlled trials are essentially absent. The 12-month longitudinal study showing improvements in wrinkles, spots, and roughness (PMID:36769815) is one of the few peer-reviewed references — and it is industry-affiliated. The 90%+ claim cannot be verified from the INCI, which lists Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate first but discloses no percentage. This is standard INCI practice — the order is mandated, the percentage is not.

What Pitera charges for is not a secret active: galactomyces ferment filtrate is a commercially available ingredient. What it charges for is the specific proprietary strain, the fermentation process, and four decades of brand mythology built around a chance discovery at a sake brewery. MIZON discloses 94.5% of the same ingredient class at $23.30 for 210 mL. Whether the specific Pitera strain and process justify the premium is a question the science cannot currently answer — which is precisely what you should know before buying either.

04 / The candidates

Every candidate, examined

01 / MIZON

The winner
MIZON Skin Power Original First Essence bottle
$0.12 per g of active
$23.30 retail · 210 mL
82% base formula · highest of 6

MIZON Skin Power Original First Essence

Shared formula DNA 2 of 6 original ingredients present
Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate Butylene Glycol Pentylene Glycol Water Sodium Benzoate Methylparaben

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
The same active ingredient class — Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate — at a disclosed 94.5%, listed first on the INCI. MIZON is the only candidate on this page that matches SK-II's active at the genus level and discloses its concentration. Both formulas share butylene glycol, niacinamide, glycerin, adenosine, and sodium hyaluronate. At $0.12 per gram of active and $23.30 for 210 mL, it is the most transparent and affordable galactomyces-first essence on the market.
What differs
MIZON adds fragrance — orange peel oil, lavender oil, bergamot fruit oil, clary sage oil, palmarosa oil, and limonene — ingredients SK-II's formula deliberately excludes. SK-II's six-ingredient deck is one of the cleanest in prestige skincare. If your skin is fragrance-reactive, MIZON is not a clean swap; SK-II's minimalist formula is actually safer on sensitizer risk. MIZON also adds essential oils flagged as potential phototoxins (bergamot, citrus peel) — wear SPF regardless, but this is worth noting if you use it mornings.
Who it's for
The winner — for anyone who wants galactomyces ferment filtrate at a disclosed 94.5% concentration for $23 versus $100+. Understand what the trade-off actually is: MIZON adds fragrance SK-II avoids. If fragrance is not a concern for your skin, this is the galactomyces bet at a fraction of the price. If you are fragrance-sensitive, PURITO below is the scent-free option.
Ships in
Packaging not verified No brand or retailer statement on the bottle — we won’t guess.
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Concentration disclosed on product (94.5% Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate) MIZON discloses 94.5% Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate on product packaging and marketing; INCI from INCIDecoder (incidecoder.com/products/mizon-skin-power-original-first-essence).

$23.30 for 210 mL → $0.12 per gram of active. The original discloses no active percentage, so there is no per-gram figure to compare it against.

Buy on Amazon $23.30

02 / PURITO

Fragrance-free pick
PURITO Galacto Niacin 97 Power Essence bottle
$0.32 per g of active
$17.60 retail · 60 mL
74% base formula · 2nd of 6

PURITO Galacto Niacin 97 Power Essence

Shared formula DNA 3 of 6 original ingredients present
Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate Butylene Glycol Pentylene Glycol Water Sodium Benzoate Methylparaben

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Galactomyces ferment filtrate is the first ingredient, and PURITO's Amazon listing states 92% galactomyces plus 5% niacinamide. It shares three of SK-II's six listed ingredients: galactomyces ferment filtrate, butylene glycol and pentylene glycol. Like SK-II, it has no fragrance or essential oils.
What differs
It costs more per mL than MIZON: $17.60 for 60 mL, about $0.29 per mL, versus about $0.11 for MIZON. It adds niacinamide and two other ferments (soybean and lactobacillus) that SK-II does not use. The 92% figure comes from the brand's listing, not a lab test.
Who it's for
The fragrance-free pick. Buy it if MIZON's essential oils bother your skin, or if you want SK-II's short, scent-free style for much less. It is still about a fifth of SK-II's price per mL.
Ships in
Packaging not verified No brand or retailer statement on the bottle — we won’t guess.
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
92% galactomyces and 5% niacinamide stated on PURITO's Amazon listing; INCI from INCIDecoder PURITO's official Amazon listing (sold by PURITO KOREA, checked 2026-10-01) states 92% Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate and 5% Niacinamide. INCI from incidecoder.com/products/purito-galacto-niacin-97-power-essence (user upload, 2023). INCIDecoder flags it fragrance-free and essential-oil-free.

$17.60 for 60 mL → $0.32 per gram of active. The original discloses no active percentage, so there is no per-gram figure to compare it against.

Buy on Amazon $17.60

05 / Methodology

How we verified this

Verified October 1, 2026

Every formula on this page was tokenized — split into its individual INCI ingredients — and matched against the EU CosIng ingredient database, so "Aqua," "Water," and "Eau" all resolve to the same ingredient.

The base-formula match score works like this: sharing a rare ingredient counts far more than sharing a common one. Almost every serum contains water and glycerin — that proves nothing. Almost nothing contains Ethoxydiglycol or Laureth-23, so when a candidate shares those with the original, it says something real about how the formula was built. (For the statisticians: it is an IDF-weighted Jaccard similarity over the normalized ingredient lists.)

Scores are computed, not opinions. The verdict tags are our editorial read of the actives, the scores, and the prices — and the methodology stays public so you can disagree with us precisely.

Where the ingredient lists come from

  1. Ingredient disclosed; concentration undisclosed in INCI (brand claims >90% Pitera)

  2. Concentration disclosed on product (94.5% Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate)

  3. 92% galactomyces and 5% niacinamide stated on PURITO's Amazon listing; INCI from INCIDecoder

Sources for this report

  • INCIDecoder product pages (live crawl 2026-06)
  • Brand DTC product pages (live crawl 2026-06)
  • our product records ingredient data (2026-06)
  • SK-II Facial Treatment Essence INCIDecoder: incidecoder.com/products/sk-ii-facial-treatment-essence
  • MIZON Skin Power Original First Essence INCIDecoder: incidecoder.com/products/mizon-skin-power-original-first-essence
  • PURITO Galacto Niacin 97 Power Essence INCIDecoder: incidecoder.com/products/purito-galacto-niacin-97-power-essence
  • Amazon product pages for MIZON (B00EMKSFUQ) and PURITO (B077QN7GRR), prices and stock read every day

06 / Questions

Frequently asked

Is MIZON as good as SK-II Facial Treatment Essence?
For galactomyces ferment filtrate — the active — MIZON discloses 94.5% on the product at $23.30 for 210 mL. SK-II does not disclose its concentration and charges $99 for 75 mL. The active ingredient class is the same. The meaningful differences: SK-II has a six-ingredient minimal formula that deliberately excludes fragrance; MIZON adds essential oils (lavender, bergamot, orange peel, limonene) that SK-II avoids and that are documented sensitizers. For galactomyces at a disclosed concentration without the premium, MIZON delivers it. For a cleaner, fragrance-free formula with brand pedigree, SK-II is the product MIZON cannot fully replace.
Why is SK-II so expensive?
SK-II prices for brand, ritual, and four decades of Pitera mythology — not for a uniquely rare raw material. Galactomyces ferment filtrate is a commercially available cosmetic ingredient. SK-II claims a proprietary yeast strain and fermentation process, neither of which is independently verified or patented in a way that prevents competitors from using the ingredient class. The six-ingredient minimal formula (ferment, two glycols, water, two preservatives) has a very low raw material cost. The $99 price reflects prestige positioning, aspirational packaging, and cultural cache — principally in Japan and the Asian beauty market — not a proven clinical superiority that the science can currently support.
Is galactomyces proven to work?
Directionally, yes — with important caveats. The AhR/filaggrin activation mechanism is peer-reviewed and plausible (PMID:25786502): galactomyces ferment filtrate activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in keratinocytes, which upregulates filaggrin and supports the skin barrier. A 12-month longitudinal study (PMID:36769815) showed measurable improvements in wrinkles, spots, and roughness. The honest caveat: the vast majority of published research on galactomyces ferment filtrate and Pitera specifically is conducted by or for P&G (SK-II's parent company). Independent randomized controlled trials are essentially absent. The ingredient is credible and directionally evidence-supported; the evidence base is not independent.
Is there a fragrance-free SK-II dupe?
Yes. PURITO Galacto Niacin 97 Power Essence lists galactomyces ferment filtrate first and has no fragrance or essential oils, like SK-II. Its Amazon listing states 92% galactomyces and 5% niacinamide. It costs $17.60 for 60 mL. MIZON is cheaper per mL but adds lavender, bergamot and orange peel oils.

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