Verified Beauty Data

Dupe report Nº 011 / Galactomyces ferment filtrate essences

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

Pitera is galactomyces ferment filtrate. MIZON discloses 94.5% of the same active for $23.

Some links earn us a commission. It never changes the verdict — the methodology is public.

02 / The scoreboard

3 formulas, one number that matter

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) $0.00 $99.00 75 mL 100% the reference The original
Exact disclosed active the direct clones — same actives, same percentages
MIZON Skin Power Original First Essence Concentration disclosed on product (94.5% Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate) $0.16 $23.30 150 mL 82% highest measured The winner Amazon →
Partial overlap missing actives — different formula wearing the keywords
Missha Time Revolution The First Essence RX Ingredient disclosed; headline % from INCIDecoder community notes — not disclosed $29.90 150 mL 55% Skip price on 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 for 150ml. 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
$0.16 per g of active
$23.30 retail · 150 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 $0.16 per gram of active and $23.30 for 150 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, you may prefer SK-II's cleaner formula despite the cost.
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 150 mL → $0.16 per gram of active — 0.0× cheaper per active gram than the original's $0.00.

Buy on Amazon $23.30

02 / Missha

Skip
— per g of active
$29.90 retail · 150 mL
55% base formula · 2nd of 6

Missha Time Revolution The First Essence RX

Shared formula DNA 1 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
A ferment-essence alternative in the same format and price tier as MIZON. The formula adds bifida ferment lysate (a probiotic strain ferment), ceramide NP, cholesterol, niacinamide, and adenosine — a richer supporting cast than MIZON and arguably stronger supporting science on the niacinamide and ceramide layers. Shares niacinamide, butylene glycol, glycerin, adenosine, and ceramide NP with SK-II-adjacent essences. Fragrance-free base is a meaningful formulation advantage over MIZON for sensitive skin.
What differs
The lead ferment is Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate — brewer's yeast — not galactomyces. These are different organisms with different metabolite profiles. They are in the same ingredient class (yeast ferment filtrates) but are not the same active. If the galactomyces strain specifically is what you are targeting — because that is what SK-II's Pitera is — Missha does not deliver it. The actives_match score reflects this partial overlap.
Who it's for
The runner-up — the right pick if you want a ferment essence with a fragrance-free base, stronger supporting actives (niacinamide, bifida ferment lysate, ceramide NP, cholesterol), and do not require the specific galactomyces strain. At $29.90 it is slightly more expensive than MIZON with a different-strain ferment and cleaner sensitizer profile. For fragrance-sensitive skin, Missha RX is the better candidate between the two.
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
Ingredient disclosed; headline % from INCIDecoder community notes Missha Time Revolution RX contains Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate as primary ingredient; exact % not officially published; INCI from INCIDecoder (incidecoder.com/products/missha-time-revolution-the-first-treatment-essence-rx).

$29.90 for 150 mL → — not disclosed: the brand doesn't state active percentages, so this number cannot honestly exist.

price on Amazon ($29.90) — not recommended as a dupe

05 / Methodology

How we verified this

Verified 2026-06-13

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. Ingredient disclosed; headline % from INCIDecoder community notes

Sources for this report

  • INCIDecoder product pages (live crawl 2026-06)
  • Brand DTC product pages (live crawl 2026-06)
  • products.json ingredient data (verifiedbeautydata internal, 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
  • MISSHA Time Revolution The First Essence RX INCIDecoder: incidecoder.com/products/missha-time-revolution-the-first-treatment-essence-rx

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 150 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.
What is the difference between galactomyces and Missha's saccharomyces ferment?
Both are yeast ferment filtrates — products of fermenting a yeast organism and filtering the output. The organism is different: galactomyces (used in SK-II and MIZON) is a species associated with sake fermentation; saccharomyces (Missha) is brewer's yeast / baker's yeast. The metabolite profiles differ — the specific amino acids, vitamins, and bioactive compounds produced depend on the organism and its growth conditions. They are the same ingredient class at the INCI level (ferment filtrates) but not the same active at the molecular level. If galactomyces specifically is the target, Missha's saccharomyces is a partial — not an exact — substitute.

→ / Related

Dig into the ingredients