To ask you about Korean skin care products?

[Lovesacake]

I keep hearing that there are some fantastic Korean skin care brands but I don’t have a clue where to start! Any recommendations for reasonably priced brands/starter kits for slightly jaded middle aged skin?

Hello, I use a lot of k-beauty products. You could get something like this to start and see how you get on? All these products are good.

https://www.skincupid.co.uk/products/skin-cupid-k-beauty-discovery-set-mini-7-step-routine

oh thank you! That does look good

I've been using the Dr Jart+ cicaplast range and it's very good. Also Thank you Farmer SPF is great.

Ive been using kbeauty for over 10 years now and love it (as well as japanese and taiwanese products). For middle aged and up i highly recommend sulwhasoo products, particularly either their first care serum or their ginseng overnight mask. You can get samples of both from ebay!

Other than that honestly theres so many different brands and price points, new products come out constantly with exciting new ingredients. Whats your skintype? Cosrx is a good starting point usually, although its gone up hugely in price npw, when it first launched the products were like £3-4, now more like £15-20!

I use a few COSRX products. The BHA and the snail thing. I recommend both.

@curiouscat1987 my skin is normal but possibly also buying as a Christmas gift for a friend who has sensitive skin probably on the oily side

@GargoylesofBeelzebub Thanks - I actually bought some snail stuff once on impulse and then couldn’t bring myself to use it so gave it away! Usually try to use products not tested on animals, not sure if that’s a thing with Korean products?

Giftwise id be inclined to go for a selection of facemasks, probably sheetmasks. The papa recipe black honey sheetmasks are some of my alltime favourites, again you can get these on ebay. Or if theyre into makeup, the brand clio does awesome lip products!

I'm not 100% on the truth behind it, but the big snail brands claim that the slime is harvested ethically. The snails get fed on a big mesh and the slime is collected from it. It's not extracted from them and they aren't harmed by it.

CosRX are also listed as cruelty-free on some well-known websites:
https://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/list-of-cruelty-free-brands/

COSRX snail products can be bad if you have dust mite allergies, they also badly broke me out.

I adore Curel intensive facial moisteriser. It is an elegant but simple formulation. I personally believe we should use actives to do the work and a good simply moisteriser to... well... moisteriser.

I have been on a very, very long skin journey and my perfected HG routine is.

1st cleanse with cleansing oil, I use Hada Lobo or DH or Laneige or SKIN1004.

2nd cleanse with Curel foaming cleanser.

Then, I do my actives on a rotation of 3.

So, one night I will use tretinoin (I can get mine OTC but if you are in UK I recommend Skin & Me).

Next night I do just cleanse and moisteriser.

The third night, I use Dr. Dennis Gross Intensive peel pads.
These are pricy, but I actually cut mine in half and it is plenty to do a full face. And you really don't need to use them every night to have drastic results.
Nothing else, even Tret, has made such a difference to my fine lines, pigmentation and pores. It is absolutely the one beauty item that I would give up everything else to keep using.

I have tried thousands of pounds worth of products and I currently live in Asia so have access to everything. This routine has made my skin look better than it did 5 years ago.

If you would really like to try out some other products then I can recommend Beauty of Joseon Dynasty Cream, Laneige Cica Sleeping Mask and Laneige Milk Skin Refiner.

COSrx - yes it’s snail mucin and yes it does seem odd and weird. But it’s so soothing and moisturising and is really well priced. It doesn’t smell and it just feels soft and gentle on.
Watermelon glow drops are great as a base for foundation. Laneige is good for lip balms.
Just read the post above - should add that I have non-sensitive skin so maybe I was just lucky with CoSrx.