Obsessed with Asian/Korean stuff - taking your skincare to level 2!

[FrugalFashionista]

Asian and Korean skincare products seem to be a big thing right now - we are falling in love with quite a few things...

Interested in the following?

• finding a great sunscreen - here's a thread favorite
• tailoring a multi-step ritual to your skincare needs - here are the basics
• talking about geisha beauty rituals - you'll probably need to read this
• learning what snail slime, bee venom and starfish have to do with beauty
• plumping up your skin with sheet masks and sleeping masks
• experimenting with essences

Please come here and share your questions, experiences, links and best shopping tips!

Vol 1 of this thread here

Hi Wombat,

Yeah sure here's what I did:

Wishtrend are doing a deal for free shipping at the mo for OST Vit C so I got that there -$14.99

I got the Corsx AHA & Missha BB from Jolse. I got free shipping and $3 credit for signing up to a newsletter so that came to $18.24

I got the Holika Holika BB cream & Etude House Collagen Mask from BeautynetKorea, also free shipping - $14.39

That's $47.62 which is about £31. I paid by Paypal though so it actually came out as £32 altogether as they make a few pence on currency fees.
I don't mind though as it's safer than credit card details etc.

Signing up to Wishtrend actually gave me a fair few offers such as $3 worth of points but you can only spend that when accumulate $10 worth of points; and a few others but only for high value orders.

Hope this helps! I do generally tend to scour the net trying to find good deals so that I can justify these purchases to myself

Wombat.. do they throw in a few samples for free? Which companies are likely to do that? I do love samples, I've a massive stash at home and every now and again I dole them out

I missed postie yesterday so have a redelivery of something tomorrow. Today I got snail eye cream and a returning starfish cream. Can't wait to try Patrick Star in a jar tonight. Really like the packaging and may keep it in the box it's so pretty.
I bumped into an old friend yesterday who said I must have a painting ageing for me in my attic. I told her it was the snail cream. My skin has been so smooth since using it and it's not caused my skin to breakout. I too was apprehensive after Makeup Alley reviews. It's seems to work well with my retin a. I have even been using it around the eye area so have high hopes for the snail eye cream.

Yay! Little bottle has finally arrived

I'll be busily cooking up vitamin c serum in the kitchen if anyone needs me...

What's star in a jar dafty?

I've tried making my own Vitamin C serum but I couldn't get the granules to dissolve. I must give it another shot.

Trouble with little bottle getting here is - I don't know if that is Saturday's missed parcel or the postie in a van will be round later on with something else

Ooh Wombat that's lovely! I got one mega milium about a month ago in the the junction of my cheekbone and undereye area. Not sure whether it was Eucerin eye cream or Mizon eye cream or starfish or Good Night or mineral makeup the joint effort of all of these products, but it was gigantic and grew slowly until it burst and oozed white keratin or whatever it is that milia are made of; it seemed like a blocked gland had produced an enormous amount of stuff inside my skin and there was a mini volcanic eruption It left a tiny scar that is fading fast now but now I do avoid project buildup on that delicate area. My milia eventually burst spontaneously, but you can also have a professional drain them with a hypodermic needle.

I know from past experience that I tend to get milia from eye creams and mineral makeup, but curiously if I buffer with a silicone-based serum, I can use mineral makeup without problems. Here is a an effort to explain milia from a dermatologist. The person in question is nervous about zinc, curiously mineral makeup contains a lot of zinc too. I got curious and skim-read a complicated medical article, but am not much wiser. Lots of things can cause milia, including genetic conditions, many drugs and skin procedures, but they seem to be one of those strange really common things nobody really fully understands

Dafty that's excellent! I'll call you Dorian Gray from now on

MN moderators, we need a snail smiley!

Need to get back to work.

Gertrude I've heard that Jolse and it's ebay version (iamloveshop?) are liberal with samples. Missha.ee sent me so many that I needed to get a separate box for them

Thank you Gertrude - I am soo tempted to sign up to Wishtrend but fear that would be the last straw for my no spend June! I am very impressed at your ability to sniff out good deals.

Thank you Frugal for the milia links - that is interesting. My milia, when i get them, never burst - they seem to be very deep in the skin and just sort of melt away over months (or years ). I am still working out what causes them for me, but it's interesting to know that mineral makeup is a possible trigger. I have been switching between Bare Minerals and Estee Lauder (awful) BB cream these last few weeks..

Gertrude re: samples - I had 4 samples today in a parcel from IamLoveShop containing 1 item (value £11). If you can bear the very long delivery time, it's worth it!

Returning Starfish cream Lucysmam. I was winding up my Spongebob obsessed DD by telling her my facecream was made out of Patrick. I didn't get any reaction apart from a look of bored disdain

aaah My dd2 would have cried if I told her that, she's a sensitive little soul.

Mitzy, much frenzied stirring with a plastic spoon dissolved the vit c powder...much much much stirring. I actually think shaking in the bottle might have worked better given the small quantities.

I put some on the back of my hand a while ago - I haven't got an oompa loompa orange hand (yet) or fingers so presume this may be a long term use thing maybe...we'll see.

I am delighted with my sample haul today too. I have Mizon deep moisture, water volume ex cream plus energy serum made from placenta????? Skinfood tomato cream, panda white magic cream and more panda hand cream. I do love the smell of the hand cream as have had a sample previously. Faint sherbet lemon whiff.

Eep samples!! Extra box? I'm so jealous!

There are so many shops to choose from. I was also looking at IamLoveShop and RoseRose but went with the others in the end due to discounts, I don't know how my skin will react so tried to go as cheap as possible! There are a couple of reviews saying that BeautyNetKorea is a bit dodgy but sure we'll see.

Ah but if Wishtrend are doing a free shipping deal on something you like/use then it's very good value

Has anyone bought from Cosmetic Love? Its my last outstanding order and the first I placed on May 18th.

So I'm back to say that I have caved and tried something new - I know I know, I couldn't help it, I'm just far too impatient. Today was the first day my skin was almost totally clear! Anyway so far so good, only time will tell I guess.

So here's my thoughts :) I tried a sample of Etude House Blooming Fit bb cream in W13. Its the second lightest of 4 shades and I think slightly too pale for me, (NC20) but with my MAC powder on top its a pretty good match. It's my second Korean BB cream (didn't get very far with skin 79 gold as totally wrong shade for me) and I don't really know what to expect, but its much more heavy duty than I imagined. I sort of thought BB creams were all sheer and light, this is quite a thick foundation consistency with good coverage. I have a sample of all three of their range (Blooming Fit, Perfect Fit and Cotton Fit) and apparently the Blooming fit is the lightest and most dewy so I don't think I'd get on with the others (my skin has always looked awful with heavy make up - sheer and dewy is much better for me) but I think it has staying power and I can't see it sliding off/sinking in as the day goes on. I will let you know how it goes over the day. Its really got very good coverage as i even debated not bothering with under eye concealer which is very rare for me! Its quite scented, really reminds me of Benefit products which is weird as I always thought their packaging compared to Benefit too.

Only thing about it is it seems to have settled in my pores making them more visible. I can't remember what this means - is it that my skin is too dry? Or that the cream is too dry for me?

Anyway I am quite impressed but not the dewy barely there bb cream i am looking for!

Oh, I got the placenta sample too! Am a little about it, but I'm going to put snail slime on my face tonight so really not too different in the 'ick' stakes.

Gertrude - my starfish cream came from beautynetkorea, via eBay, and the service was very good. I'm not vouching for them as I haven't tried the cream yet, however it looks pretty authentic to me. They're also a lot faster at shipping than pretty much everyone else I've bought from.

My pores are very visible, ilovetosleep, whatever I do or whatever makeup/primers I wear - would love to know the answer to your question too!

Am currently using a light dust of Lily Lolo translucent powder before my foundation which seems to minimise visible pores a bit, plus helps my makeup stay put in the face of extreme sunscreen provocation. In fact I'm going to have to give up on LRP Anthelios because it makes me look like my face is melting. Heliocare Foam is not perfect but better, but I'm hoping that Bioré will be the business when it arrives.

Loving the skincare porn and the fact that I love is having a good face day today.

I've used three different eBay suppliers Iamloveshop, BeautynetKorea and f-somethingoranother all with lots of samples. I've got a tiny order coming from Missha ee so it'll be interesting to see if they're as generous as they were with Frugal for a low spend.

Yesterday's missed delivery is www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Holika-Holika-Wine-Therapy-Sleeping-Mask-White-120ml-Whitening-Moist-Pack-/231284104493 The whitening wine sleep pack from Jolse (also good samples) which I look forward to using tonight, which is a Retin A night.

I've been struggling with bb creams highlighting some flaking on my skin which is from the retin a. Whilst it actually isn't too bad and not noticeable at all without make up it looks terrible and shows up with BB cream. I thought it was because I was dusting with a light powder, but tried without today and it's just as bad. I think I'm going to brave it and go without any bb, my skin is looking better but I am very shiny and wish I could dampen down the shine without highlighting the flakiness. Still going to persevere with the Retin A though, it's surely got to get better/adjust soon.

NewsreaderChic - which retin A cream do you use? I'm using LRP at the moment but it's not cutting it any more so want something a bit stronger. I've tried one from Indeed Labs but it did nothing except make me break out! I'm not one for the 'purging' phase as it were

That's great thanks ScrambledSmegs. Yeah they have shipped my package already so fingers crossed!

ilove to sleep - I hadn't seen cosmeticslove before. I've just spent the past hour drooling over more stuff that I shouldn't get and don't need. Damn you!

Newsreader I too noticed that my flaking was imperceptible on bare skin but glaringly obvious once I applied make-up. What I did was gently buff my skin with a clean dry cloth when my makeup was still on and this removed the bigger flakes. Then I cleanses with a hot cloth and gently buffed again, this got rid of the worst flakes.

I still have a little flaking now but it's decreased a lot. It's been about three weeks since I started applying the retin a.

News, I ordered that sleeping mask. will be interested to see what you think