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

Thanks Scrambled! I was using a Neutrogena exfoliating wash which was not doing A Thing At All, maybe it's the exfoliant. I use the peeling gel 2/3 times per week and the CosRx daily. What BHA do you use?

I do try to avoid refined sugar - ready brek with cinnamon, 1 sweetener per coffee, not much of a cake/sweet eater. I eat around 5 portions of fruit and veg per day. I'll look in go vitamin B.

Lucy's those Hada Labo sheet masks Phantom linked to seem good for their price. Look at Secret Key for a few cheaper bits.

Sorry that happened to you Fallen! £15 isn't much of a limit is it?!

What peeling gel are you using Cornwall? Maybe the peel plus bha are too much all at once?

I looked at the masks...I sort of want an even ish split so I'm dithering a bit I'm only off to Primarni - nowhere special mind

I'll have a look at Secret Key...then dither even more

leeloo, I had a search on reddit and couldn't find anything about fake appletox. Will have a look on t'interweb...

Hmmm, not much joy there either

It could be that Lucys, once I receive the Tony Moly essence, I'll alternate the peeling gel and toner. It's the Mizon Apple Smoothie Peeling Gel. Also, I do use the toner in the mornings once I've washed off the sleeping pack. Perhaps I should just use the essence and snail gel in the mornings.

I am watching around 30 Korean products on eBay. Not necessarily to buy of course, I just like having a list of potentials all together...

I wonder if alternating them would help? I'm not sure the ingredients of the Mizon one. Is it an aha? Maybe both in one day is too much acid?

I do NOT need a snail handcream but look...that may be my random purchase this time

Thanks for looking Lucysmam, thats really sweet of you. I'm sure its fine, its just that most products do come with an inner lid... she's a 'listed seller' on the reddit site, so I guess she's as recommended as she can be...

I'm trying to think what it was like when I used it yesterday... I think the cream is a white, light foamy-ish texured one (less rich feeling than the tomato Tonymoly). It behaved as I believe its meant to, so when rubbing it off then it comes off in roll-y chunks, like a grey-jelly version of eraser rubbings?! Does that make any sense? Hope that sounds like yours?

Yes, the peeling gel is an AHA. Reading it up, it actually seems better to AHA in the evening and BHA in the morning. So I'll do it that way. Thanks for making me really look in to it, you're so much more knowledgeable than me!

Re cystic acne: I started suffering badly when I became peri menopausal. HRT helped a little bit but not much. Like others here my skin was suffering from over exfoliation with scrubby things that worked in the immediate short term but ultimately left me with a mix of oily as hell t zone and dry flaky skin.

Giving up the scrubs and stopping heavy western moisturisers was a good start for me and my skin just drank it up without feeling overloaded. Layering the lighter AB essence, serum etc was far gentler and had really good results.

The revelation for me was the CosRX AHA/BHA clarifying toner. I was always wary of toner believing them to be harsh astringents. The CosRX one is totally not that and keeps my skin from breaking out. Since using it I've not had a single eruption. Not one! It isn't at all harsh and I can see it working over the last few weeks starting to clear up my pores and cloggy areas like my chin. Game changer for me.

Hulloo! Am back. Was enjoying an evening to myself with sheet mask and 200 calorie dinner. Yay for 5:2

lucysmam W2Beauty is a website that was recommended on an earlier thread, I think. Run by a woman called Alice I think. She's probably not the cheapest around, however her shipping charges have been relatively low for me and I haven't had to pay anything in customs fees, despite one package containing the Laneige cushion and a couple of other items which probably pushed the value up to £30+. She's currently running an Instagram competition where customers post photos of their hauls, to win a free product up to the value of $50.

Cornwall I'm currently using the Paula's Choice BHA which I think is both effective and gentle. I'm pretty happy with it. I don't use any other exfoliants as my skin seems to require gentle treatment. So much so that I've started using the Japanese technique of patting products into my skin, not smoothing/rubbing. I've been reading loads about the way that korean and japanese skincare differs from the west, and the benefits, and this seemed a simple (and free!) way to incorporate more of their knowledge and techniques into my routine.

Sorry for the mega-post. Was happily relaxing with one of my freebie sheet masks (Soo Pomegranate, refreshing, pleasant scent) and got a bit carried away!

W2 Beauty - w2beauty.com Fastest delivery times I've experienced too. She stocks Hera and Sulwhasoo which are the high-end brands in Korean department stores. I would love the Hera UV mist ultra moist cushion. Damn but the names of these products are long!

Japanese patting technique with Hadalabo Lotion -

Why it's better for your skin - www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/how-to/a12707/patting-versus-spreading-on-your-skincare/

I'm reporting g back on the Innisfree Apple cleansing oil. First off it smells like eau d'chip to me, but my sense of smell isn't so good any more so I squirted some onto dd1's hand and asked her what it smelled of. She said 'sweets, fruity, very strong' so I think it's just me and it is not a fake.

A few minutes later dd (15) appeared asking for hydrocortisone cream as her hand was itching where I squirting the ACO and it hurts (she is exempt prone). At his point I was using it on my face as I was going out tonight so decided to take everything off and put some proper make up on. I gently rinsed it off and my skin felt overly cleansed and super squeaky clean. I then used my second cleanse - micellar water and was surprised to find a lot more colour on the cotton wool pad then I usually get, but a smattering of small black fibre type marks - contents of pores/sebaceous filaments? So it didn't clean as much make up off as my usual options but appeared to remove gunk. However when I put serum on it really hurt so I think it really stripped my skin. i will try again, but at this stage I feel it's too stripping and I have combination skin,so quite oily in parts.

Also agree that SingSing girls advertised free gift were samples and actually fewer then other eBay sellers.

Dd is eczema prone, not exempt!

News, I have a sample of the Apple Juicy CO - I'm going to open it for a sniff at some point today. Not sure about trying it now though.

Hi everyone, haven't been on in a while. My lord it's been a hectic week. Landed myself a new job which I am very very pleased about!

In other good news the first of my packages from beautynetkorea arrived last night!

I got the Aqua Petit Jelly BB (1) - the contents had spilled a bit in transit which I was a bit disappointed about but 80% of the bottle remains and for the price and the amount of product, I can't complain. The shade is perfect on my skin (Bourjois Healthy Mix 51). It has oxidised somewhat; not a dealbreaker. It's got a fab texture and is quite jelly like. Feels really lovely on, nice and hydrating. I used the sponge that it comes with but will prob just use my fingers in future (cba with washing the sponge every time). I would say coverage is light - medium but looks really natural and I just covered any extra redness with concealer. I am really very happy. WIN!

I also got the Etude House Moistfull Collagen Mask Sheet. Not sure about this one. It felt lovely on and my skin looked nice afterwards but I wouldn't say it was a noticeable difference. It is quite scented so that may be a problem for reactive skin. Here's where it gets confusing, it really helped to clear up a bad beakout on my temples but also caused a small breakout on my cheeks. No idea. Safe to say I won't be using this again!

Got 4 samples! Tony Moly Panda Eye Patches, a hand cream and two apple toners.

Excited for the rest of my haul to arrive!

I just ordered the Hada Labo lotion toner thing. God, I need to stop spending! Still awaiting all my goodies

I think I put the Hada Labo on after the vitC serum and then move into the serums, etc. is that correct?

I found some some sheet masks in town, not Korean ones though and used one last night. Aloe Vera and it was very hydrating. There was loads of essence in the pack, so have popped the mask back in and will use again tonight - will see if there was enough left for two treatments!!

the Daiso sheet mask cover linked upthread is cheaper on ebay if anyone wanted one. There are some unbranded ones for about £1.50 too

wicked, I plan to put it in between the vit c serum and before my other day serum. There is a handy guide to the order things should go in I linked upthread - from Pinterest, search Korean beauty & it's one of the first diagrams to come up

Gertrude, congrats on your new job (bit early for celebratory !). What is it?

Sorry for lots of small posts (again), wicked which shop did you find them in?

I have finally decided I'm going to order these sheet masks for the variety of 'flavours' to try out.

Lucysmam - do you mean the sheet masks? If so, was in tk maxx! It's all a bit random in there, but they had a box of 5 for £4.99

wicked, I did! I'm nowhere near a TK Maxx to have a mooch, never mind.

wickedfairy I think the hado labo goes on first as it's supposed to prep your skin for other essences, though not sure how it would affect skin reaching the correct pH for vit C, anyone know?

I wash my face then apply hado labo to prevent skin drying out while I wait 10-15min for skin to reach lower pH for vit C. Not sure if I'm doing this right

Just finished a second sample of shu uemura cleansing oil - nice and light so perfect for summer but not sure it does as good a job of removing makeup as my DHC cleansing oil does