Obsessed with Asian/Korean stuff - taking your skincare to level 3!

[FrugalFashionista]

Asian and Korean skincare products are big thing right now. We love them!
Tailor your multistep skincare routine here! (or see this pic)

Some of our favorite products so far...
Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50 Sunscreen
Missha Magic Cushion BB Cream #21
Lioele Dollish Veil Vita in Purple
Holika Holika Petit Jelly BB Cream
CosRx Returning A-sol
Scinic Propolis Serum
Mizon Hyaluronic Acid Serum
Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Science Activator Ampoule
Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail products & trial kit
Mizon Snail Repair Cream
Mizon Returning Starfish Cream
Mizon Good Night White Sleep Mask
Innisfree Wine Jelly Sleeping Pack
My Beauty Diary Imperial Birds Nest and Hyaluronic Sheet Masks
Innisfree Trouble Care Sheet Masks
Innisfree Real Squeeze Sheet Masks
Tony Moly Avocado Mask
Nexcare Acne Patches

Our favorite sellers:
UK-based Bits and Bobs of Beauty
EU-based Missha.ee, Missha.de
Korean Innisfree
On eBay f2plus1, sing-sing girl, Iamlove, blueprint21
Orders from outside the EU: £15 or less are VAT free!

Blogs and other resources
Reddit Asian Beauty, Fifty Shades of Snail, Snow White & Asian Pear, Skin & Tonics
more resources here...
Vol 2 of this thread here and Vol 1 of here

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

ooooh those spoon masks are so cute!

I have no idea about the stickiness, nothing I've used has left me sticky

Thank-you bigbuttons, I've been doing some more reading & am going to give it a go.

C serum should be at 10% at least to be properly effective but it is good that you are giving your skin time to adjust. I suggest making the next batch stronger if your skin seems happy!

at scaring the postman, Gerti. Hope the CC cream is good.

GERTI, that's what I usually do I know my postie laughs at me. He has stopped me twice in the street to hand over packages I've missed while taking the girls to school too & told me to sling the cards he's put through the door.

Dp has gone out so I've been piling up my bits and bobs for a relaxing evening in front of the telly... , hand mask, sheet mask, nail polish for toes...and got my notebook and pen ready to look up some of the random stuff (like the hair mayo ) that I spotted the other night. Dd1 has announced she'll stay up with me and have a face mask too . I feel tight offering a cucumber soaked compressed one but don't think her skin needs anything else

I love this thread! After reading a bit of it a couple of months ago I bought a few Tony Moly sheet masks and the Neutrogena clear face spf. Who was it that said sheet masks are the gateway drug to korean beauty earlier on because they were right!

I've really enjoyed using them and last night (after reading this thread) ended up ordering Mizon snail cream, C20 vit c serum and the Benton bee snail samples. I think these are the right names.

I'm in my mid 30s have a spotty hormonal chin, fine lines around my eyes/forehead and normal to greasy skin. I think it might be dehydrated but I'm not quite sure how to tell.

Does anyone have any recommendations for anything else to try? Skin care so far goes, liz Earle c&p, clearasil pad and then spf. On a night I use coconut oil followed by liz Earle and then a hylauronic serum.

Also I'm about to rebuy my double wear foundation, is it worth trying a cc/bb cream? Which ones are the most popular?

lucysmam thanks for reply re the konjac sponge, I have ordered a green one :)

ImBrian Which shade doublewear do you use, and what is your skin type? I know a lot about Asian bb creams, shades, skin type, level of coverage, spf etc, and have a lot of them myself. They are nothing like what you would know as a bb cream, maybelline, garnier etc which are just tinted moisturisers really compared to these. Asian bb creams are more like foundation.

BB creams are better than cc creams by the way.

vegan I use sand in double wear, apparently I'm neutral/cool but the lady who colour matched me said the warmer tone blended better then the paler shade.

My skins fairly oily at the minute, even double wear is sliding off my chin after a few hours! It's only my t zone that is oily though the rest is normal.

I've tried samples of the lioele dollish veil vite in purple and quite like that.

I'm a bit meh about the Konjac spong, to me it's just a sponge.

My FTE samples arrived today, my routine is now more KB then western. I'm now in the market for an eye cream, I haven't really been using one just included g the eye area when I use serum. I don't suffer with dark circles, so something for fine lines - lifting would be good but I suspect that isn't really possible.

I ordered it out of curiosity News, am not expecting it to be life changing for 99p but you never know ...

ImBrian I am either sand or desert beige in doublewear so about the same as you. Buff or Sand Beige in Revlon Colorstay, NW10-15 in Mac.

I think you would like the Holika Holika Clearing bb cream or the Holika Holika Petit Jelly bb cream in shade no1,(these two are the best for combo oily skin) or the Lioele Triple the solution BB cream or the Missha bb cream in shade 21 for even more coverage.

Thanksvegan I've just been looking at the jelly one so I might give that a try.

newsreader I am now using the sulwhasoo eye cream ( ginseng) and the face cream(also ginseng). I have never been more impressed with creams in my entire life. They are bloody amazing and a tiny amount gives ample coverage. They make such a difference to the hydration levels and softness of my skin. They also make it plump and glowy.

Something is not working, I have two breakouts on my chin, both of them proper ugly cysts. There are three new products this week, CosRx AHA/BHA, CosRx Blackhead Power (ironically I purchased this to keep my skin clear) and the Innisfree Rice Pudding Pod. I stopped all three, will go back to my safety products (LRP Effaclar AI, 2% salicylic pads) to see what happens. I should be a bit more patient, usually I introduce products one by one but went overboard when my long-lost parcels arrived...

I've done a massive clearout today. The walk-in closet was packed (we haven't been able to walk in there for quite a while ). I took at least six bags of stuff (mostly children's clothes and shoes and my clothes and bags) to be recycled, and there are still two bags waiting in the hallway. I should namechange, the fashionista phase in my life is definitely over, I want to own much less stuff and be much more selective with my purchases. I am pleased though, this was by far the worst spot in our house. There are two other rooms that need a proper clearout, my bedroom and DC's room. I expect that if I dedicate a day to each, I'll make a lot of progress. Sorry about going off-topic...

GERTI your poor postman, the CC cream sounds exciting though! I agree that many Asian BB creams are like liquid foundation, a BB or CC cushion might be worth a try for very light coverage. I think Koreans idealize glossy and moist skin right now, but I read somewhere that semimatte may be making a comeback.

I've been reading a lot of Beauty Brains lately because I want to learn more about cosmetic ingredients. I think glycerin makes creams sticky. It's a great humectant but stickiness is its major downside.

Ah no, Frugal, it sounded like your routine was going so well too I wonder what it was.

Sounds like you've had a good clear out today. I did a bit in the garage - binned two black bags of junk and tidied the front of it a bit so I can get in and out. Will start properly on Monday by going through the suitcases of clothes in there.

frugal could be stress spots? It wouldn't be surprising would it?

It's great to have a clear out though, even though it's exhausting. I did the kondo method of sifting through my clothes a while back. I had almost nothing left by the time I'd finished

I feel my core routine is pretty solid, so let's hope chin spots are a temporary setback. I suspect the CosRx AHA/BHA toner. Should have bought A-Sol instead, I don't really even believe in pH adjusting (my adult acne went away while I was on a high pH cleanser routine and returned when I satred swriching cleansers). Skincare is like that, something really hyped that works for most people might not work for you. I'll take it easy for a few days...

It could definitely be stress too. I had a horrific eczema in 2013 when I was under major work stress. I've also eaten a lot of cheese - fresh figs and parmigiano are heavenly together

I really like the key thought in the Kondo method - you say goodbye with gratitude. I'm a bit of a hoarder but I let go of some of my favorite bags today. They have run their course, it's time for me to move on, and perhaps someone else can still use and enjoy them. As I get older, I like simpler and simpler things, less alternatives, less choice. This has not always been my natural mode of thinking, I have always been a maximalist, but these days I prefer minimalism.

Lucysmam good luck with the garage! That sounds scary but a good clearout is super satisfying.
Buttons your Sulwhasoo products sound lovely! I like the idea of one or two really exquisite products. You already have state-of-the-art actives from your homemade potions, whatever you buy should be really lush!

Frugal sounds like you're madly busy, could your breakout be stress related?

Bigbuttons, same here, my skin is looking better than ever since I started using the Sulwhasoo products. I still use my Skinceuticals CE Ferulic in the morning and Skinceuticals Retinol 0.5 every other night, but I've stopped with the acid toning as I think its irritating my skin while I'm using the retinol and undoing all the good work of the other product.

I ordered samples of a couple of the Sulwhasso serums today, in the name of research of course...

Oh - cross posted with Gerti re the stress sorry!