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!

Amazing, the clarifying one is the ph balancing step I think, the whitehead would go after that (but blackhead would go before the whitehead if you're using it)

How does the cc cream work? I fancy trying that.

lucysmam - I filled in that skin18 form on your recommendation so I'm hoping that I'll have been lucky too...

I also splashed out on a maskgenie pack of masks which arrived a couple of days ago. Its quite a nice way to try out different masks (although I'm slightly disappointed that she gave a terrible review of the Holika Holika pig nose mask and still sent one out). They work out at about £1 each so they're all still very good value and cheaper than if I'd bought them separately.

However, I've just tried the su:m37 white award bubble-de mask and love it. There's a review here It's really bubbly and has made my pores much smaller. I think this is going to become one of my new favourite products - I'm definitely going to buy some more.

Just to save me rereading the thread(s) which toner shall I buy?
I have fairly red combination skin so was thinking cosrx bha/aha or the returning one.

Thanks for all the advice re sulwhasoo stuff. Bigbuttons, I went with lots of samples from makkozang as she had the timetreasure stuff - which I'm hoping will work miracles (I'm 40 but have some deep wrinkles starting on forehead and round mouth and feel dehydrated too)... Then perhaps I can go with the ginseng renewing range instead.

I ended up getting the whole range (oops), as I'm getting confused about what I 'should' be using well with snails/starfish etc and want to simplify. Figure it'll also give me the best chance to see if it'll work for me, as I've read the products boost each others effectiveness.

I'm wondering if it'd be worth buying some dispensers (not sure where from)? As the tiny samples of watery bits (missha fte, I'm looking at you) seem to evaporate quickly , so I only get 1.5 uses from them... Choices, choices.

I also ordered the cosrx blackhead, I like the asol and my pores look smaller - also think I'm purging a bit, as I've found a couple of darker and/or massive blackheads (tmi?) that I don't usually get - but I still need something stronger to get rid if the sf.

leeloo every morning I get beauty blogs through from bloglovin'. This morning there was an AB one ( oh no) so i have just bought myself some more Sulwhasoo stuff. Sulwhasoo Capsulized Ginseng Fortifying Serum I have no idea what it will do, but if it's anything like the creams it'll be very very good.
Now no more buying.
I don't need anything more.
Step away from the thread

Phantom the bubble de-mask thing and Newsreader your primer and Button's Sulwhasoo all sound terrific! Amazing thanks of reminding us of the Tony Moly Pure Aura CC cream!

I fell asleep before putting on the sleeping pack and my skin feel less plump and taut.

Leeloo I buy mini dispensers from Muji and eBay.

Oh no I have just found this thread. I thought I was done with Retin A. So there's more to be done.

Wow this thread is amazing!

Can anyone recommend a couple of budget, fairly gentle and not drying cleansers? I've just started using the Biore Watery Essence sunscreen and have read that you need to make sure you take it off properly by double cleansing.

Also does anybody have melasma and have you found any good products for evening out pigmentation?

Good morning. Sorry I fell off the radar, I had a migraine brewing and it struck yesterday. Still feel a bit dodgy (migraine hangover, ugh) but worlds better than I was.

I will do some reading back after the morning rush and try to catch up.

Morning Pugthug and Apples, you'll be addicted soon!

Apples if you have a look over on reddit and find the Asian beauty sub there's a list of cleansers in ph order, have a look there. I'm using Cerave hydratingcleanser which is from the U.S. I think anyway not AB but ph level 5 and not too expensive.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VqO_uF8m4oKBzzk5ass37gHcjIk-_2Tv4W2KgJJmUQc/htmlview?pli=1 Here you go, Cleansers in PH order.

Also Apples, Caroline Hirons recently had an interview with Dr Sam Bunting on you tube and they discussed Melasma it might be worth a look.

Apples melasma can be a bit tricky to treat, it tends to recur. I think I have a mild form of melasma, I get something that looks like a bad prison tattoo (pigmentation dots connecting the corners of my eyes with the corners of my mouths). Thanks to Biore and other great sunscreens, it hasn't come back in full force this summer (I spent one afternoon outside without proper protection early this spring, the faint outlines came back, but thank god it has since faded).

Sunscreen, hats, avoiding direct sunlight, niacinamide, Vitamin C, arbutin, kojic acid... Lots of thing can help fade it. I've been happy with sun protection and niacinamide. I get niacinamide from lots of products but Mizon Good Night Sleeping Pack is a staple.

Gerti - I also ordered Biore sunscreen from an Amazon seller. It was dispatched very quickly but took5-6 weeks to turn up! My back up one from eBay took 10 days.

I may have been unlucky or maybe it was amazons postage option? I don't know but I'm sticking to eBay from now on!

I've got a lot of products now that fade hyperpigmentation, most of them have a noticeable brightening effect too. Arbutin and niacinamide are the two in most of my products, and I've been using a DIY vitamin c serum (tho had to stop as I think the glycerin made me break out).

However the one I'm most excited about already is a propolis ampoule. I put it in my serum and also applied it alone. It's a bit sticky alone but still really lovely. Instant brightening effect, and I swear the melasma around my mouth is not as pronounced today.

Peach and Lily are doing a new Seoulcialite beauty box - it will be out tomorrow. A really serious contender...

Last year's Seoulcialite!

I have the Mizon sleeping pack on order Frugal , can't wait to try it.

I love the sound of the Sum37 bubble mask, I saw it on a tutorial on you tube and it looked fab. I can see Sum37 becoming my HG brand. It's a lot harder to get hold of than Mizon, missha etc though

My Lebelage mask pack I ordered last week has arrived already! Along with an unbranded 'gold snail facial cream'.

It was only a couple of quid - thought I'd try some of the unbranded stuff as well as the branded. I figure it's probably like poundland creams etc so will try it later on. From a quick dab on the back of my hand it feels very lightweight - sort of the jelly texture of the wine sleeping pack, has no real smell to it & absorbs quickly.

What I really wanted the postie to knock with was my Hada Labo! I'll go back to waiting impatiently.

My face felt lovely after the lotion from last night's mask absorbed - really soft and smooth. And the couple of red spots I had have calmed right down. I might order another of those at some point soon - have quite a few masks atm & don't want to overdo it and end up with ones not being used.

I also want to try an egg one - just to try it & see if there's anything eggy about it

Oh, and - any recs for a serum containing niacinamide? This morning's jobs are order my shopping and find myself a serum with it as one of the top ingredients. Still tempted by the Dragons Bloody Essence though based totally on it's name.

Does anyone have any views on Malie sheet masks? Not that I need anymore!! There is a seller on ebay selling them in large packs, fairly cheap.

I tried the Holika red wine sleeping pack and wasn't that impressed with it. I didn't like the smell and the texture made it hard to spread on my face. I am going to try the Inisfree tree tea pack tonight, looking forward to that!

Slightly worried as my second parcel from Yes Style hasn't arrived yet...the first one was with me within 5 days and no customs charges. I hope I've not been stung again. Not buying direct from Inisfree again as I had to pay over £13 in charges.

I quite like their white wine sleeping pack Fallen. I think you're the second person to say they weren't keen on the red wine one. Wonder if they differ in texture - the white wine smells nice, very subtle & goes on really smoothly (for me).

Thanks lucysmam I will look into the white wine one. The texture was like a gel but it sort of stuck to itself, if you see what I mean, which made it difficult to spread! I only bought a sample pack so will use them up, but not re-purchase.

Stupid question alert - is the banila co zero classed as the oil cleanser?! I need to purchase a decent foaming one for my second step but not sure what to get.

Oh, something else my skin doesn't like is the sparkling apple toner from Skinfood. it makes my face sore :(

The banila zero is a sherbet iirc, it melts into an oil as you use it. So would be no good for a second cleanse. The Missha latte cleansing foam is nice imo. Only need a teeny bit to get a decent lather, smells lovely, doesn't leave me feeling 'squeaky' clean iyswim. I have the green tea atm & will be ordering the choco latte (for the smell) at some point.