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!

You could try contacting them and ask for the pure instead?

I've just looked on eBay and they do all say luminous pure aura...odd. let me go check mine.

OK, my fault. Luminous Pure Aura is the one you want, Luminous Bright Aura is the one that will make you shiny and a bit like Data from Star Trek.

Ah thanks Amazing, thought I was losing the plot slightly then

Brilliant thanks :)

I dunno what random article to spend my change on

Sheet mask is lush from the fridge - a cosmetics fridge is definitely something to consider in the future even if it only gets used for one week a year

50 Shades of Snail recommended another website - Tester Korea They appear to be having a sale of samples.....

No...they really aren't...it's a figment of your imagination

Snap Lucysmam I've spray tanned tonight too, forgot that tonight is a retin a night so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to try my new sheet mask.

The zero sebum powder I've been raving about today was Etude House, bought from f2whatevertheyrecalled on eBay for 5 ish. I'm going to stock up.

I am putting the blame on you Phantom for the huge selection in my cart. There are some great bargains. Unfortunately I can't check out so all my goodies are just sitting there.

BigButtons I think you're doing Retin A every night now. How do you fit in sheet masks/other treatments? On Retin A nights I cleanse, leave it min 30 minutes and then retin a, ideally leave another thirty mins ane then sleep pack. Sometimes the sleep pack goes straight on if I'm tired and have forgotten. I'm happily doing alternate nights and want to go nightly soon but don't want to miss out on the other fun stuff.

Innisfree real squeeze bija mask - well, it was cool and refreshing thanks to being refrigerated, and it fits better than most sheet masks I've tried I'm looking at you, Benton, and your masks for giants. However, apart from feeling quite nice when on it does nothing. NOTHING. It was supposed to be 'anti-trouble'. Yeah, right. In your dreams, Innisfree. Also I hated the feeling of the sticky, filmy essence on my skin so much that about 15 minutes after I took the mask off I had to wash my face. With Simple Facial Wash Gel. That's how much I did not like it.

Big thumbs down, I'm afraid.

If you have bad skin and you want a good anti-acne sheet mask, I recommend Benton Snail Bee High Content Mask. It really does work. First one I tried and still my favourite.

That's interesting re the Benton mask. I haven't had a single breakout since swapping to Korean stuff ...apart from today. I have a whopper of a Whitehead since starting the CosRX Whitehead toner but I was expecting that from reviews and it is only 2 days in so I guess its just purging what would have emerged.

I adore the Benton snail bee essence and my skin always feels more clean

newsreader yes I pretty much do retin everyday. ( when I remember and if my skin's not too sensitive). I reckon I do 3-4 then a break. Hopefully soon I'll be able to push it to 5 then a break and so on.
I cleanse and wait 20 acid tone, wait 30, retin, wait an hour and then do the rest of the layering routine before bed. I'm afraid I have not been using any masks recently. I think I would do those in the morning though after the vit c and acd serums.

Tbh my routine as it stands is working very well for my skin. My skin seems to really like the acids and the sulwhasoo. My nose-mouth lines which were VERY deep and very ageing have reduced HUGELY. They are much much shorter and very shallow now. This makes a big difference to my face. I can't believe this has happened!

lucy I had to wait over a month for my last beautynet products. not great.

oh bum, I knew the name rang a bell! Oh well, it's ordered now, fingers crossed it comes quicker than a month.

I used beautynetkorea and it took a while but not as long as a month. And lots of samples.

We are driving out of the city and crossing the mountains on our way towards the Adriatic Sea. I packed Biore and Neutrogena sunscreens, my cushion and some Missha M signature in a sample jar, five sheet masks, Blackhead Power, and the green tea capsule recipe pod. I'll take a break from the Internet until Sunday. Enjoy your parcels, sending everyone great skin days! I hope that the thread is still going strong when I return!

Have a lovely holiday, Frugal!

I've just received a 5% discount for leaving a review on W2beauty. Much as I like the site, and the fact that she is mega-generous with samples, I think 5% off is not going to tempt me while the prices on her site are so high.

Algernon is smaller today, but this is because of the Nexcare patch I stuck on him overnight, not the Innisfree mask. I know because I could see it on the patch this morning . I've heard that the Manuka Real Squeeze masks are good though, so will give that one a go next (after another Benton one).

I'm also used the Simple facial gel wash as my main cleanse this morning. I have no idea if the Ph is low and I think it contains SLS, however it doesn't leave my skin tight and dry and I needed a break from scented products. I've used it for years so no worries there.

Enjoy your holiday Frugal, it sounds lovely.

I've just been at a friend's house for the morning & come home to the cheap snail serum I ordered for diy sheet masking. Wasn't expecting much from it tbh with it being so cheap but it came all nicely boxed and sealed up with one of those scratch off authenticity panels on it. If I could be bothered I'd do a diy one tonight to try it but it's sooo hot I'm just going to stick one in the fridge.

Re the Maile sheet masks. I have loads of them
If anyone would like to swap stuff or cover postage for some? Let me know.

They aren't great tbh but cooling enough. I prefer the MBD and my scheming ones.

I like the my scheming ones as well, so far have tried watsons, my scheming, tony moly floria and bioessence tanuka sheet masks and my scheming are def the best of these, nice thick soft mask and loads of serum

bigbuttons I'm going to introduce retinol to my routine soon and wondering how to do it. Do you still use all your normal products after you have done your 30min wait with the retinol? Does it reduce the efficacy of the retinol if you layer products over it? I used a Vichy retinol sample while on hols and it was fine while I used moisturiser after but a couple of nights I didn't use anything and my face was very sore for a good week! Suggesting that maybe it's stronger if nothing is applied over it

My goal is to do BHA in the morning and AHA followed by retinols in the evening (read conflicting advice on acids and retinols together though)

Sorry too busy to read through all the threads right now but someone raved about the Lioele Dollish BB cream? I used some of my sample of this earlier. The chalky, dry texture and purple white colour was a bit of a shock. However it went on really nicely and didn't look white after seconds passed. I have not used powder on this hot, hot day to avoid melting chalkiness. Really impressed on how it has performed so far. If it had not been recommended here I think I might have been wary of trying it too!

mowgilk it is entirely possible that the efficacy is a little reduced if you use products after. However, I gave come to look at if this way:

If I don't use anything else my skin becomes very sensitives and I have to back off a few days until it has recovered. I the mean time it never gets properly used to the retin and I am not actually using it! Secondly if i didn't use anything after I wouldn't be making use of the products I love. So using both allows me to use, well, both!
I know the retin is working well enough because I still peel, just not as much and there is a big difference to my skin.mi have strong retin though.

I understand that there is a difference between using retinol and acid and prescription retin and acid. The later is ok and the former not recommended.. It works well for me. That's the thing. You can try recommendations but they are just that, recommendations, they might not be relevant or work for you!

Interesting article here (link pinched from reddit AB) about korean bathhouses & sort of how to diy.

Also...am intrigued by the hair sheet masks mentioned but can't find them on ebay