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!

*retinol. Damn autocorrect.....

Also Jocasta wait 30 mins after cleansing before using Retin a, I'd think about using it every third night at first.

I've been using a 10% vitamin c serum every day for 6 ish weeks, Jocasta. It's a diy recipe from reddit, I just reduced the quantities to make smaller amounts. If you cba to diy, one of the more popular ones seems to be OST (I think, someone will know it's proper name).

Wash face - wait 15 for ph to return to normal -vit c serum - wait 20 - any other lotion/serums/essences (thinnest to thickest consistency wise) - gels and creams then sunscreen and follow up with make up.

I have no idea about the retin-a...am too chicken to try it!

Frugal, please report back on the snail bee, I still want to try it soon

Good to see everyone still going strong on here. I am just about to put on a sheet mask and thought I'd drop by. I still have my snail bee samples waiting to try and don't know when to try it! I'm using missha long name ampoule at night and I really like it, no idea if it's doing anything but it feels good and quite luxurious - never really used a serum other than boots no.7 which is very different in texture to this one. So should I stop the ampoule and replace with the benton essence followed by cream? Or layer them all on, or maybe use benton in the morning and missha at night?

My skin is feeling fab, it's very soft and smooth, but I still have specific issues I need to tackle. My current routine is all moisture based apart from the ampoule and I'm slowly re introducing aha and bha pads in the morning but only every few days. I am mostly concerned with fine lines (around eyes but am mostly hating my nasolabial lines atm) and pigmentation around my eyes and acne scarring on chin. Actually I think the pigmentation on my forehead has really reduced and my chin is less pink - could be either long name or cerave pm reaponsible for that.

I think I need retinol really.

Lucysmam I get perverse enjoyment from following your peeling reports.
Jocasta you got great advice from Lucysmam. Waiting times and the right order make products more effective. I am happy that you are getting results already!

ilove, I think I'd layer them at night - I much prefer my longer routine on an evening rather than trying to rush everything and not enjoy it in a morning.

Frugal no-one else understands my excitement about these things.

Ilovetosleep so glad to hear your skin is fab!!! Some of the changes will take weeks to months, so you might want to enjoy some great skin days before doing anything hardcore. I'm postponing anything scary and intensive to the sunless part of the year, right now I just want uncomplicated things.

My RL AB friend layers several serums. Her skin looks fantastic. I really liked the Longer Name ampoule, have only tried samples so far, but lots of more experienced ABers seem to trial products for 2-4 weeks without changing anything else so that they can see whether something helps.

Is it the Innisfree No Sebum powder everyone has? Dp has ordered a new bike on a pay weekly scheme thingy through work so I have a little extra to play with (sadly not enough for the cosrx blackhead power until his pay comes through with my big spends).

I think its the innisfree powder yes, although I think I'm going to oder the Etude House one just because its a bit cheaper!

Yes frugal it is nice to have soft skin, but it only feels nice - it still looks awful. Its not actually my skin that looks bad, more my complexion if that makes sense - my skin is so pale (using spf 50 every day...) and yet I have these sunken dark eyes from sleep deprivation, plus I have lots of dark moles/freckles that make my skin look even paler. I just look ill!

I'm quite jealous of all your decluttering Frugal. I need some of that. Especially of the plastic tat.

I was browsing missha.ee - sadly I may have missed their sale but noticed that they now also sell the brilliant Super Snail Aqua intro kit. It has been one of my favorite Korean buys. And they seem to have another intro set on sale.

Sleep, Buttons went through this recently, she was feeling pale and was definitely sleep-deprived. I wonder whether anything helped?

I've been super pale all my life (my tan is lightest regular shade of foundation) and I've learned to make the most of it (blusher and undereye coverage are not optional, even when I am just taking out the trash). Today I was hauling boxes from the lift and an Italian lady passing by scolded our doorman - apparently I was too young and too blonde to do heavy lifting on my own. The tomato red lipstick may have helped

I used the Innisfree real squeeze aloe mask tonight, somewhat warily as I had a bad experience with the Bija one (NOT a good mask). Can't believe it's the same range, it was so moisturising and calming. Whoo!

That looks like a great intro kit, Frugal! I've only tried a couple of Missha's products but they were both really good.

I would never leave the house without under eye concealer (although am yet to find the perfect one!) in my case i'm actually not totally pale, mac nc20-25, and it's olive toned rather than pinkish, but there is just such a dramatic contrast between my skin and my dark circles and dark moles. I've had a killer of a first year with dc2 who barely sleeps and I've lost a hell of a lot of weight whih doesn't help the appearence of my skin. This is the first year I have noticed any lines on my face and I'm sure a few extra pounds would help!

ilovetosleep, I had this with DD2, I know a little of what you're going through. Sleep deprivation is vile and affects your mood so deeply, as well as your skin (oh, and your coordination, and your memory, and your cognition... it goes on). We still have phases where my sleep is crap thanks to DD2 bouncing around her room all night but it's nowhere near as bad as it was.

I would advise taking Floradix to help you get through, and it has the wonderful side effect of making you look more healthy too! When I was taking it I had the most incredibly clear, bright eyes. My whites were bordering on blue-white. It tastes a bit weird but it's packed full of Iron and B vitamins. And it doesn't make things, er, sluggish, IYKWIM.

Thanks for the tip smegs I've never tried floradix but I do have about 3 boxes of spatone left over from pregnancy, I should take them really. Am still breastfeeding DS and we are both gluten/dairy free (temporarily for me) so I'm really deficient and totally crap at remembering to take any supplements! In fact this is the first time it's really occured to me that it could be affecting my skin. Doh!

Btw I LOVE innisfree masks, must remember to not order the bija one, lots of people seem to hate it! My faves so far have been rose, aloe and rice. I have manuka honey up next :) I also want to try some tony moly ones as they're alcohol free.

Spatone is good, but you'll need a separate B vitamin complex I think. If you're sleep deprived and exhausted B vitamins are pretty much essential!

Yes, Bija is awful. Wish I'd read the fifty shades of snail blog post on it!

I'm alright double checking the no sebum powder- I need to figure out my paypal password again before I can order anything Job for the morning I think!

I have a Covet list, and it is getting bigger. And more expensive . There are a couple products I covet above all else, and they're proving difficult to source either at a reasonable price, or in the case of the lipsticks, at all. Can anyone help? I'm looking for -

Belif The True Cream Aqua Bomb

&

The History of Whoo lipsticks

Thank you!

That's great re the swap Frugal. Just PM me your details and I'll do the same

Off to bed now covered in snail slime

I'm checking in complete with a pomegranate Innisfree sheet mask, not refrigerated this time (must put the whole stash in the fridge). Lucysmam I have the Etude house zero sebum powder that I was raving about last week, I think Frugal and some of the others have the Innisfree.

Am wondering if I can manage to sleep with this sheet mask on or will it stick to the bed. DH is out until late, it might give him a fright when he gets home especially if he's had a glass of wine or three.

I did my reviews for Skin18 for my free masks. I notice that they didn't publish the one that said the mask didn't fit! The nose hole was so enormous that it reached to my chin! However I hope that they were enough to be entered in the next bit - I want to be a winnie!

I've gone a bit crazy with the Ebay purchases so I'm now not going to buy another thing. You are all my witnesses - no more parcels for me.

I do need to look slightly more closely at the order in which I am using some of the products. I don't have particularly sensitive skin and have gone from having no skincare regime at all to having a complicated one. My skin is looking miles better but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm doubling up on some things.

Scrambled - forthefairestsophia on ebay sells history of whoo products and has lipsticks - but I think they really are shockingly expensive. For that price I would think the packaging should be metal not plastic!

She does however give you LOTS of samples.

Whilst you're looking at gorgeous and enormously overpriced make up packaging- have you seen Les Merveilleuses Laduree?

I also want the paul and joe lipstick with a cat's head carved into the lipstick.

They're all vastly impractical though - so I'm not allowing myself to buy them.