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!

good idea to post routine, feel free to ask me about any of these products, my routine atm (testing lots of samples and other products)

am
shu uemura cleansing oil
skin doctors vitamin C serum
nip fab dragons blood pads (BHA)
tony moly floria whitening capsule essence
hado labo shirojyun whitening lotion
biore sunscreen

pm
micellar water or dhc cleansing oil
emma hardie cleansing balm
cosrx BHA blackhead power liquid (if not used am)
fab or nipfab glycolic fix pads
tony moly floria whitening capsule essence
dr jart V7 radiance serum
mizon snail gel cream
sleeping pask (Sulwhasoo vitalising or laneige water sleeping mask)

Also trialling lots of others: mizzen good night pack, tony moly appletox peeling cream and brightening cream, bioessence aqua droplet mask, bioessence tank white essence and lots of different sheet masks

chocolate how do you find the mizon snail ampoule? I really like the snail gel and wondering if this has similar effects (skin clearing and evening skin tone)

Gouda South Korea is phasing out animal testing by 2017 (legislation link in thread 1). To anticipate this change, lots of brands are already going cruelty free, a list of brands that are already complying to some degree here.

FallenAngel my first Innisfree order was more than the VAT limit but it wasn't stopped. Fingers crossed with yours!

I've been writing about conflicts of interest on another thread and just wanted to say that I have no financial or other interests in promoting Korean products. I found these by accident while travelling to US for work. I've received a couple of bonus sheet masks with big orders and have a box of free samples from various shops, but I work in a totally unrelated field and am not going to open a e-shop or blog or start an affiliate program. I just love this stuff. The products are exotic, inexpensive, smell good, offer novel textures and tend to suit my tricky skin = totally hooked

I have ordered once from Cult Beauty. They are not the cheapest option (you can find rthe same stuff on eBay for much less) but personally I like EU-based vendors as there are no customs delays, the taxes go toward our public services and hopefully the brands are also forced to comply with EU's strict cosmetics legislation. Ultimately, however, I'd like to see less L'Oreal and Garnier and more Mizon and Innisfree in my local supermarket

My updated routine

am
Wash off sleeping mask with water
Missha First Treatment Essence spray
Biore Watery Essence sunscreen
Missha or Dr Jart cushion or BB cream

pm
Bioderma Sensibio micellar water
Syrian black nigella soap
2% salicylic acid pads or, twice a week, Nip + Fab glycolic acid pads
A sheet mask (Innisfree Real Squeeze or My Beauty Diary Hyaluronic) OR
Missha Super Aqua Snail essence /Hada Labo Gokujyun lotion/ Mizon Retuning Starfish Cream
A sleeping pack (usually Innisfree Wine Jelly, Mizon Good Night or Missha Super Aqua Snail)
Missha Time Revolution Night Repair eye serum
Mizon Snail Repair eye cream

My skin is dry/normal, main concerns - acne and rosacea prone, hyperpigmentation

So you put on your eye treatments after the sleeping pack, Frugal? That's really interesting. I've doing before, does it make a difference?

I don't use the sleeping pack around my eye area! I am a big believer in lasagna type layering, moisture first, the the emollient or occlusive. I tend to get milia from eye creams but layering cream on top of the serum seems to work. Still not sure whether I would repurchase the eye stuff but going to give it a full trial. Trying to make the most of my purchases

A sleeping pack is an occlusive layer, adding stuff on top of it won't work too well.

Oh and if you allow to replenish my sheet mask stash and buy a couple of serums first, I'm all in for a no-buy July!

It's super easy to get carried away with late night mouseclicks but you are also allowed to slow down. And no need to make the routines super long, mine has become a bit longer because I want to test a few products properly...

Duh, I can't believe I thought you were putting it in over your sleeping pack! I don't put the sleeping pack around my eye area either. Although Skin & Tonics seems to use her normal face cream on the eye area, so I suppose anything's possible!

I do my eye serum at the same stage as my face serum, but only because it seems right. Nothing scientific!

Both of my eye products were accidental purchases - Missha sent me the eye serum instead of the Longer Name Ampoule, and the Mizon eye cream came in the intro kit. Not sure I'd buy either, but they are not bad either.

I am super diligent about using up stuff anyway

Korean-foodstuffs tangent - anyone here tried kimchi? It's my current obsession. I need to eat it all the time. Thank goodness I live near a mini Asian supermarket, or I'd be bereft.

Of course I'll probably hate it next week. But right now it's so gooood.

Here is a story on serums and essences. It might or might not make things clearer...

Also, we expect a moisturizer to be a cream. Koreans like more liquid stuff, behind this is a belief that liquid stuff penetrates better. I am not sure whether there is any truth in that, but that's why some of the more hydrating products are fluid. And Koreans don't necessarily expect creams to hydrate.

Brittany I like the ultra waterfull stuff too!
Mowglik I mix two shades too. I like getting a perfect tone... I do it circa once a week in a small foundation sample jar, using a wooden manicure stick as a spatula If you love your custom mix, you could also buy a cheap empty cushion (there was one for

Scrambled I could live on kimchi. I love anything fermented. When I was at uni, there was a Korean supermarket nearby and I subsisted on pickled cabbages, sprouts, ferns etc. Italians are not adventurous with exotic food, there are a couple of Korean restaurants near Termini but they are not that great. I miss Korean barbecue so much! Korean chopsticks are like knitting needles, I remember getting a lesson in Palisades Park NJ once from an elderly lady because I ate like a child...

Apparently Koreans can have separate refrigerators for their skincare and their kimchi. Let me know when you buy yours

Oh and the household appliance giant LG is behind some skincare brands. So you can probably buy a LG fridge and fill it with LG creams and masks

Kimchi fridge? Presumably it's not a normal fridge - I guess it's for fermenting the kimchi properly. Sadly I'm too lazy to make my own so won't be needing a special fridge soon!

There's a food market behind the RFH on the South Bank that has a Korean BBQ burrito stall. Talk about fusion!

Scrambled I totally forgot that when I was in LA recently I had Korean BBQ tacos with extra kimchi on top. Delicious, particularly after having been force fed brown purees vegan food by virtuous Californians

Ooh, sounds good! Hope something similar comes here soon. I'm rather bored of the bubble tea craze here in London. Although banh mi and pho are trends I'm loving right now!

Aaaah bubble teas... Another thing I loved about Chinatown in New York. Italy is totally unadventurous in this respect, I am afraid.

A fab blog post on dry vs dehydrated skin. This is for those of you who have truly dry skin!

Thanks to GERTI I have ordered some Benton bee snail samples.

I haven't done much AB purchasing of late but I like to keep up with what everyone in here is up to / trying out
Inspired by one of the beauty blogs (skinandtonics?) I am now using cerave cleanser as a stop gap before being brave enough to order the sum37 rose balm.

I am also using some effaclar duo for the first time to combat the recent mini breakout. It worked really well on my chin monster but I worry where in my routine I should be fitting it in to make sure it is the most effective!

bigbuttons I have been using the diy vit c serum and all I can say is WOW :) My tretinoin and glycolic peel have been sidelined for now in favour of the vit c serum in the evening followed by snail gel before bed.

On my eBay wish list is the holika aqua petit jelly bb cream. Has anyone come across samples of this please?

I'm so sorry, this must have been asked before, but bigbuttons or m0gz can you link to the DIY Vit C and DIY Niacinamide serums?

Bigbuttons please also if you have time do explain us whic product order seems to work best for you!

My chin has completely calmed down.

Scrambled, I've never tried kimchi, it sounds interesting!

make up alley vit c discussion

reddit vitamin c

I can't remember where else I looked but buttons also posted a recipe on the amazing faces thread :)

The only thing I know about kimchi is that it was a character in the chowder cartoon the kids used to watch, sorry not helpful

There is a great skincare thread on Reddit for anyone 40+

Thank you m0gz! I'll get reading..