Obsessed with Asian/Korean stuff - taking your skincare to level 4!

[FrugalFashionista]

Asian and Korean skincare products are a big thing right now. We love them!

Tailor your routine here!
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
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
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

Orders from outside the EU: £15 or less are VAT free!

Best blogs and other resources
Reddit Asian Beauty
Fifty Shades of Snail
Snow White & Asian Pear
Skin & Tonics
more resources here...

Vol 3 of this thread here, Vol 2 of here and Vol 1 here

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

My goodness those recipes for shark sauce and Vit c serum look super complicated. I make my owns it c serum but I'm completely overwhelmed. If anyone does make some shark sauce I'd love to buy some at my own risk.

I used a Tosowoong propolis mask last night, enough essence left to pop something back in the packet too. I loved it, it's definitely the best one I've tried so far, which is good being as I bought a pack of 10. It's the first time I could really see a difference when I took it off.

Lucysmam this is a great intro site. True soap involves lye so wear goggles but those hand-milled recipes are fun with DC. You can use jelly molds or DC's plastic sand toys as molds, and I use milk cartons as my basic bar soap mold. You can add stuff like wheat germ or ground coffee to add texture. I cure mine in an open shoe box and use a mixture of coconut and olive oil for basic castile soap. Ooh and using a stick blender to mix a batch is a lot of fun!

Thank you! I'll have a good read later on

Fallen one of my orders (from Jolse) took well over a month to arrive, I had already given up when it finally materialized. And once a pair of jeans from the US took three months to arrive...

When Frugal recommended the beauty spatula thing for getting the last dregs of stuff out of bottles, I googled to see if there was a cheaper alternative and found (and linked to) the beauty spoon. I then bought one. Big mistake - the thing is HUGE. There is no way it would fit into the narrow openings of any of my foundation bottles. It comes with 2 spatulas the smaller of which is 15mm wide and 30mm long, I suppose I could fold it to get it in the bottle but I have doubts about whether I'd ever get it out again.

I'm still finding the procedures confusing. I'm fine until I get past toner then I just get bewildered. I'm wondering if I should stick to one brand for a while to get used to what I'm doing.
This morning I did cleanse, tone, essence, emulsion then reached for a missha moisturiser to find really it was a serum or essence - not a moisturiser.
I'm looking for a routine for dehydrated skin largely so if anyone has seen one pls let me know!

Grim one of the bloggers, I think it was 50 shades of snail wrote a good item about routines so have a look around at her blog - make sure you have a cup of tea and a few moments to yourself as you'll get absorbed.

I have a question about Hada Labo lotion. I have been using it a while and do love it, but I'm now not sure I'm using it correctly. I usually double cleanse while the kids are in the bath around 6pm, then slap on the Hada Labo (patting it it) after they're in bed around 7-7.30 pm, then I leave it until I head up to bed around 10pm (although sometimes do a sheet mask in that time) Then at 10pm I use Benton Snail Bee essence followed by missha long name followed by Cerave PM (currently trying and giving up on Benton steam cream instead). I have just been perusing Reddit and have read that its very important to use an occlusive immediately after using hada labo to stop the humectancts drawing moisture from the skin. Is that right? So do I need to do all my serums etc straight after hada labo? Or maybe just one?

thanks!

Sleep that would be true if you lived in an extremely arid place. I'm doing fine without an occlusive. Maybe in a desert or dust bowl somewhere or in midwinter here it would be different.

Thanks frugal.

I'm definitely ditching the steam cream. My forehead never gets spots and I have about 5 little closed comedone bumps there atm. It's really annoying because the rest of my skin looks pretty good, quite glowy ( still definitely need at least cc cream, concealer and powder but am accepting I'll probably always need that. I just look so ghostly and ill without it.

ilove, I tend to do the HL and my Dragons blood essence at the same time. Then sheet mask if I'm using one. Then cream later on & then snail gel.

I enjoy spreading it all out over the evening in peace rather than trying to get through it all in one go.

We're not long in from the birthday party - buns were a success, didn't even get one to bring home I have been asked to make two proper iced and decorated cakes off the back of them though so am going to spend a bit of time tonight working out cost to let my friend's SIL know roughly how much they'll be.

Make up off and bubble mask on first though when dp stops hogging the bathroom (Seriously, he has less to do in there but spends longer than me )

Quick bubble mask update - it tickles! & all I can hear is popping bubbles Definitely interesting. The girls haven't noticed it yet...dp says I look like I have shaving foam on my face though

I didn't wait for all the bubbles to pop...think I did snail lady's trick & put a little too much on in some areas so most bubbles had gone from my cheeks & chin, but not nose or forehead

I'm impressed though - definite glow & pores are less obvious!

Dd1 eventually spotted it, she says it looks like clouds which is much better than shaving foam .

I was discussing skincare with my friend earlier & she was at me describing all my stuff so I've sent her a picture of it all

I've been reading the recipes for the vitamin c serum and the shark sauce serum and had a thought.

I'm not sure I want to go to the expense of buying all of the equipment (scales / beakers / etc.) and buying all of the ingredients (since I'm sure you have to buy more of each than you need for a single test batch) unless I'm sure that this is something that works for me and I want to keep making this stuff.

However there are a few places near me (London) that offer mixing your own cosmetics courses. If I could arrange for an afternoon class which follows both recipes, includes all of the ingredients and equipment and if it were reasonably priced, would anyone be interested?

Is this a crazy idea?

Perhaps if you're interested you could PM me.

GERTI I'm swearing off oil completely at the moment. The samples are only tiny so I honestly don't mind passing them, pm me if you would like me to post them to you :)

My favourite product is still the mizon snail gel. It has helped massively with heeling my poor face after I literally looked like a bee had stung my chin repeatedly after my snail bee experiment.

My skin looks pretty good (mouth up) today after making a fresh batch of vit c serum last night. If anyone has similar skin or can suggest products that are not moisturising and suit skin that loves vit c and salicylic acid please let me know as Im feeling left out with all your beauty purchases

Phantom, I'd be interested but think I'm a bit far away & cost of travel plus the course would be prohibitive

I'm curious how the bubbles in the bubble mask work so going to google and see what I can find out. It didn't bubble until it touched my skin so I'm thinking maybe heat activated somehow...we will see!

I'm none the wiser Still, it's fun being a cloud for ten mins and I have a definite glow this evening so I'm happy with it.

Wish I understood the science behind these things better though.

newsreader i'm just waiting for the last couple of ingredients for the sharksauce. She makes her vit c in a very similar way to mine, it's not that complicated, she just makes it seem so! I think she goes somewhat over board on all the equipment and sterilising . I do sterilise, but only once. I don't wear gloves or sterilise all surfaces! I have just ordered some super sensitive scales though, always useful to get exact amounts. I'll let you know how my first batch turns out!

I haven't read the sharksauce post yet - am guessing by the reaction here and reddit that it's full of good stuff?

I'm fairly sure it'll baffle me but it's on tomorrow's to do list along with carpet cleaning

Well if you want to recoup some of your costs BigButtons I'll happily buy some from you.

newsreader I only spent about £40 this time. I had a lot of the ingredients already from DIY projects. I also doubled up on some like the SKB so they would last a while. If I like the results I'll send you some to try ( I'm rubbish at selling things to people!).

You ladies are brave for committing to DIY projects, I worked in a lab most of my working life but am too lazy to do it at home!

Let us know the results of the shark sauce I may be tempted to start if the results are worth it

Third day of using Tosowoong tea tree essence and am really liking it! Skin looks clearer already and redness which I didn't even know I had around my nose and chin are much reduced. I was thinking I would move on to try the LJH tea tree essence after this but this may become a HG. Tempted to try the sparkle propolis ampoule by Tosowoong now

Has anyone been tempted by the roseroseshop sale? They have some real bargains even when you factor in shipping. Missha long name ampoule for 13 dollars for instance. I went a bit mad and ordered a load of stuff, bit worried Ill be hit by customs now though!
My Missha konjac sponge arrived yesterday and I love it, used it just for the 2nd cleanse , the product foams up really quickly on the sponge and skin feels lovely afterwards.