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 RRS haul arrived!
Cosrx A-sol toner
Xaivita goat milk emulsion I don't remember ordering (where does it go in a routine?)
Skinfood cream blusher
Etude lipgloss
Etude eyebrow tint
Missha mascara
A'pieu cushion
Benton snail bee sheet mask
There were three samples of lipgloss, cermide toner and something else.
Now for my testerkorea order to arrive.

You know if I order from RRS or Jolse rather than ebay so I can buy a bigger haul, I presume I'd pay the 'proper' amount of postage based on weight so wouldn't need to stick to the £15 limit?

I'm going to save up through August I think - only purchase I want to make at the mo is a tea tree serum or essence - and use what I save towards some A/W clothes and some skincare treats.

I'm so jealous everyone's RRS sale stuff has arrived, I'm still waiting. I got a couple of innisfree sheet masks I ordered today from eBay though with a huge amount of samples I've not tried before so I'm very happy.
scrambled have you tried escentual for the avene? I've had quite a few avene products from them in the past.

I have come to the conclusion that Benton products just aren't for me . I patch tested the bha under my ear where it's hidden by my hair...I have a large, red, spot there Gutted - I really wanted them to work for me since I kept being drawn to Benton.

Skincaretainment rules our house this evening -dd2 was being a pain in the arse after we got out of the shower so each task she completed (getting dried/hair brushing/teeth brushing etc) was rewarded with a spray of perfume/a touch of my little castle handcream & things like that - the stuff in pretty packaging she isn't allowed to go near because I no longer buy Wilko cheap and cheerful.

Made a modified shark sauce today. Fail. It's horribly sticky. A waste of some ingredients(sob). I shall try again with a simplified version......

Oh no Bigbuttons What went wrong with it?

My face is feeling dry tonight - no idea why, I had a no-make up, in the house all day, day so didn't double cleanse tonight & haven't skipped anything I can think of.

Am about to add a layer of the Holika White Wine Sleeping Pack so will see how it feels then & if it carries on I'll consider adding another moisturising layer under the snail gel.

I've just had an email from Skin18 saying they are sending a selection of six Four Season masks for review! Since the first two turned up, and fairly quickly, I will look forward to those but not too much just in case they don't this time iyswim.

A gentle scrub with a clearasil pad and some propolis essence last night have calmed the spot on my neck. Still a bit gutted about the Benton but at least I didn't buy full sizes of anything from them.

That's a shame about the Benton BHA, lucysmam. I wonder if the lack of preservatives is the problem, or a specific ingredient? I love the Snail Bee essence, but the steam cream gave me huge blackheads of DOOM. Funny as real Steam Cream is wonderful on my skin - I still use it on occasion when my skin is irritated but Evercalm will be too heavy.

Any good eye serums/creams for dark circles and hollow eyes? I'm knackered and it's really showing. I'm wondering about SubQ eyes as Boots have it on offer, but it's a bit scarily expensive even then.

Which reminds me- LRP is on offer too.

Thanks for the tip re: Escentuals, Newsreader. Sadly they don't stick it either. I've done some research and so far it is US only, as far as I can see. V odd.

I happened to be in Chinatown London yesterday getting my nose pierced ... have been there a couple of times but never bothered to look up cosmetics but this time I had a peek and most of the shops had a quite a few products with brand names mentioned in this thread , but the prices were very high ...

Not sure Scrambled, Benton seem to have a pretty inoffensive ingredient list I'm going to write out the ingredients for the bha alongside the aloe gel and lioele waterdrop sleeping pack tonight and look for common ingredients.

The cheap snail cream I bought has been nice as an eye cream. My undereyes have never been so hydrated and plumped up tbh. I didn't expect much for less than £2 but am happy with it.

I asked about buying AB in the UK on reddit jackie & it was pretty much agreed that it's nice for a browse and maybe pick up a sheet mask or two but is hugely expensive compared to ebay or other online retailers.

scrambled I really rate the hylamide sub q for eyes, if you can get past the tingle. And also I seem to be getting through it at an alarming rate unless it's leaked somewhere but can't see any evidence of that!

Thanks for the bb tips vegan I will try missha.

My hands labo foaming cleanser arrived. I don't love it I have to say. I really don't like the smell (unscented really but smells chemically, and I'm used to my indulgent western cleansers like ren and emma hardie that smell so divine. It's the only place in my routine I love a nice scent. And also it stings my eyes. So I'll ise it up as an am cleanse but wouldn't repurchase. My fave second cleanser is still REN rose gel.

On the subject of smells, that is my major bug bear with AB. I hate all the fake smelling products. Especially the make up. It just doesn't do it for me. I have only settled on products with little or no smell - Benton snail bee, missha longer name, hada labo, etc. although I don't mind it in a sheet mask. Weird.

My first stash arrived a couple of days ago (I was stunned that the parcel was waiting when we did the post run, very fast delivery from roseroseshop) and I am over the moon! Thank you so much to everyone for the advice.
I actually look alive again and so much younger and healthier, to the point that our foreman told me over breakfast that I look amazing, and he is a man of extremely few words, and one of the least likely men on the planet to comment on appearance.

I haven't tried all of the products yet, but so far I've tried:

Tony Moly banana foaming cleanser - I adore this! It gives my skin so much moisture and radiance, I thought it might just smell nice but not do a lot, but it works wonders for me, and the smell...I can't stop sniffing it. Like banana angel delight, mmmm!

They sent me a sample of the snail bee mask, and a load of other samples, plus I have all of my other products to try too .

Tony Moly 100 hours nutra cream - absolutely brilliant for me, lovely texture and really seemed to make my skin smooth, soft and radiant.

Tony Moly 24 gold mask - OK, didn't seem to do much but I enjoyed looking like C3P0 and amusing DH and DS with it

Tony Moly immortal youth serum - fantastic, really seemed to make my skin look younger and less tired.

Stars, you sound really happy with your stash Glad to see what you have tried is working for you!

I'm up to my elbows in cake batter again, baking for dp's mum's wedding this time (to freeze and decorate the day before - this is to save me time).

Just having a break for an ebay browse, for a slightly heavier cream, and now wishing I held off on the scinic propolis...Honey Bomb is just under £13 from Iamloveshop I think I have settled on Cosrx honey ceramide cream as a more moisturising but still light ish layer if the feeling of dryness continues though.

Wow thanks for the tip lucys but I can't find it?! Am rubbish at browsing in my phone tho. That is quite a lot cheaper than normal isn't it?

This one ilove. I was a bit dubious about buying it so cheaply but figured I may as well try some of the cheap, unbranded, stuff as well & this one has worked out. Eye creams usually cause me a hugely attractive, red and scaly like I've cried for hours on end, reaction but this hasn't

There's another I've had my eye on too that I may order soon ish to see what that's like.

Just got the Hera UV mist cushion. It's AMAZING. total convert to cushions. Such a fine light coverage which is really buildable without heaviness. Awesome. Bought on eBay from UK based seller so came in 2 days.

ilovetosleep, I've found that scents are very important to me too. I've decided that when my current stuff is finished I'm going to trade-up to beautifully scented products, like the Whamisa Organic Flowers toner instead of Hadalabo, Botanic Farm Grain Ferment cleansing sherbet or the Su:m 37 balm instead of Clean it Zero, and some of the Aromatica Rose cleansing gel. Sulwhasoo have pleasant natural scents too if you like ginseng, and I've heard good things about the History of Whoo scents too but not tried them yet.

scrambled the Sum37 balm I think is one of the most heavenly smells I've ever come across. It's makes me very happy to use it every night to the point that I am panicking in case the sellers stop shipping it. Think I'd be on the first plane to Korea to stock up

Thanks Lucysmam I actually meant the honeybomb though! I still can't find it but I guess you meant the scinic honey all in one. I'm so tempted by that but have a whole new longer name ampoule on the way plus a whole bottle of hylamide to get through too. Don't know if I can afford to add in any more steps that I'll just get hooked too, might just wait until I have finished these serums before buying any more.

scrambled I will look up those products, thanks for that. I never realised how important the smells are (although silly really as I love perfume, just never really thought about it it skin care before) I suppose apart from my indulgent cleansers and night creams, most of my western products have always been smell free so some of this korean stuff smells a bit cheap to me. I love the sound of the Sum37 cleansing balm, do you know if it has mineral oil in? I don't really know if I do react to it and I used eve lom cleanser for years but I do think my skin has been less congested since I stopped. That could be all the other new products clearing my skin though! If its not mineral oil free I might try the Clean it Zero purity one.

oooh hang on, I'll go see if I can find it again! I had eye cream on the brain

Honey Bomb here for £12.77

But I've just realised that is a link to my ebay & the scinic one!

Maybe I should have concentrated on one thing at once this afternoon instead of trying to do everything all at once never mind. At least I'm not gutted about the Honey bomb any more!

Although tbh doesn't the scinic one seem pretty much the same as the honey bomb?