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!

I got one from RRS too, Frugal, which is great as they're still my favourite sheet masks. I've not tried any of the really fancy ones, in silk etc yet though. Is DD2 at the stage yet where she wants to have a sheet mask and a bubble bath?! DD1 is 5 and I daren't use any masks - clay, sheet or otherwise - in front of her as last time it gave her nightmares .

I've got these on order, basically because they come in at £1.70 per mask and Snow White... blogger calls them her HG of sheet masks. I've certainly got troubled skin at the moment, they'll be used up in no time!

Oh, also waiting for the Ciracle pink powder. All about the drying lotion for spots, these pesky little beggars need to dry up and BEGONE.

Apologies for unneccessary Caps lock, but feelings are running high

DD2 is five too but her favorite holiday is Halloween and she has a thing for gothic stuff - so the serial killer look is right up her street. I cut a mask from kitchen towel and moistened it with water (shhh)...

mowglik

I use retin-a every night. But mine is only a 0.025% formulation, I go with the regular-frequent-and-little approach. Mostly because I lose track of retin-a nights :)

It was a good thread on reddit wasn't it! Made my commute this morning much more bearable.

I'm worried about the part where he speaks about a Vit C derivative (ascorbyl palmitate) causing lipid oxidation and leading to cell death though :( I found a study about it, but it was published in 2002. I haven't seen anything recent.

Scrambled, I honestly think the carbonated bubbles were just too much twice in one week - possibly a bit over-exfoliated. I didn't break out from using it or anything but my face was sore/sensitive for a few days.

I got the Ikiara one - from a UK seller as well! I was really surprised at how fast it arrived actually, I'd settled in for a looooong wait .

I'm just back from town; I bought myself three small storage bags from primarni for hair stuff/fake tanners and all the other randomness so there is enough space for my new AB pretties ! Dp is at me but ...meh!

Speaking of spending...I'm doing rather well with my no buy. No spending but lots of browsing going on for next time

I'm going to read the AMA later with a , need it after a troop round town with the girls. Dd2 convinced me she needs a handbag (good job it was only £3 on the reduced section in Primark!

The bee venom essence sounds good Scrambled, I'm not sure I need another essence at the mo since I have the dragons blood and the skinfood royal honey propolis but will add it to my 'possible' list and have a look around at some reviews of it.

Thanks for mentioning the Reddit thread - I missed it and it is awesome. I'm such a geek, I've seriously considered buying a cosmetic chemistry textbook...

at your DD's face mask, Frugal! That's so cute. Sadly I think it will be a while yet for DD1, the rather crap way I dealt with night terrors about a 'ghost eating mummy's face' wasn't one of my finest parenting moments. I cried .

I've been struggling to move onto daily Retin A because it's hard to fit in the whole routine and wait times, so I love the idea of routine earlier in the evening and retin a before bed. Brilliant. I've just done a sheet mask (huge Tosowoong one) and will give it a go with retin a before bed.

I'm very tempted Scrambled by the bee venom, but still have some of the Benton samples to try out first (if I can get anything out).

Very much loving the innisfree red wine pack. Leaves my skin lovely and no breakouts
Tony moly panda hand cream is v popular at work

I'm looking vair sexy tonight

Hair in bendy rollers with my fringe clipped on top, sheet mask on, feet smothered in nivea and in an old pair of socks, wine with a straw

I blame you lot for my re-awakened love of all things beauty related!

In other news - my cheapy tea tree serum (which is actually more snail-gel ish in texture) is nearly done. Think I'll replace with an AB one after next week.

Ok, I'm reading through the AMA & have read the bit about the vitamin c needing more processing than just a diy job. Does that mean the serum's we've been making are pretty much no good/sounded like maybe too harsh? Or do you think he's talking from a commercial perspective there?

serum's = serums No idea why that apostrophe is there!

I give you the randomest item I have come across so far Sadly outside my budget for randomest 99p item at £7.99 (for a foundation vibrator ) but still...

I was wondering about the Vit c, but wasn't the point it could be too irritating? If we're not reacting badly then is it doing th trick?

Loving the Anne Summers foundation!

I've always been concerned that the homemade vit C is too low in pH for my relatively acid-sensitive face and haven't added vit C to my routine yet as niacinamide seems to be working well and as I have overexfoliated in the past.

I just finished reading the AMA (dc woke us up very early, sigh), it is excellent, and the huge take-home is that there are few absolutes in skincare. If it works for you, it works for you, period. I was also a bit taken aback by how little theory there is behind many products (formulations are often trend and customer demand led - this thread for example if seen by a bunch of guys looking for ideas for new products for UK-based slightly older women could result in more snail mucin products in the local market - but with a considerable delay). Anyway, go and read it, it is like a capsule college course. Button's acid question was also at least partially answered (vit C and niacinamide interact very slowly over days and months so it is more of a product long-term stability issue for formulators than a concern for the cosmetics user).

I'll go back for another read of that question - maybe I mis-interpreted it. The diy serum hasn't irritated my face at all & does appear to be helping though so can't be all bad.

It did make me wonder whether to try a bought vit c serum though - I wonder would the results be better? But then again, if they're going to oxidise over the course of a few weeks it's not really very cost effective - there'd be so much waste

You have to remember that he is a cosmetic chemist though- if we all switched to homemade soap and DIY serums his services would no longer be required So of course he has an anti DIY bias, partially because we lack his extensive training (= can do stupid things), and partially because he wants to protect his profession.

He just said that homemade vit C may be too acidic without an added pH adjuster and can someone irritate very sensitive people - I drew the same conclusion when people measured the pH of their homemade serums and that's why I haven't cooked it up at home. People here have very different thresholds though so many people will be totally fine with pH 2.

I was a bit shocked how shallow he understanding how normal skin functions actually is. So that it is really trial and error on their side too.

Yes, that's true. There seems to be very little that actually irritates my skin really.

I'm a little curious about the whole ph thing so may order some test strips (now I wish I had kept the ones I bought for the fish tank before replacing with a proper test kit). And do some more research about that for myself.

The lack of theory/research behind some things surprised me too - it does seem to be all 'what the consumer wants to see' rather than a 'this thing actually works' sort of industry.

I suppose it makes sense since skincare fashions change as much as clothes but I expected it to be more based around the science.

I can easily cope with a very low ph indeed. It's a really interesting post. I shall go back and read it again before I leave for me hols: away to stinky hot Marrakech for a week on Monday!

I've just received an load of Super Aqua waterfall cream that I think I ordered after someone raved about it here - what's it for?

I'm in the process of sorting my make up/skincare to make room on my bedside cabinet for the more attractive ab stuff and am really surprised by how much I have!

I chucked two super cheap (as in pound shop) foundations that weren't right. I'll stick to the Holika one I think for the moment - it's a really good match.

Does anyone want the Clearing one to try? If not, I'll chuck it in my box of face painting odds and sods for Halloween useage

Wow, that AMA was an amazing time suck. I'm not sure how much I learned - it seemed to just back up the YMMV approach! I thought it was interesting that she recommends a wait time of 5ish mins for acids - I will take that on board. It also made me think about my use of Retin-A - I know it's recommended for acne but the fact that it's an irritant helped to explain why it seems to make why skin wise when I us it on acne prone areas like my chin.

Oof, sheet mask time is well deserved tonight! I have sorted every single drawer, box, make up case, my wardrobe, and the airing cupboard today.

There are just the girls' school folders to sift through for good bits (will do that when they go back) and dp needs to sort out his stuff (who on earth needs approx 37 t-shirts )

Sorry about shocking proofreading earlier today. I'm not great at multitasking

Have spent most of the day dressed up in a family celebration, finally switching to leggings and a sweatshirt.

Hearing about shorter wait times was fantastic, my days are packed and I get to start my routine much later these days and I am usually half asleep before the 30-min post acid wait time is over.