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!

[lucysmam]

Ok, now I have made that decision...I'm onto lighter, more fluid moisturisers for oily skin.

Is there anything any of you have really loved?

[NewsreaderChic]

I love I also have the ginseng toner as does BigButtons. It's an aha with the added advantage of being a ph adjuster iyswim. I don't have reactive skin and have tried it twice now and both times found it made my skin very red and sore within a few days so go easy with it.

Lucysmam are you buying from the dodgy looking EBay seller or did you find somewhere else?

I've taken delivery today of a box of ten Tosowoong honey propolis sheet masks (£6.67) and Tosowoong pore shrinking serum - similar price. I ordered on eBay, but it's direct with Tosowoong and came with samples very quickly. The sheet masks are very inexpensive so we'll see what they're lik. I've used the pore stuff this morning and it feels very much like a primer and at first look not much different than the Lancane stuff that I usually use. However I wasn't near the hellish magnifying mirror, so will report back.

[lucysmam]

It was the Honey Bomb with the dodgy seller (the only one I could find too) - I'm going with the scinic from blueprint21 - have searched reddit as well as looked at their ebay feedback and they seem ok.

Shame because I was pretty much sold on the Honey Bomb but don't want to spend £20 for a dodgy experience.

[ilovetosleep]

Ok, so if the ginseng is a ph adjuster, is there any point in using it if I'm not going to follow up with a proper acid treatment? Or is it a two in one thing? Is it an equivalent sort of thing as the nip&fab? Coming at it from a Caroline Hirons routine, you'd use the acid toner every day and a treatment once or twice a week. Would then the Blackhead/whitehead lotions be the treatments? Or are they daily too? Still Confused...

And Newsreader, are you sensitive to all acids or this in particular? I seem to be doing ok with clearasil/nip&fab each only 3 times a week. I just don't like the alcohol content and the pads leave my face feeling sticky. So My plan was to replace them with the Bravura Ginseng and the CosRX Blackhead, but I'm not sure a)if I need something else in there or b) if I need any acids at all!

I also have a REN AHA treatment in my drawer which I'm scared of trying but I suppose that would be my weekly aha on top of the bravura?

lucysmam Glad you have settled on the scinic. You'll have to report back as I'm really interested in that. Any reason you picked the AIO over the propolis 95? I need to do more reading. blueprint21 sells them both as a set so I assume they must have different qualities.

[ScrambledSmegs]

I think the style of jars of both the Shara Shara and the Scinic are prone to leaking in transit, lucysmam (did that make sense? It looks like grammatical garbage to me). That's what a lot of bloggers have said about them anyway. So the seller maybe isn't dodgy, but just trying to state facts and the language barrier has let them down.

This blogger bought both for comparison purposes and they both leaked.

I really do want the Cosrx blackhead and whitehead stuff. Will have to wait till I get back from holidays now!

I'm very interested in the Tosowoong brand, Newsreader, I like their aim of effective products at affordable prices. Will be good to know how you get on.

[wickedfairy]

Hi Frugal. I am interested in trying the cosrx blackhead power stuff. I have nothing to swap, as (thankfully for the moment) I seem to be getting on with everything. I am happy to send you some money to cover, please pm me.

I am also looking to try the cosrx whitehead but am going on hols in August, so will wait until back before ordering from Korea, just invade it arrives and disappears somewhere while I am away....

[mowglik]

ilove I use all my actives every day except for retinol and AHA which I swap but I was using AHAs everyday before the retinol. I have the blackhead Cosrx which I use after the pH adjuster and vit C serum, and my AHA treatment every other day in the pm.

It never rains but it pours - I got 5 parcels today all stuff I ordered in the first week of July (went a bit doolally after no spend june). I got loads of samples from Tosowoong and another seller but got 3 items from rubyruby and they didn't send a single sample anyway I have lots of lovely things to play with now - I got Tosowoong tea tree essence in lieu of the more expensive LJH tea tree essence, miss honey and Mr flower hydrogels sheet masks, skinfood salmon concealer, etude house pore tightening essence large sample and face shop ice air puff aerosol sunscreen (pic posted of this as it is so unusual and cool)

Looking forward to using them all will report back hopefully with good reviews

[ilovetosleep]

mowgluk thanks for that, which aha do you use?

[lucysmam]

mowglik rrs don't seem to send samples when you order from them via ebay, only if you use their own website...which I think works out slightly more expensive with shipping costs.

[lucysmam]

Urgh, hmmm, maybe I'll go propolis after all. Thanks Scrambled.

Who asked why?..I can't remember Anywho...mainly for the size of the jar - more opportunity to play around with diy.

Not really worth it though if the jars are leaky.

[mowglik]

Ilove the AHAs I use are pixiglow and nipfab pads - thinking to try the cosrx once these run out though I have loads of them so won't be able to for a good few months


Had a go with the sunscreen cushion - very interesting, it's really cold when it goes on and has a slight tint but goes on really sheer due to the cushion, liking it so far, it may have to be a replacement for my Biore if that proves to have not great protection

[NewsreaderChic]

Ilove- the Bravura ginseng toner is a daily aha rather than a weekly treatment it is also a ph adjuster. I hadn't realised it was a ph adjuster so I ordered the Cosrx aha/BHa toner to do that job. Before the Cosrx arrived I spotted BigButtons saying the ginseng was also a ph adjuster so I started using it as well as the Cosrx blackhead toner that I already had. I have used the ginseng toner in the past with no problems, I think the reason I'm reacting now is because I'm also using Vit c and retin a, so thats a lot of actives at the same time. I also bought a Glycolic treatment from Bravura, but it's not coming out to play for a long time.

[ilovetosleep]

OK now I'm even more confused! So mowglik you use ph adjuster followed by nip/Fab or Pixi? Because if the ginseng is a ph adjuster then so is pixiglow (they are virtually identical) And the glycolic % is higher in the Bravura than the nip &fab too, so I don't know....

So, What I should do is build up to everyday with the Bravura in the morning. Follow every other day or so with Cosrx Blackhead. Once or twice a week at night use my REN AHA treatment, and once or twice a week the Retinol that I hope to also introduce in the next month or so. Then ideally I'll build up to every other day with that?

Does that sound like an ok plan?

[bigbuttons]

ilove I must admit that has always confused me to. So I lower my skin ph with an acid so that another acid can work? I think that is it basically , yes. I cannot tell you can use any old acid to bring down the Ph. I don't see why not tbh. I would love a chemist to come along and clear thing up.

[ilovetosleep]

Yes that would be lovely! So in theory you could do a 20 min wait followed by a ph adjusting acid toner for the same effect?

[lucysmam]

I wonder if someone on reddit might be able to shed more light on it maybe? Some of them are very knowledgeable.

[bigbuttons]

It all depends on the strength and quality and ph of the toner I should think.

[NewsreaderChic]

I don't think you need a ph adjusting toner in order to use an acid.

I use one to bring down my ph before using vitamin c to avoid wait times, then I use my Cosrx blackhead toner and leave another gap so it can do its stuff before being covered with essences/lotions etc that will neutralise the effect of the acid. I guess I could use the blackhead toner twice, whichever one is being used as a ph adjuster isnt going to be effective as an exfoliation because your immediately putting something else on top.

My own personal confusion is ph levels of cleansers that are washed off and how the ph of the water effects them.

[FrugalFashionista]

Wicked I'd be happy to send it to you! Pm me your details!

Totally wiped out, sorting out stuff is hard work (we storaged stuff a couple of years ago, most of it is redundant now. I am totally amazed how much stuff we own - closet space is an issue). The moving company asked whether they could deliver our stuff next Friday so I've just one week left, and there will be visitors and friends and work colleagues to see next week too. I've opened my Korean box but too tired to do a full routine. Will put on eye serum though.

[FrugalFashionista]

Sorry if my post sounded whiney. I am enjoying my Korean stuff and organizing my cosmetics is one of the most enjoyable tasks. I'm thinking of adding a bigger bathroom cabinet so that I can have separate shelves for my makeup, perfumes, Korean stuff and toiletries.

[ImBrian]

Got id'd today, I'm letting myself think it's all the snail slime.

[Phantomquartz]

I ordered a few samples from the roseroseshop. Out of interest- any of you get free samples? I didn't and was disproportionately disappointed.

I did however get some samples of the missha pink sunblock and I'm in love. I liked the Biore sunblock but this is in a different realm altogether. It is very smooth and silky and is perfect under make up. I'm definitely switching to this.

[lucysmam]

Did you order from them through ebay Phantom? They don't seem to send samples with ebay orders, just from their own website.

[Phantomquartz]

No I ordered via their website.

[wickedfairy]

Have pm'd you Frugal, thank you!

Do you all do pretty much the same routine each evening? Some nights I am home from work late and there isn't enough time for all the waiting!

Incidentally, how long do you leave between serums, creams, etc - minutes, longer, just enough time for it to sink in? Sometimes I think I might be rushing it....