Obsessed with Asian/Korean stuff - taking your skincare to level 5!

[FrustratedFrugal]

Are you curious about Asian/Korean beauty products?
Please join us and share your experiences and questions!

Check out past threads for product and vendor recommendations.

Remember, orders of £15 or less are VAT free!

wickedfairy the SU:M37 rose cleansing stick has a strong rose fragrance for the first week, tops. After that it's very faint. I was pleased as I found it a bit overpowering too.

Thanks Scrambled, it is a bit overpowering, isn't it? At least I know it fades a bit! Do you like it and find it a good foaming cleanser?

Once my Skinfood cleansing oil runs out, I am going to get Banila clean it zero and use the sum37 stick as the cleanse after the oil-based one.

I did like it a lot, yes. Not drying at all, made my skin feel great afterwards. Having to avoid all fragranced and triggering products at the moment, feel like the joy has been sucked out of my skincare

Hopefully you'll get sorted soon Scrambled, so you can return to AB. The no sugar can only help, I'm sure - difficult though, kudos!!

I'm really surprised you found it a strong rose smell wickedfairy because I was disappointed that the smell was so mild, especially after trying their melting cleansing balm which is the most heavenly scent.
The stick is a great second cleanser though, I use it with a konjac sponge. Really love all the Sum37 products I've tried so far

XiCi, I haven't actually used it yet. I just opened the stick to look and smell it and it was strong! Maybe it won't be once I start using it - will update!

My Scinic honey AIO ampoule turned up yesterday, so looking forward to trying my stuff out next week. Working, so can't be bothered just now.

Still waiting on my cosrx whitehead from Jolse, which I ordered about a week before all the stuff that has just turned up.....

I'm going to order the cheap facial analyser doo-dah and some ph strips to do some experimenting! There have been a few posts about them on reddit lately & I'm wondering how well the products I have are keeping my face hydrated.

muddling, is it today your dh is home? I hope you have a lovely day if I've remembered right!

Yep Lucy DH is back today hopefully gets home at 9 tonight.

He did message me to say some thing was confiscated off him for being over 200mls from Innisfree. No idea what it was though but i will have plenty to play with over the next few months!

Oh, that's a bummer .

Sounds like he did well with shopping for you though! Still jealous of your honey bombS!

I have ordered the cheapest skin analyser from a UK seller for £4, will see how it goes. I saw some that were over £100 but I don't think I need anything quite so pricey at home. Also ordered ph test strips - I have some under the fish tank that never get used for that because I have a proper kit so could have just tried those. I'll compare both lots when my new ones get here. I cba to rummage but don't think the fish tank ones do the full range, I can't remember.

Also ordered Missha M Magic cushion in #21 for less than a fiver. Most excited to finally try this one .

Can I beg a skincare intervention? I've started reading through the threads but completely overwhelmed because there's so many.

I'm 39, skin not too bad although starting to age - pretty dry and some lines on my forehead and around my eyes. I'm currently using Lidl moisturiser, rosehip oil at night, Boots Botanics balm to cleanse. I don't have that much time to spend on a routine but I love trying out new things.

MN has already sorted out my bras - now I need to sort my face!

Scrambled, I forgot to say hello! I did notice you were back! How are you settling in?

tea, the basics should be a good double cleanse so you need something after the balm and a sunscreen!! during the day.

I have oily/dehydrated skin, prone to acne (taken me yonks to work this out) so probably not much use suggestion wise for products.

AB targets specific issues so once you have the basics in place, you'd incorporate extra moisture/hydration, acids in the form of aha & bha if you feel they'd be beneficial, spot treatments etc. that you've hand picked for your specific 'wants'.

I also like to randomly pick bits based purely on name or looks and see what they do. Purely for the fun of experimenting. If it doesn't work out, I can strip right back to cleanse/sunscreen/moisture & start over.

Ok, I think I need serious rehydration and plumping rather than spot treatments etc. Any recommendations for sleep masks, day cream, serum and oil cleansers?

tea I also have oily skin so won't be a great help but for starters have a look at hada labo gokujyun (sp?) lotion to boost hydration, I really like laneige sleep mask for hydrating but cheaper alternatives might be the holika holika wine therapy sleep masks which I also use and like.

Not sure on cleansers or serums but day cream, I think the cosrx honey ceramide cream sounds good though check out reviews as I haven't used that one. More expensive but I do use and recommend miss flower and Mr honey cream, really plumps up my skin and does come in a big pot as a bonus

No new products for me apart from melano CC cream which I am still testing on dark spots. I'm now on the hunt for a cushion that actually matches my shade as I love the missha M magic cushion I have which is a shade too light in 23

Let me know if you find a cushion mowglik I love the missha one but 23 is a bit light for me. I think IOPE may have more shades but they're quite a bit pricier

Has anyone found anything that has made a noticeable difference to pigmentation. I'm finding that the AB products seem to be brightening my face but not lightening the pigmentation which makes it appear worse. I think I'll be switching back to LRP pigmentclar serum as there was a definite improvement whilst I was using that.

DH is still asleep had a bad flight home so I am downstairs playing with my haul!
Will post a proper list and some first thoughts later on.

Tea i suffer from dry skin and it will get worse as we head in to winter so asked for products to help with this.
If i find anything good from the haul i will post it on here.

Are you sure he's not just exhausted from all that shopping muddling
That's a really impressive haul, I'd be beside myself if DH came in with all that. Enjoy!!

tea I second mowglik's suggestions to look at the Hada Labo Gokujyun lotion and COSRX Honey Ceramide cream. The cream is on my list for winter.

As for cleansers...there are loads! I like Skinfood Black Sugar but know a couple of the others are not keen on it's smell (lemony). I just picked the one I fancied trying. I have Banila Clean it Zero to try next (sample pots) & am going to order Kose Softymo Deep Cleansing oil.

XiCi, I'm not 100% so will go back and check but I'm sure I was reading on reddit (quite late last night) that Liquorice was good for pigmentation...I seem to recall the It's Skin Li essence suggested as worth a look.

muddling, that looks fun . Glad your dh got home safely.

XiCi, Sulwhasoo Snowise Ex Serum was also suggested and I'll be back with the other (jumping tab to tab & my posts vanish)

The other one was Nature Republic The First Essence.

I haven't tried any of them or looked at reviews etc. but may be worth a look

Muddling - very jealous of your haul!! Enjoy trying it all out!!

Tea - I have dry skin like yourself, so will let you know what works for me. I second the Hada Labo gunkyjun, it is excellent for preparing your skin after cleansing, before you put all the other stuff on.

For double cleanse I currently use an oil based cleanser (skinfood one that lucysmam mentioned) -I think it smells of lemony washing up liquid, while lucysmam thinks lemon drizzle cake ???? and follow up wish a Missha foaming cleanser. That's almost finished so I have sum37 rose cleansing stick to try next - I have just found a review that someone who has dry skin wrote - they didn't like it, but I hope it is ok. When my oil runs out, will be trying Banila Clean it Zero.

I use actives - OST vitC and cosrx blackhead power - I like these.
I have just bought Missha FTE but haven't tried it yet and I also use Scinic honey ampoule.

Once I have tried out my new stuff, will update. Enjoy exploring AB - I think we are all still finding our way, there are so many different products to try!!

All the ???? Above were supposed to be smiley faces - don't know what happened there!!

Lucysmam - let me know what you think of Baila clean it zero, it's top of my list for my next oil-based cleanser!!

Sorry about all the posts - am on phone and it keeps jumping around....

I had the holika holika hyaluronic 3 second starter to try before i got the hado labo. It does the same thing was just easier to get hold of in Korea.
I have the clean it zero and some creamy green tea latte foam cleanser (3 for about £5 DH said).

I will do - I think I have about a week left in the Black Sugar oil. Having said that, I thought I was running low around the time of dp's mum's wedding and it's lasted another month so far! I quite like the apple juicy smell too. Might try that full sized after the Softymo.

I like the sound of the rose cleansing stick - am still working through my Missha one though & have a feeling that's going to go forever. I might try something else and swap them about to keep it interesting!