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!

Sorry about your skin same, i'm no skin guru and i don't want to recommend you something if your skin is sore. What's your routine and skin type, what products are you using at the moment?

I was foolish stupid and lazy before but turned my skin around after reading caroline hirons blog. I was actually cleaning my face with shower gel under the shower before and wondering why my face was tight now it's back to normalish I feel i've neglected my face for so long now i need even out my skin tone and get rid of fine lines

Hello! I'm new to asian beauty but will be spending NYE in Taipei... Other than sheet masks, what are the must buys I need to stock up on? TIA!

Taipei is the home of My Beauty Diary masks. I love Laneige and Innisfree products, both are Korean brands but you might still find them there.

I just bought a squillion l'Herboflore masks, apparently the new kid on the block and hard to get outside Taiwan. She did a great deal - I bought a stack of their premium Hyaluronic masks and she gave me 17 of their cheaper ones free, plus loads of samples including 3 eye sheet masks.

Wonder woman compact arrived and I love it. Very light coverage and I'll need to buy a cream concealer as my mineral one seems to disappear, but really happy with it.

Next shopping list:
Mamonde rose sleeping mask
Joseon cream
Hydrating toner of some kind
More Skin Food black sugar oil (unless someone had discovered something even better?)

I want to try Jolse this time, loving the sound of the samples.

Has anyone done a fairly large haul via testerkorea before? There are a number of things I'm looking at buying but scared I might get hit by duty (I'm in the UK). Will be using the DHL service. Are they discrete about the value like Jolse and RRS are?

UF Herboflores are so pretty! They are really difficult to get outside Taiwan, enjoy!

Just been browsing Jolse, has anyone had one of these before?
It looks very exciting, i'm so tempted

Haven't treied the Jolse surprise packages, but they sound wonderful.

Came here to post this: juicer + sheet mask = no end in sight to Korean creativity

I've been using the its skin power 10 licorice (li), but I'm really tempted by the serum control one (VB) and also the yeast extract one (ye). But do I just layer them? Will they even work together?

Hello, I was wondering where you'd all gone (old timer under yet another name change). I've gone a bit off the whole routine and am desperate to get back on board. Recently bought a tosowoong peeling gel to replace an apple one and it doesn't peel at all, I'm not sure if it's just a duff one but there's no balled up gunk at all. Any recommendations?

Hello all.

I am very much enjoying my Asian Beauty routine at the moment! It feels so indulgent and pampering.

I have realised that my Vit C serum I am using is not actually an active. I'm using Its Skin Power VC Effector but would like another recommendation.

People over on reddit use OST or Melano CC. Any other suggestions?

Also, as I break out easily I am currently sticking to things that have VERY VERY LOW acne ratings on CosDNA (what an amaaaazing site). Do you have any faves to recommend in that category?

Haven't tried it but Skinceuticals vit c with ferulic acid and vit e is pretty much considered the king of all vit c serums. I can't bear to part with that much money though! I've been using the OST c20 which feels sticky. Have had to stop for a bit as have started using retinol but have continued using on the back of my hands and my age spots have definitely faded a bit. It's a decent vit c for the price point.

Derek from my research reddit the licorice one from that range is the only one with high levels of the active ingredient. All the others get pretty poor reviews. They are fairly cheap though so you could try them all. Just use one at day and one at night.

building I'm using Ost and do like it but it feels a bit sticky initially. When mine runs out or oxidises (whichever comes first) I think I'll try the melano one.

I'm so excited, just got back after going away for xmas to find several parcels waiting for me . Here is my first ever haul, it is a very happy new year indeed. Well ok, i already had the hado labo and FTE before xmas but have only been using the FTE on and off. I think it might be causing me to break out or it might be purging or an excess of christmas chocolates and biscuits how do i tell?
Trouble is i want to try everything all at once!!! So what do i start with...
How long do you patch test for? Do you need to patch test sheet masks?

Happy new year everyone!

lelf great start to the new year for you! Trying to make out the products at the back. I can spy the Misha FTE and HL lotion and milk. What are the others? I always wish I had 4 heads when I get a haul in because I want to try everything at once!

I normally find if a product is breaking me out I get spots in places I never usually do. If it's a purge then I usually get them in my usual places of around chin. It would be odd if the FTE was making you purge as it doesn't really have any exfoliating properties. Are your breakouts in usual places?

Re testing I usually do this on one cheek and brow bone as these are my sensitive spots. I must admit I only do it for a few days then dive in if no reactions in that time. (Bad I know!). I never patch test sheet masks.

I would say though to introduce one product at a time to minimise risk of reaction. Maybe start with the less risky products first?

Happy new year everyone!!!
Mint, the full size items at the back are:
MIZON Good Night White Sleeping Mask
Laneige Water sleeping mask
Dr Morita whitening essence facial mask 10 pack
TOSOWOONG Enzyme Powder Wash
Missha FTE
Hada-Labo GokujyunSuper Hyaluronic Acid Lotion
Hada-Labo Shirojyun Arbutin Milk
THE FACE SHOP Rice & Ceramide Moisture Cream

I'm really lucky i only just bought the tosowoong wash and the samples, the others were part of my christmas pressie. It made me realise that ebay seller bringbringshop is the same as rubyruby76 aka rose rose shop and Im really annoyed that i didn't get any free samples with them. The free samples I did get were the Tony moly banana hand cream, purito snail bb cleanser and mizon water volume cream all from f2plus1 and cosmeticmarket2012 even though i only ordered samples from them...

Not sure if i'm having a reaction to the FTE. The "breakouts" are couple of spots under my left cheekbone that keep reappearing every few days or so since i first started using the FTE, maybe its a reaction. They are just red itchy spots that seem to go away after i zap them with my ELF zit zapper but sometimes they come back . i would have thought that if it was a reaction i would react somewhere else too i have been using it for nearly a month...

I do need a new spot zapper soonish, can anybody recommend an AB one for the occasional zit?

What would you say were the less risky products?
I actually managed to try the laneige sleeping mask last night. It has quite a strong fragrance and i didn't really like it but this morning i woke up to lovely soft skin so i might have to bear with it or try pinching nose till i fall asleep

Oo, the Dr Morita masks sound good lelf. You will have to post a review for us!

Sounds like the FTE might well be the culprit. Maybe test again at a later date to be sure? If you are sensitive to silicones be careful of the Mizon sleeping mask.

What do you think of the fragrance of TFS rice and ceramide cream? I have the emulsion and it smells old ladyish - not in a bad way, more perfumey. I find it quite comforting because it make me think of my nana!

A lot of people rave about the corsx a-sol for spot treatments on AB reddit. I haven't tried it. Have tried some ciracle stuff which was rubbish. I normally use BP 5% for spots and salicylic acid.

Still loving my missha cushion, although getting so little sleep at the moment that I need a far better concealer - any tips?

Waiting impatiently for my kawaii panda box, just hoping it contains some cleansing oil and maybe a sleep pack.

Mint, I find the tfs rice ceramide cream so perfumed that it actually stings! Not a repeat purchase for me.

Happy new year everyone!

My skin is looking quite good I think, apart from a few cracking spots on the chin. I think that was a purge from retinA though...

Gutted but have left my black sugar oil and sum37 MRCS at MILs after a visit. Will have to wait a few weeks to get that back.....

Have now stopped drinking alcohol, so hopefully will improve things too.

So will have to find a cheap high street cleanser to tide me over. Need more Hada Labo and house of Joseon cream, so will order those this week!

Hi guys, totally new to this exciting world!

Can I just ask if anybody's tried stem cell products? And has anybody found anything that works, really improves .....wrinkles? I'm fair, with much sun damage!

I'm using sheet masks at the moment, they're fab

Hi Seasonal

The only things that will really fix wrinkles and sun damage is a retinoid and vit C applied topically. (And of course sunscreen to prevent further damage!). AHAs can help too.

I'm fair with sun damage and have to say my AB products and routine are really helping my skin whilst introducing retinol. I'm sheet masking everynight to prevent dry flakey skin.

So are any vitamin c / retinoids especially good?

I've ordered Melano CC Vit C serum as I have heard good things about it.

I'm using La Roche Posay Effector retinol but no amazing results yet (only been a few weeks).

Seasonal the AB market isn't quite there with retinol products yet. The best OTC retinoid imo is Skinceuticals. They do a 0.5% and 1% version. (1% is the max amount of retinol allowed for non prescription). Skinceuticals is probably one of the more expensive brands out there but have the most effective formulations. Warning: the 1% retinol is strong. I had to take it down to the 0.5% for my wimpy skin.

Building I used the LRP redermic retinol which I think is 0.3% retinol. I switched up to the skinceuticals as I wasn't seeing any results (I'm so impatient though!). Haven't tried the effector version though. Please post us a review of the Melano CC when you get it!

Seasonal Re vit C brands again the western market probably has the best pick. (Skinceuticals Vit C is meant to be one of the best but I haven't tried it). The thing with vit c is that to be an 'active' and fade sun spots/build collagen the vit C needs to be a certain form (L ascorbic acid) which needs to work at a ph below 3. This makes it a very unstable product so formulations are tricky to make. Most vit c serums on the market are not formulated with either the correct form of vit c, not enough of it or at the right ph. So they are effectively useless as an active (but will provide some antioxident properties to minimise future sun damage). That said the AB market has OST c20 that ticks the boxes and is good value for money. I'm using this on the back of my hands whilst my face builds up the tolerance to retinol. I can say it has definitely faded my sunspots. Will need to test for longer though.

Phew. Sorry about the chemistry lesson. You can find out more info on 'actives' and ph on the AB blogger sites such as snow white and the asian pear. (Sorry haven't worked out how to link yet!)