Obsessed with Asian/Korean Beauty Products Vol 6

[FrustratedFrugal]

Past volumes here.

I tried to post on the previous thread and realized that it was full.

Anyone still around?

I have a parcel from Korea waiting for me at the post office. Can't wait.

riskyinred, like Lumpy mentioned BHA to try and minimise them. I thought someone had asked the same question on reddit not too recently re: a Benefit's porefessional dupe but I couldn't find it under recent posts, but I did find this post that's a bit older that might be useful.

jackiekatu even though CosRx didn't play well with my skin I'd suggest looking at that brand for teen skin. There's a lot of love for it on the reddit sub as there tend to be more spotty teenagers there. Products well liked are the BHA, Skin returning A-Sol toner, the Low pH Cleanser, the rice overnight sleeping mask, and the oil free moisturiser. Add a sunscreen & oil cleanser and that's quite the cohesive regiment for a spotty teen, just introduce everything slowly. Start with the cleansers and sunscreen, then moisturiser, then the acid toners one by one, building up from 1-2x a week to every (other) day depending on need.

SPF I have on rotation right now and still enjoying as mentioned before but since we're all listing : Kose Sekkisei Sun Protect Essence Milk SPF50, Mommy! UV SPF 33, and the Canmake SPF50.

My Muji sensitive oil cleansing is nearing its end so I'm torn between being sensible and sticking with the cheap and cheerful and repurchasinf or being seduced by a rather fancy organic cleansing oil in pretty packaging porn or two cleansing balms that have taken my fancy. Sigh... my indecisiveness will probably end up causing me to wait too long and I'll just end up ordering the DHC locally, .

*repurchasing... don't know where that f came from .

Thanks lump & botemp. Will give Cosrx a go and report back.

Im looking for a new sleep pack. I've nearly finished my Tony moly panda sleeping pack and it's fine, doesn't make me break out, but I fancy something different.

My main problem is my skin is really sensitive, and breaks out. It's especially bad with products with caster oil and olive oil. So im wary of anything with any kind of fruit oil.

So any recommendations, under £10 please

Jackie - dd (10) recently started her periods and had horrible acne as well.

We kept her skin clean with Micellar water and a low ph cleanser. Additionally she used a BHA to exfoliate and clear out the oil, first I bought her the Dermalogica clear start for young skin, then alternated it with the Cosrx BHA.

It has taken 4 months but her acne has cleared, the bha made a huge difference. It really is worth researching what acne is and which ingredients can treat it, then seek out those ingredients and give it time to work.

derek, I really got on with the Tony Moly golden mushroom sleep pack which you can get for under a tenner, lasted for ages too. It smells great and comes in a cute mushroom container which makes me smile every time I use it!

I'm waiting on a holika red wine sleep pack too.

grin im using the Anessa whitening essence at the moment (also as last step/ moisturizer) and am very pleased, though I do suspect it is giving me some very small (noticeable only by me) spots. Maybe SPF rotation like botemp is the way to go? But the hours (!!!!!) it took me to go over INCI lists to try and find something I thought would be suitable for my skin
Even the SPF I have been using for the last few years now seems to be annoying my skin, and I definitely don't have very sensitive skin. I would love to try the Biore but since silicones are so high on the list I don't think it's for me.
I also have my eye on the Anessa sport/ super water resistant aqua booster SPF for holidays, but am afraid my skin will not like the dimenticone with is about nr two in the INCI.

derek the Cosrx Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask is currently on my wish list and some ppl here gave it very good reviews.

Re teens- not AB but I use the Weleda almond soothing cleanser on my 11 year old DS. He does not have acne (yet) just some black heads and bumps, but he also has an atopic constitution (lactose, hay fever...). It's only visible from very close and he's not too bothered by it yet, so I don't nag do too much, as I don't want to make him too self conscious.

Anyone using a very good super powerful peptide-packed eye cream? Have to order soon...

How nostalgic Aurora Weleda Almond Soothing Cleanser is what my mother started me on as a teen. I never had spots though (the rare occasional one, maybe?), but it is a nice cleanser as is the moisturiser iirc. I occasionally buy the cleanser now but I go through it quite quickly since it's such a small tube so always feel it's a bit poor value for money.

I have on my to watch list but really shouldn't contemplate buying since I still have three eye creams waiting to be used the Sulwhasoo Ginseng eye cream since everyone seems to be harping on about it and samples are plentiful on ebay and the Whamisa Organic Flowers Eye Essence that someone mentioned here I think. As a deviation to my 'I don't need another eye cream' problem I've been looking into those hydrogels for underneath the eye (I know I don't need them but they look fun ), anyone bought any? The 24k gold ones from Koelf have taken my fancy but only really because they're gold which is weird since I'm not usually a fan of gold .

Haha botemp your mom took very good care of your teen skin! I use the Weleda cleanser occasionally as an AM cleanser, and of course on EP is much much cheaper. The smell is so so lovely!

The Sulwhasoo ginseng eye cream has lots of silicones but... The ginseng oil looks lovely, and as I do apply all my oils to eye area, I've just procrastinated ordered a 5ml sample that will come very handy on holiday. Also ordered a sample of the cleansing oil. Mind you Sulwhasoo products do have bizarre ingredients at times, including microbeads.

I do wonder with eye creams, though. Because what feels "nice" is not always what is efficient. Something that feels "rich" isn't necessarily packed with peptides, HA etc. What is effective in the long term qua wrinkles is very hard to "review" in the short term, certainly by younger users. In short, especially in the case of eye creams, the INCI list is what should count.
Contemplating the Mizon snail repair eye cream which has lovely ingredients including peptides, but the Caudelie Polyphenol has matrixil 300, though it feels like nothing special... And I thought the SR was also pretty good.

By the way, gold is my favorite colour!

Thanks Aurora I didn't really look into the INCI yet since I had no business looking at eye creams but that's the Sulwhasoo scrapped then. I agree, their product line up is a bit odd indeed but I think most of the 'natural' Korean brands are a bit eh... Organic usually means they use a tiny % of ECOCERT ingredients not that the brand is actually organic, etc. I read this article recently (will try and find it again) that claimed that the local Korean demand for less toxic, natural, no parabens, etc. was the new trend in Korean skincare and was in fact halting their previous technologically advancing reputation which I thought was an interesting development.

Eye creams are an odd product, I prefer an eye serum to a cream as I often find them too rich (resulting in one annoying spot on my eyelid even though I don't even put it anywhere near there ) and I look puffy by morning if I use it at night. Serums just seem to do the job better. I've actually been meaning to look into Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair again (the serum and the eye concentrate which are HA & peptide centrail) as it's recently been reformulated to be even more effective. I've always liked it but not for continued use for whatever reason. Also, I'm desperately trying to talk myself out of buying the EL ANR sheet masks which are gold (!) but all it is is an extra bit of foil to stop it from evaporating quickly, I'm assuming a piece of aluminium foil does the same job and doesn't warrant them costing €103.00 for 4 .

I bought the EL ANR serum + eye serum a few years ago (before they changed the formulation) and sadly it gave me spots. That was probably the last time I bought something w/o tryng it out first ;(
The eye serum did feel nice, though truly I did not notice any major “improvement”. I used about half the bottle of the regular serum and was not impressed, sorry...

Have a look at the Caudelie Polyphenol eye INCI, as it is quite impressive, and it's pretty thin for a cream. I think there is one shop in A’dam that stores it, so maybe you could get a sample if you are interested.
I’m trying out the Hyalamide eye serum now and it has a very runny consistency.

But I thought you had no business looking for eye products...? Same as I had no business ordering an oil (sample, though) today, as I too have three on rotation. If they each have different oils, does it count?

Sadly, I don’t think that organic skin care is better in terms of efficiency, but AB stuff does use strange ingredients, like the aforementioned vynil in the Sulwhasoo mask, pig placenta etc etc… I think I also read something simmilar re that trend in the korean beauty industry.

Have your feet finished peeling? Are you pleased with the results?

Shhh! There's no harm in looking... and trying... and buying

That's my meh issue with EL ANR, it doesn't appear to do much on a day to day basis but I usually have a sample of it laying about and it's always the thing I grab for if my skin is being a PITA for no discernible reason and it's all happy again after that, pretty much instantaneous. The masks therefore seem like a great idea on that basis, aside from the ridiculous price...

Well I finished peeling on the harder layer of my feet but the skin on the top of my feet and the bottom arch (?) where the skin is softer isn't fully done peeling yet, I gave it a good soak the other day thinking that would be the end of it but it's slow going, I think I'll be taking a scrubbing glove to it soon. I'm happy with the result but concluded I was lazy and would have been fine with a good old file or a pedicure but this was easier and cheaper . Although my feet are a bit drier now so I'm actually in need of a separate foot cream (suggestions welcome). I've been thinking of purchasing some hand and feet (non peeling) sheet masks from Innisfree for maintenance. I initially wanted different ones where you could pull the fingers off so you can paint them while continuing to soak your hands but they were full of mineral oil and while my body is usually fine with it I'm not the biggest fan of how it feels.

Oh dear, I have an oil 'issue' too. Very close to pulling the trigger on a sample from Denmark with a fancy Hawaiian oil in it that sounds ideal for summer but I really don't need another oil... even if it is just a sample. I have three oils at the moment and I'm always worried they'll turn rancid if I have any more than that.

If organic skincare was as effective I'd use that exclusively but you're right it's just not as good. For things like oils and cleansers I prefer it but serums, moisturisers, etc. I look elsewhere. The Koreans do amuse me though with their 'natural' claims, came across a 'free from animal ingredients' claim on something while it had a huge picture of a horse on it as it contained horse oil as its star ingredient which is just horse fat...

Yeah, those EL masks are ridiculously priced compared to AB. I also suspect that all some reviews of them are biased...

The top of my feet also took a bit longer to stop peeling, but I must say I am extremely pleased because overall my feet are so soft and it's such a pleasure. I don't see myself staying in socks for a whole weeks again before summer so do update me on the other types of masks.

So... I'm considering the Mizon eye cream. Strange that it has such great INCI but it's so cheap compared to western creams???
While researching that I stumbled upon their lovely Black Snail all on one cream. Wow, the INCI list is just amazing and no silicones in sight... Has anyone used tha cream?
AND BeautyNetKorea have a set of the Snail and eye cream.
Since we were talking about peptides I noticed their Peptide 500 and Collagen 100 ampoules. The first, especially, also seems to have amazing ingredients.

Oils are my weakness too. I just love using them, including mixing with CC cream etc. But horse oil, or even a depiction of a horse??? Just no!

By the way, just noticed that ICI PARIS have a 40% discount on mascaras.

Horse oil is also a step too far for me too!

I just went to repurchase my Joseon cream which is lovely. The price has shot up though! I've taken a step into the dark and bought Ja Hwang Su Elastic Cream, which is a herby, Royal Jellyey combination!

Too many too's in that sentence.

I'm so curious about the Joseon cream Lumpy but the fragrance issue makes it far too risky for me unfortunately.

That black Mizon cream INCI does look intriguing Aurora, I'd looked into the regular AIO once but discarded it due to alcohol and fragrance and assumed the black one was just the same with a special type of snail. If you end up buying it I'll be curious to see how it fares, though still slightly conflicted on how they get all that snail slime...

I saw the 40% discount too but I have four on the go at the moment already and there hasn't been anything new that I've been wanting to try, although there was talk of that new Dior Iconic one, hmm...

Shame botemp, it really is rather lovely. I have half a pot left so I'll use it every other day until I can snag a bargain.

Yeah, the snail slime... Don't know why I find that less problematic than the horse oil, though? How do they obtain the oil from the horses, actually?

In any case, the INCI for the Black Snail cream is very interesting. I would probably use such a rich thing as a night cream/ mask, but I really really don't need one now sigh...

Haven't tried the Dior mascara, but might use th discount the renew my supply of Lancome Grandiose, my absolute favorite.

Can't remember who asked about teen skin, and it's not AB but LRP Serozinc is really great as a step between acid and moisturizer. It's also amazing for calming down sun irritation, also on kids.

The snails survive the process, the horses don't. To be fair the oil is probably a side product from the meat industry, but I'm guessing here.

Yup, just checked.

Yeah that's what I thought... But horse meat industry is also a no-no for me :(

The 'oil' part of it is a little dubious, since it's basically rendered fat I think. When I first came across it as an ingredient I naively assumed it was an oil traditionally used for horses to keep their manes nice and shiny... alas, no. Snails may survive the process but I believe the term they use is 'manually stressed' to produce slime (and I assume it's not a one-off after which they're set free) so I remain conflicted about it, the horses might be getting a better deal provided they lived a happy life frolicking in some fields hopeful.

You know I've never really looked into the Grandiose, Aurora. It's not a clumpy one I hope? Always thought it was a bit gimmicky with that wand but people really do like Lancome mascaras, it's been awhile since I last had one. I shall just have to try it out then .

I read that too botemp, though I currently remain snailed up.

Oh, no, not the poor snails too... I will look into that, as I'm really interested in that cream. Not sure how long horses that were bred for meat got to frolic in the open pastures, though.

I absolutely adore Grandiose, but I've always gotten on very well with Lancome mascaras. It's not a "polite" mascara, though (that is what I call mascaras that only lengthen and look very "neat", more like Lancome Definicils), the intensity is there but it's not too clumpy, and you can regulate it by wiping off the wand at the top of the tube. But I need that as my lashes are half blond/ invisible. Not only is the brush wand combination wonderful (after a couple of days of adjustment), and you can easily get to the inner lashes and fan out the outer lashes to your liking, but the pay off is very fast (one fast layer is enough for AM), so very handy in the morning when time is short. OMG I sound like a Lancome ad, but I promise I don't work for them (though at times I wish I would, because of my long held mascara addiction ;) )

I've used the LRP self tan twice now and am very very impressed. A very fine mist that spreads very evenly. I just pated it a bit (and I'm definitely no expert in explication of self tan) and got no streaking whatsoever and the colour is a pretty nice brown tan. The smell is not too bad and it dried pretty quickly, though not right away like they claim. The tan shows immediately, so definitely something one could use say an hour before going out.

What is the LRP Self Tan mentioned? Sounds like something I may like!!!