The Korean Skin-Care Phenomenon: One Obsessed Vogue Editor Reveals Where to Shop and What to Buy

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

My introduction to South Korean skin care—the latest phenomenon sweeping online beauty forums, Amazon.com, and most recently, brick-and-mortar boutiques—came firsthand. It was my junior year of college, and I was living in Paris with a Korean roommate. In terms of beauty, we were diametrically opposed: Where I existed in the easy, low-maintenance, zero-to-one-step French skin-care camp, my roommate followed a strict, traditional Korean regimen of as many as ten serums, lotions, patches, and creams. Our respective shelves in the bathroom cabinet looked like two different planets—it was the first time I had ever looked at a shelf of beauty products and thought to myself, “What is all of this stuff?”

Fast-forward a few years and a few aggressive bouts with cystic acne, and I’ve been converted. The more I use the accessibly priced and adorably packaged K-beauty products, I realize that if skin care is considered a luxury in America, in Korea it’s a right, and they make it fun, which is why everyone is doing it.

Now my daily routine is feverishly long and constantly in flux, as I carefully add and subtract steps in pursuit of the next best thing—and it works. I’ve built an arsenal of facial mists, oils (both for cleansing and for moisturizing), face masks, sponges, serums, lotions, and masks for day, night, and a longer, more nourishing routine on the weekends. The trick, for me, has been figuring out which ingredients work best for my skin, and then finding the best products that contain those ingredients. Hyaluronic acid, for example, is like liquid gold for moisturizing, and charcoal reliably cleans out blackheads whenever they appear.

One of the best parts about the surge in the popularity of Korean beauty is that now these products are so accessible: If you don’t want to place orders from stores halfway around the world and wait weeks for things to arrive, it’s as easy as getting on the New York City subway. Chinatown and Koreatown (and, if you’re feeling ambitious, Flushing, Queens) contain treasure troves of shops selling things I never knew existed—there’s always something to discover. I was recently explaining this to Vogue.com’s resident beauty department, when Beauty Editor Mackenzie Wagoner asked to come along on a shopping excursion to some of my favorite stores. Which is how, on a recent Sunday, we found ourselves scouring shelves and filling our baskets with silicon lip masks, every kind of balm, and a super exfoliator composed almost entirely of water.

Our day began at Elizabeth Street’s The Face Shop, where I let myself get talked into buying its Pore Minimizer Controlling Essence by a wunder-skinned shop girl, received a tutorial on mixing lipsticks, and stocked up on masks that look like they’d have more in common with a toy shop than an aesthetician’s office. Around the corner at oo35mm, a sales clerk named Winnie gently guided me away from a cream containing aquaplacenta (your guess is as good as mine) and toward something called Cure Natural Aqua Gel, which is technically from Japan, but made our jaws drop as its 91 percent concentrate of “revitalized hydrogen water” peeled all of the dead skin off the backs of our hands in 30 seconds flat. Our plans of also browsing the offerings at New Kam Man around the corner went out the window when we got held up browsing the edited collection of creams—I bought a light but moisturizing formula from Isa Knox.

If you’re going to embark on your own Korean beauty shopping excursion, and I recommend that you do, I can tell you that the best part about these stores are the people who work in them: expert women who will speak to you openly and enthusiastically about their skin-care routines. Nothing beats an honest opinion. As for me, I’m always taking recommendations. See you in K-Town.

Aritaum Baby Face Mist Power Hyaluronic Acid, $11; jolse.com


Tony Moly Kiss Kiss Lovely Lip Patch, $4; peachandlily.com


The Face Shop Co-Q10 Sheet Mask, $2; momomango.com


Tony Moly Dear Me Waterful Skin, $16; amazon.com


The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Light Oil, $9; amazon.com

source: vogue

I saw this post on beautybyontd yesterday and thought I could share. I know how omona loves its beauty posts! ^.~

Comments

[torontok.livejournal.com]

At this point I'm willing to put petrified unicorn hymen on my face if it'll help my skin.
The only K-brand sold here is etude and thats just makeup. I need a place to get the skincare

[glider.livejournal.com]

You could try some websites that sell Korean beauty products, like w2beauty (w2beauty.com) (ships from South Korea, the lady who runs the place is very friendly), SokoGlam (sokoglam.com) (though I don't generally recommend them since they mark stuff up too much IMO but they ship from the U.S. so if you live there you'll get products faster), RoseRoseShop (www.roseroseshop.com/), and there's a lot more.

If ordering stuff online isn't an option, Etude does sell some skincare stuff, unless the store near you just carries makeup. :x I hope any of this helped.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

Going from French routine to Korean routine is such a bug gap. I understand her.
I love sheet masks and bb cream so much. But i'm looking for a fondation and i can't find one. They always make my skin oily, even those for oily skin like better than skin from Clinic.

[glider.livejournal.com]

I have oily skin and the only thing that helped me w/ it was getting a mattefying powder, Innisfree makes a really good one that isn't too expensive.

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

Yessssssss

[glider.livejournal.com]

I'm actually almost finished with the bottle of Cure Natural Aqua Gel that I bought and I really didn't think it was worth raving about, idk. :x I think if a person has sensitive skin and can't handle abrasive exfoliaters, it'd be better if they used a chemical exfoliant.

If anyone is interested in skincare/beauty blogs, I read Skin & Tonics (skinandtonics.com), The Wanderlust Project (http://thewanderlustproject.com/) (kind of travel/skincare fusion), and The Beauty Wolf (thebeautywolf.com) regularly. They all write really good reviews of Korean skincare and makeup, so check them out~

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

Skin&Tonics is great! I love this blog!!

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

Just yesterday I ordered Missha's "Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence" and I can't wait until it gets here. I've been using the mist since two weeks now and I LOVE IT. It does wonders for my skin!!!
My sister recommended Nature Republic's "Argan 20 degree Steam Emulsion", so I can't wait to try this too (ANYTHING with Argan oil is good, actually! <3).

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

That essence is AMAZING. It's the first korean product I added to my regimen and it completely changed my world. I just ordered another bottle since Missha had a Black Friday sale and I couldn't find it on Amazon as cheap as it was the first time I bought it

[chibiyunie.livejournal.com]

I love make-up but unfortunately where I live (The Netherlands) we don't really sell the products I like (though we have a lot of the mainstream brands like Rimmel, L'oreal, Clinique etc).

I have been falling in love with Korean make-up brands, mostly because the have foundations and such that actually match my pale skin. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible for me to buy since I don't have a credit card nor do I know anyone who has one so I can basically only drool at the pictures, lol. I love websites like w2beauty though, they seem to have a lot though I don't have any experience with buying there.

One day.. I will go to Korea and buy so many make-up, skincare and the likes <3

My skin has been pretty acne prone lately and none of my foundation seem to actually cover it well (I know use Clarins). I usually always have the issue that foundation literally seems to glide of my face.. I use Primer, Foundation, Powder and a setting spray and still after 6-8 hours it seems to have disappeared >.>

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

How about using PayPal? I also don't have a credit card, so I use PP.

My skin has been pretty acne prone lately...

I know I'm repeating myself, but try Argan oil (natural and cold-pressed). During summer break I broke out pretty badly, so one of my friends recommended this oil. Now I'm in love with it! In summer I used it as a moisturiser (only the oil, nothing else) and now, during the cold months, I mix one or two drops into my moisturiser and this works great too.

Really, this oil is heaven, especially if you've skin troubles or battle with wrinkles/fine lines.

[windygables.livejournal.com]

Sheet masks are always the best thing about asian skin care imo. I tend to mix my skincare between asian brands and western ones but also stick to a routine if I find that it works.

My recent favorite is this red ginseng face mask I got from the Face Shop in LA. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good, the smell of ginseng is really strong but it moisturizes so well.

I recently got myself a clairisonic so I'm working on incorporating it into my routine, any advice on it would be so helpful ;;;; So far its alright. Using it with a cetaphil cleanser that was wonderful on its own seems to be a slight miss since my tzone was super oily the next day but idk its just my skin getting used to it

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

Omg I recently bought the ginseng mask for my mom but sounds like I should keep it???

And I bought the Clinique version of the Clarisonic recently and I basically use it with my foam cleanser. I do the oil cleanser first and then my Clinique/foam cleanser and then the rest of my routine.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

They never really sell Korean products here as of yet & I really wish they did. :(

Can anyone recommend a good product to get rids of blackhead & minimize pores? I seem to have a huge problem with those. :/

[chibiyunie.livejournal.com]

For Korean brands, I really liked Missha Pore Correcting Blackhead Melting Oil. It worked good for me and it has a cute little brush on the end to massage the product into your skin, lol.

Other then that, I really like Clinique as well.

[dirrtypony.livejournal.com]

i use The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Light Oil and its alright. nothing special

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

I just started using it but I love the smell of it so I don't even care f it does nothing lol

[dirrtypony.livejournal.com]

i bought an essence mist from sokoglam and it made me break out and i bought that nightpak thing from them too which also made me break out. idk if korean products work with my skin. i have overly sensitive skin and most of the products ive tried have caused me to break out

[dafairyness.livejournal.com]

have you tried rose? it's really gentle.

[hanakimmie.livejournal.com]

If you're in the U.S. Target sells some of the Lanige line, which is owned by Amorepacific. So far I've only tried the water sleeping mask but I'll probably try the others. Apparently Amorepacific is the largest cosmetics company in korea and also owns étude house & a bunch of others. Sephora also sells Amorepacific products.

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

I was so surprised when Target started selling Laneige. I love their stuff.

I reaaaaaally want to try the expensive line at Sephora but it's just too expensive. $200? Forget it

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

after seeing korean skincare products get talked up so much, i finally bit the bullet and placed an order for some stuff

[mspopstar.livejournal.com]

What did you order? I've bought so much stuff during the last months that I'm on a no buy. Now I can only ask to people what they bought and be excited for them.

[fraudandfantasy.livejournal.com]

I've only recently (about 13 months) gotten heavily into skin care. And I very quickly found Korean skincare and my skin loves the stuff. I have severe eczema that was limited to just small areas that I could manage but stress caused it to get all over my neck and face. It was a mess. And I credit my new skin routine to getting it back on track. But the thing I cannot live without is Dr. Bronner's Miracle soap in peppermint. I use it as a face wash, shampoo, and body wash. At first it's scary because I would literally squeak anywhere that I used it. But it works for me. I love Missha products and their Time Revolution First treatment essence is the truth. Also, their super aqua snail cream. But not so much their night ampoule from the time revolution line. I broke out all over my cheeks. I like the face shop bright cleansing oil. It's light and smells so nice and pairs well with my cetaphil/fresh soy cleanser face wash

Any tips on under eye stuff? I have all these fine lines at only 24 and I know they are just they way my skin is but if I can't lessen them I'd at least like to slow down the process.

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

Do you use the snail cream only at night? I just bought a set for my mom since it was only $25 for Black Friday.

For eyes actually I use Eve Lom, which British not Korean. $75 but it works soooo good. You can get it at SpaceNK (I have one inside my Bloomingdalea)

[wafflesnmilk.livejournal.com]

I usually get my korean cosmetics from Gmarket , no mark-up , original korean market price with tons of coupons and regular promotions and sales and Gmarket also offers discounted EMS shipping so your stuff gets to you fast and pretty cheap . You can also order clothes , CD and nearly everything from there so it's really a convenient 1-stop Korean shopping site .

[shocko-o.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to buy from here, but I usually pay for standard shipping from Asia and ems shipping is too much for me :(

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

I am so obsessed now with korean skincare it's insane. I find myself wanting to go to the face shop every other week. My mom recently told me that my skin has really improved so it's working real well.

What's a good moisturizer/cream that I can use in the morning that won't make my face oily? I use the ecopure aloe moisturizer but it's nothing special and I'm almost out so I want to switch to a new one. I have huge pores and a really oily T zone.

Also guys I am all about that witch hazel toner. Omg it's the best

[mspopstar.livejournal.com]

What toner? The Mizon one? I use Thayers Witch Hazel Rose toner and I love it tbh!

[love-keiko.livejournal.com]

i have been waiting for my next (NEXT) paycheck so i can splurge. ANYTHING to help control my oily skin and get rid of the acne scars. i am down for ANYTHING.

[glider.livejournal.com]

If you're looking to fade scarring, I'd recommend a vitamin C serum. :o I think any kind would work but the one I've used twice now is OST's C20 Serum (http://www.wishtrend.com/skin-care/502-vitamin-c20-serum-ost.html) because it has the highest salable concentration of vitamin C in it (20%). The only drawback on vitamin C serums is that you have to use it daily because they do have an expiration of about three months since the vitamin C will oxidize even if exposed minimally to open air (and you can't leave it in direct sunlight or anything, that'll kill it lol).

As for oily skin, try looking for face washes/toners/moisturizers that are geared towards alleviating sebum and controlling oil! I've read that charcoal masks are also particularly good for oily skin types.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

I did not buy any when I was in Korea because I could not recall all the terms for the whitening ingredients 😕

[shocko-o.livejournal.com]

Sorta OT but I watched Song Ji Hyo's segment on Get It Beauty and was excited to see what she uses for a minimal routine until I realized they're all from the brand she's sponsoring, even if I do have a good impression of Banila Co.

Any recommendations for a good hand cream? I don't pamper my hands as much as my face - but even then I do the minimum to control breakouts.

[domokuniscute.livejournal.com]

I watched that too! I really like the cleanser balm she used, I couldn't figure out the brand lol so thanks for that! I currently use Laneige now and it's pretty good.

My hand cream secret is that I use Johnson's Baby Lotion... I know, I love the smell and I use it for my body as well! It's very gentle, not too oily and doesn't dry your hands in my opinion.

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

idk, i have skin really prone to rosacea and it's hard to find korea-made beauty products that wouldn't mess up with my skin. used some snail extract products for a while but i think it was mizon cream that actually helped to ruin my skin... i worked in a movie and there was location shooting in a literally rotten place. i had the worst pimples and clogged pores after a day or two (and we were there for over three weeks) and i thought the snail cream i sued for months before would help me a little. but it cause even more irritation and i had to cover it all with bb cream out of insecurity. not to mention my face was awfully red 24/7 and i had to use thick layer of bb cream everyday not to look drunk/sick. which didn't made things better but at least i was less insecure at work.

[achan123.livejournal.com]

woahh!! ur an actress!?? :D haha, thats cool :D

i got pretty nice results with the mizon snail repair cream. it made big difference to skin texture...

[amandaplan.livejournal.com]

have bought to much korean makeup and skin care lately but i'm really loving the tony moly essence and laneige sleeping pack.

[stoppedclock321.livejournal.com]

Every time there's a beauty/skincare post, I come in and get absolutely overwhelmed @___@

All I do for skincare is wash my face and moisturize, so...yeah. I keep meaning to try an actual skincare regimen though, or at least try a few products here and there.

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

I think, if a "simple routine" is enough for you, don't change it. Believe me, I would give A LOT to have skin that doesn't require more than washing twice time a day and a simple moisturiser! I've no such luck though...-.-

[chibiyunie.livejournal.com]

I really need someone to advice me on a Korean skincare routine. I get so overwhelmed with all the stuff that is out there O_O

[shocko-o.livejournal.com]

skinandtonics and thewanderlustproject (recommended on this thread already) have great guides on the routine. they explain what each step is used for and how to make the most of it for your skin type. here is another detailed guide as well from reddit. (http://www.reddit.com/r/AsianBeauty/comments/2jcss2/asian_skincare_101_a_beginners_guide_faq/) i think it depends on the person - just start with basics (clean and moisturize) and then feel free to enhance with treatments or boosters based on your skin needs.

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

I've started using Missha's super aqua cell renew snail sleeping mask, and i'm pretty satisfied! I bought it cause my previous moisturizer wasn't good enough in the evening. This one is moisturizing, i don't need to put on a night cream before applying the mask. It absorbs well, so i don't have to worry it's gonna stick/rub off on my pillow. I had a cystic pimple on my cheek before my package arrived, and then 4 days after applying it, it started deflating, and now it's merely a blemish. Awesome!

Now, I'm currently eyeing Missha's Time Revolution first treatment essence, and their Time revolution ampoule. Does anyone have some feedback to give me about its' effect against fine lines and wrinkles?

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

I tried Etude's Collagen Moistfull on dried out skin and it felt amazing. I won't be buying much from EH though since they have so much whitening agents in their products. I read through the last skin post. A recommended blog has a regimen list, Benton was mentioned a lot and Innisfree Rose toner, so I'll be trying those and Skinfood Black Sugar Mask.

[burningleaf.livejournal.com]

the black sugar mask was.. so-so for me. tell me if it works well for you!

[missingmisnomer.livejournal.com]

I need a good mattifying face powder but they don't sell kbeauty products where i live and i get nervous ordering beauty products online. Does anyone know ay good ones by mainstream Western brands?

[smilingpiano.livejournal.com]

I really like Urban Decay's Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder and Nars' Light Reflecting Setting Powder (despite the name, it's not shiny or shimmery). Both come in loose and pressed versions, I personally prefer the loose ones. They're both great at cutting shine, without looking heavy and flat.