korean skincare resources

picture from sokoglam.com

so, if you are paying attention to the beauty world at all, you will have noticed that korean beauty and skincare is huge right now.  and for good reason.  the products are innovative and exciting, and made out of quality ingredients.  actually, if you look at the ingredient list, most of it is as natural as possible, and free of parabens and harmful chemicals.  i cannot say if all of them are cruelty free, but there are some product lines that are all of those things, like biossance.

for me, one of the most important things about korean beauty is the concept of prevention, a holistic approach, making it a priority and thinking of your skin as an extension of what's going on inside your body.  the idea is that you are working for great skin from the inside out and not "symptomatically getting rid of acne or fine lines" as Alicia Yoon says (she is the founder of Peach and Lily, which is a great website to learn about and buy korean skincare products).  i actually learned a lot about skin in my research of korean skincare products and routines.  and since my degree is in biology, it was really interesting to me and made a lot of sense from a scientific viewpoint.  but this culture has been practicing this for centuries!

i won't put a huge amount of details here, because:  1. i believe that everyone should do their own investigation into whatever it is that they are curious about to find the truth for themselves and  2. i don't have the time to do that.  but, i will put some links to resources that i found very helpful for me, and hopefully they won't be biased.  i always get the opinion of the opposing view when i am researching something, and honestly i didn't find that many negative experiences or reviews about korean beauty.  the extent of it was that some people didn't notice a huge difference in their skin, but i wonder how long they were using the products and whether the routine was consistent and done properly.

anyway, there were a few key things that i have noticed so far in this new regimen.  first is that i actually look forward to taking the time each night and morning to spend taking care of my skin.  it is no longer a chore and something that i just do to get out of the way.  it is like a mini pampering session, even though most nights it only takes 5 minutes.  but it's one of the few things that i specifically do to take care of myself, and to take time out for myself.  and because of that i have been remarkably consistent.  i think i have only missed 3 nights in 4 months (mostly because i just fell asleep without waking up, but there have been nights that i have fallen asleep early and woke up at 11pm or something and still dragged my butt to the bathroom to take care of my skin).  that is a huge difference from my routine before, which was sporadic at best.  but i just take the time, notice how my skin feels and looks, how the products feel, i just pay attention when i'm doing it, and am focused on the moment.

the other thing is how much moisture my skin really needed.  as i said before in a previous post, my skin is combination and blemish prone.  but because my skin didn't appear to be dry and flaky i just assumed it wasn't lacking moisture.  until one day a few months back when i got this expensive (for me) eye concealer, by Laura Mercier .  it is thick and creamy, much different than concealer that i typically use.  anyway i was applying this the first day i got it, and was so disappointed with how cake it was and just how awful it looked on my skin.  so i washed it off, and thought maybe it just wasn't the right product for me.  but then, after some more reading and researching, i realized that perhaps my under eye area was just lacking moisture.  that skin doesn't have pores like the rest of our skin, so doesn't hold onto moisture the same.  so after a couple weeks of focusing on fixing my under eye area, the concealer went on so smoothly and it was LIKE MAGIC!  hahahahahahah!  it wasn't cake at all, and applied very nicely.  another example is that when i first started using all the korean products i thought there's no way i can use all these without my skin being a huge oily mess.  like, this stuff is going to melt off my face.  but it actually did not!  and my skin happily drank it all up!  everything was absorbed into my skin so nicely, and rarely is my skin excessively oily, maybe just when i am really sweaty.  i was AMAZED!  that was another learning experience for me, to get to know my skin better, in a sense.

ok, so on to the resources:

good article: http://coveteur.com/2015/03/11/korean-skincare-routine-steps/
another good article:  http://skinandtonics.com/asian-skin-care-guide/

one of my favorite places to learn about, read reviews and purchase korean skincare:  Solo Glam, i like this website because the products are curated, and there are suggested sets based on skincare type, so that it's not so overwhelming to decide what products to use

here is another website that also has info, reviews and you can purchase products, they also have a blog called the klog---Peach and Lily

again, there are a million articles and blog posts about korean beauty, and also youtube tutorials and stuff, so you will find lots of info if you google korean skincare or k-beauty.

one more thing, i have purchased several products from Amazon with no issues, and they are a little less expensive.  if you do that, just make sure you check out the reviews and info on the seller.

hope this is helpful!