During my 14-hour flight from Toronto to Seoul last month something amazing happened: my skin started to glow. Stress-related blemishes and oil vanished and I landed in my new home looking flawless, despite the red wine stains on my dress. The reason? Each hour a flight attendant brought me a hot towel to cleanse my face. The bathrooms were stocked with cleansers and hydrating toning mists. Makeup was sold on the plane and flight attendants gave me samples of BB and eye creams to try. In short, Korea is the Promised Land for skincare freaks.
The low cost and high quality of beauty products is like living in a magical Sephora where everything is on sale and the packaging is cuter. The market is saturated with brands and the demand for beauty products is so high that prices are driven down while new products are constantly being developed. There’s an entire television show in Korea dedicated to reviewing beauty products, and even the smallest towns on this tiny island where I live have multiple skincare shops. Skincare stores in larger cities stay open as late as bars and I knew I would fit in when I noticed everyone taking excessive precautions to shield themselves from the sun. (Note: I now own a visor that completely covers my face.)
Skincare the Korean way may seem a bit overwhelming because includes quite a few products and a lot of face patting. This also means more time, but when you’re surrounded by women with pore-less, glowing skin devoid of any signs of aging you won’t have any other choice. The following is a step-by-step guide to my new K-infused skincare ritual.
Makeup removal: This is the first step in most people’s skincare routines, but in Korea they’ve taken it to the extreme. There are a bevy of different products to aid you in effectively removing all that stuff you’ve caked onto your face throughout the day. Makeup removal wipes are so cheap and work on almost all skin types. Off-brand makeup remover wipes are usually $1 CND for 100 and are helpful for when you’ve been drinking soju all night and can’t bring yourself to stand in front of a mirror to do anything else.
Cleansing oil: This beauty trend was just starting to catch on in Toronto when I left. Unfortunately, cleansing oils are pretty expensive and most people are still like, “Wait, oil is bad, right?” But if I vaguely remember high school chemistry: oil dissolves oil. Most Koreans start with washing their face with a light oil before moving to a cleanser. Rice cleansing oil is very popular and a gentle way of removing impurities on your skin. My favourite is The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Light Oil. I bought a big bottle of it on sale for about $4 CND and shed a tear.
Rice and fermentation: What’s cool about Korean skincare is how closely cooking and skincare practices overlap. Rice is served at every meal and it’s often an ingredient found in skincare products. Fermentation is a cooking technique employed throughout Korean cuisine (think kimchi), and fermented skin products are trending in a big way right now. Historically, women would reuse the water used for soaking rice for meals and incorporate into their beauty practices. Washing your face with rice water helps soften the skin and improve your complexion by firming and reducing the size of pores. Fermented rice water is rice water that has sat for a while. This water contains antioxidants, minerals, vitamin E, and traces of piter, which is a substance produced during the fermentation process. Rice water helps to heal scars and reduce wrinkles, fine lines, and inflammation, leaving the skin glowing like the angel you are.
Cleansing foam: Korean skincare is gentle. I have yet to see a gel cleanser or any product that looks even the smallest bit harsh on skin. All of the English words on cleansers are like, “soft” “gentle” “light” “precious” “happy”, etc. And “foams” don’t really foam, which is a good sign because that means they don’t contain an excess of sulfates—hi again, chemistry! Sulfates are synthetic ingredients partially based on sulfur, which is usually derived from petrolatum or other sources. Korean skincare hates synthetics. Synthetic sulfates are like polyester for the skin: not cute. My favourite cleanser right now is Innisfree Green Tea Pure Cleansing Foam. It’s so milky and smells good and is made from the green tea that grows in a field down the road from my apartment. Just so quaint I can’t.
Toner: The first step in a series of products you will be putting back onto your face after cleansing. Toners in Korea are so special. They don’t contain alcohol and are incredibly hydrating. Key to the Korean skincare game is hydration. If the skin is hydrated it will be less prone to wrinkles and aging. I love this toner from Nature Republic; it contains bee venom! Honestly, I don’t know if I was truly living before I was regularly spraying bee venom on my face. After I spray toner I like to gently pat my face dry—gently patting your face is very important as it makes a cute “plock-plock” sound. I use this toner all throughout the day—even over makeup. Thanks, bees!
Essence/sheet masks: Essence is a product I can’t remember ever seeing in Toronto but it’s an essential step for Koreans. Essences target wrinkles, even out your skin tone and make your skin brighter. Essence is a slightly thicker version of toner but not quite as thick as a face cream. Essence usually contains an active ingredient that works to create a glow. Again, patting this product into the skin is recommended. This patting helps the product to absorb quickly and doesn’t pull skin. The essence I use right now it is Etude House Moistful Collagen First Essence. “Moistful” definitely isn’t a word but it works, so let’s not stress too much about that. Essence also comes in the form of sheet masks. These are scary-looking but incredibly useful masks you can buy for $1 CND or less. You can get them for targeted places too; under eyes, chin, collarbone, forehead, and those “smile” lines just south of your cheeks. The intention behind these masks is to pump your skin full of moisture while looking like Jason Voorhees.
Creams: Okay, hi, I hope you are still with me. Now that you have a bunch of hydrating products on your face it’s time to put on more. I’m talking creams: eye cream, face cream, neck cream, collarbone cream (yes, I bought a collarbone-targeted cream) and any other cream imaginable. Slap all of these creams on your face, but remember to do it in a circular motion and no pulling. Eye cream is best applied with your pinky finger and patted until it completely absorbs. I’m using a bevy of different creams. Innisfree Green Tea Seed Eye Cream is a dream and I’ve been coating my face in “sleeping packs,” which are very thick creams designed to keep your skin moisturized during the 8 hours where you won’t be awake to spray your mug with bee venom.
And that’s it! You are now allowed to sleep. This whole process may seem daunting to some of you who are used to using apricot scrub and coconut oil as eye cream but trust me, once your skin starts to glow, it’ll be hard to go back. This routine takes me about 15-20 minutes before I go to bed and it gives me a nice chance to wind down and ask myself why I moved to a tiny island in South Korea, if I said anything weird to that DJ last night, if I should stop drinking soju… most importantly though, it gives me some time to contemplate my next skincare purchase.
Most these products can be found online. Soko Glam is a great website that imports Korean products. You can also find lots of this stuff on eBay. Or take a stroll through your friendly neighbourhood Koreatown and see what you find!
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