by Mary Lou |
Last Updated: July 30, 2017 When you buy something using the links on our posts, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
Hello, lovelies! It’s Mary Lou here.
If you’ve been living under a rock or have nothing about beauty in your social media feed, then you might have missed one of the most intruiging beauty crazes for this year — the 10 step Korean Skin Care Regimen.
Now you already know I am enamored with Korean and Japanese beauty products — Evidence A being my review on facial masks for acne some time back and Evidence B being a photo of my shopping loot. So, it probably comes as no surprise that I’ve been doing the same skin care routine RELIGIOUSLY for the past couple of months. Now that I’ve acquired some expert status, I’m ready to share with you what I’ve been doing and whether it was effective for me.
Let’s dive in!
Korean Skin Care Steps
Via metro
Here are the stripped-down basic steps of this beauty regimen.
- For night time, start by removing all makeup and dirt with an OIL CLEANSER. Massage and rinse.
- Double cleanse with a WATER-BASED CLEANSER to remove any remaining residue.
- Next, rehydrate your skin with TONER.
- Then apply ESSENCE to your freshly toned skin.
- Once the essence has soaked in, massage a booster or SERUM into your skin.
- Next, apply EYE CREAM for protection and hydration. And you’re done for the night.
- For day time, do the double cleansing and moisturize with your favorite MOISTURIZER.
- Apply SUNSCREEN always whether you’re going out or just sitting in front of a computer.
- Twice a week, incorporate exfoliating before toning. Massage an EXFOLIANT into your skin to remove dead cells.
- Lastly, apply facial sheet MASKS 1-3 times a week especially during days when you or your skin needs pampering.
The Secret
Via cheekycomplexion
So as you can see, it’s actually NOT a one-time 10-step process at all. Because that’s what I thought! When I first heard of this beauty routine, my first thought was that it was excessive. Like what the fudge! Who does ten steps every night? I’d be long asleep before I can do all of them.
But turns out, for daytime, there are 5 steps: double cleansing, toning, moisturizing, and sun protecting.
Then for night-time, there are 6 steps: double cleansing, toning, essence, serum, and eye cream.
My babies, the Korean face masks, are only to be used up to 3x a week for when you want a little spa session at home.
The above isn’t really a secret but it’s something I didn’t know.
My Honest Review
After doing this close to two months and missing only one day, I feel I’m qualified to give you a real honest review of the whole thing and I can sum it all up in three words:
I love it.
Here’s why:
- The scales that I used to have on my face (eyebrow area and sides of my nose, to be exact) from seborrhic dermatitis went away. It used to be so bad that I didn’t want to go out sometimes. I didn’t even know what would trigger it. Weather? Stress? Creams from the dermatologist helped manage it but as you know, I am not a fan of pharma so I resigned myself to living with it. Hated it though as I felt fugly and diseased. But lo and behold! After two weeks into this skin care regimen and all scaling was gone. And stayed gone.
- My face cleared up. I used to pop the occasional whiteheads but those went away too. But just so you know, in the first week I sprouted two medium-sized blemishes. I am inclined to believe they were deep-seated dirt that my skin was finally spewing out because on the third week, they just started shrinking and went away.
- It’s so relaxing. The perfect ME time. I thought applying all this stuff would be a burden when you just wanna sleep at night. But it wasn’t so. It was essentially a pampering ritual. It was a time to stop and connect with yourself. You just can’t help but look in the mirror and say, “You amazing woman!” And really, it doesn’t take as long as you think.
- I feel beautiful. I think it’s a byproduct and side-effect of all this pampering. And it wasn’t just my opinion too. I got random compliments in the ensuing weeks where I used to get none. And I had the same makeup and hairstyle too so I know it was definitely the upgraded skin care. After getting those compliments, I admit I shopped for a few cute summer dresses and strappy sandals.
- Philip noticed. As expected, unless they’re metro-sexual and into beauty products more than you, the stereotypical male like Philip does not notice things like a new haircut or makeup. But this time he did. 😉
Pro Beauty Tips
Via hk.asiatatler
Because I tried to make the Korean skin care steps so skinny and basic, I didn’t get to add in some tips and advice so I’m listing them all here:
- In choosing and shopping for your beauty products, I highly advise you use those with safe and natural ingredients. A lot of the high-end commercial beauty products being sold nowadays use lab-created ingredients that are not good for our skin in the long run. So, read your labels and do your research. Choose safe and natural.
- Make sure to soap and clean your hands well before starting.
- I used to use a cotton ball for my toner but it felt like a waste since the cotton was just absorbing my precious toner. Later on, I just started applying it with my (clean) fingers.
- Always sweep in UPWARDS motions when applying your products. This helps in firming and massaging your skin.
- When’s a great time for a face mask? When the weather is particularly cold or drying, after swimming in a chlorinated pool or the sea, or even after being yelled at in the office or having a bad day — a delicious strawberry or aloe face mask is a treat you deserve.
- The skin around our eyes is very sensitive and thin so you shouldn’t be slathering whatever product on there. Use eye cream and you’ll thank me when your contemporaries start sporting eye wrinkles (and you don’t).
- Level up this entire regimen by doing facial Gua Sha. Facial Gua Sha is relaxing, rejuvenating, and anti-ageing.
To Sum Up
Am I going to continue with this regimen? Yes, I definitely will especially since I think it will help keep my youthful skin for longer and help me have healthy youthful skin even when I get really really old.
If you want to try it too, I wrote up a list of the best products for each step. Check it out HERE.
Author: Mary Lou
In the Before Times, Maru spent vacations traveling and making stops at showrooms to test the latest massage chair models. Nowadays, she’s hunkered down in her small sunlit home dotted with her ever-growing collection of fiddle fig trees, indoor plants, and Himalayan salt lamps. Find her at LinkedIn.