My Asian/K-Beauty Skincare Routine! 9.10.15

Hey everyone!

Here is my evening/morning skincare routine as of today! I hope this will be informative - I delayed getting this out because I really really REALLY wanted to get this right, but I realised that skincare in general is a work in progress and it'll be literally forever until I feel like it's anywhere close to perfect.

My skincare routine does have its merits - I rarely ever break out/get pimples, whenever I do get pimples they're gone within a day (amazing right?), and my face never ever feels oily/my pores never feel clogged because I have SKINCARE that addresses all of it!

Because my skin is combination, I often find myself "feeling for" and just reaching for whatever feels right to my skin. So my skincare routine might seem all over the place, but heck, it does a decent job! I'm also really lazy, so hopefully my post helps you guys out.




This video could have gone on forever, so I tried to only talk about important parts.

But I love talking about skincare - please ask me if you have any questions =)

My take on the multi-step Korean skincare routine...

♥ Put your hair back! ♥

Me bare-faced, in my PJs, with my Etude House Lovely Etti Headband =)

Don't want your hair getting in the way of your skincare!

♥ Get your face CLEAN! ♥

If your face isn't clean, your awesome moisturising products won't make it past all that sebum, old makeup, dirt, skin cells, etc... to get to your actual skin and provide its moisturising effects!
Cleansing is very important to get right because having bad cleansing means your products might not be as effective as they could be!

1. Makeup removal
Straightforward! Use a wipe or micellar water or makeup remover if you're wearing makeup. It makes cleansing easier!

Examples of products: Lancome Sensitive-Eyes Instant Cleanser, Wotnot wipes, Simple wipes, Palmer's Wipes, Neutrogena Wipes, Bioderma Micellar Water, Garnier Micellar Water, you get the point... Baby wipes if you really have nothing else!

2. Double Cleanse (oil, then foam)
You use oil cleanser to get rid of makeup/sunscreen, and then foam cleanser to get rid of the oily feeling the oil cleanser leaves you with =) Or the oily feeling in general!
Sometimes I'll skip oil cleanser and just foam cleanse on days where I haven't used makeup but my face feels gross.

Examples of products: Banila Co Clean It Zero, Etude House Essential Foam, Dermalogica Precleanse, Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel

3. Exfoliate
I only do this once a week, because exfoliating is harsh on the skin. (Literally removing the dead skin cells from your skin! If you use a physical exfoliant, you're using the equivalent of sandpaper.)
I know physical exfoliants are very popular in Western skincare (yes, I'm looking at you St Ives Apricot!), but I strongly suggest chemical ones instead. Your skin will love you for it!

Examples of products: Paula's Choice BHA 2% Skin Perfecting Liquid, Cure Aqua Peeling Gel

Cure Aqua Peeling Gel

♥ ACTIVES ♥

Depending on your skin, you might want to use Vitamin C, BHA, AHA, and prescription medication here if you have a skin condition like eczema for example! I use my Cure Peeling Gel and BHA interchangably, and I don't need AHA or Vitamin C, so I have nothing here. =)

Paula's Choice 2% BHA Skin Perfecting Liquid (baby & mummy :P)

Things like modelling masks, clay masks, CHOCOLATE masks should also be here
... :P

Wonderuci Cacao Brightening Mask

I don't use this too often, but it smells absolutely amazing and makes my skin instantly brighter =D My special occasion mask. It's super thick in texture and is messy to wash off, but just amazing.

♥ MOISTURE! ♥

This is straightforward! Now that your skin is squeaky clean, let's deliver the good stuff!

4. Toner
Preparing your skin for all the good stuff to come =) A mist works fine in toner's place if you're lazy like me! :P
A lot of toners tend to contain alcohols, which you want to avoid since they dry out your skin. This is why I traded out my Etude House Wonder Pore Toner, and have not been too adventurous with toners in general.

Examples of products: Purebess Galactomyces 100%, The Skin House Aloe Water Mist

5. Facial Mask
My favourite part! Facial masks are one-use masks that deliver intense moisture to your skin, as well as other benefits depending on the ingredients =) You leave it on for about 20 minutes, but I like to leave it on until it is coming off/feels dry. There's also masks for the neck area, eye area, lip area... you get the gist!

Because it's so time intensive, I only tend to do this once per week. You can do more or less! =)

I know r/asianbeauty really love looking at lots of masks, so here we go..

My favorite mask is the Sally's Box Hydrogels! I most recently used the Innisfree squeeze mask in Bamboo which my face loved.

6. Essence
The lightest of the trio! (Essence, serum, ampoule)!
In case you haven't noticed, we go in order from most watery to thickest/least watery product! That's the magic of Korean layering =) This gives you the chance to target three different things that you'd like to fix with your face. If that makes sense?
The essence I currently use is a brightening one! Which gives me a more radiant complexion :P

Toosooswong Rosehip Essence
Eon Wheatgerm Brightening Essence

7. Ampoule
The next step, also moisturisey, and does other things! The current ampoule I use has the ingredient propolis, which is for anti-blemish properties!

Beauty Recipe Propolis Ampoule

8. Serum
The next step, also moisturisey, but can do other things. The current serum I use contains the ingredient snail, and is for intense moisture and anti-wrinkle properties. (Prevention is key! :3)

Miss Age Anti-Aging Snail Serum

Western Skincare will use different names that don't say essence/ampoule/serum, so just feel for it by 'heaviness' or 'wateriness'.

Rosehip+ Cold Pressed Rosehip Oil, Lancome Genefique Advanced Youth Concentrate

9. Emulsion
At this stage, your face might feel kind of watery! Emulsion is a lotion, so you're starting to seal in the deal =)

Sana Soy Emulsion,
Etude House Moistfull Collagen Emulsion

10. Cream
At this stage, you're getting bored of me saying everything is heavier and more moisturising, so yeah. That's what cream is! You've probably used a face cream before, without all this other stuff :P

Nuxe Creme Nirvanesque

11. Eye Cream
The eye area is very delicate and needs special care!

Benefit It's Potent! Eye Cream, Indio Eye Rise

I know I have quite a few here, but some are morning (the roller ball ones) and the thicker ones are for the evening routine... And yes, I use all of these interchangably... eek.

12. Spot Treatment
I only ever do this when I have pimples, which is a rare enough occasion that I forgot to mention it in my video. This stuff is AMAZING. Two different friends on two different occasions asked me to help them with pimples, and I passed them a depot of spot cream. This stuff is a MIRACLE WORKER and I don't know of any Western equivalent of this stuff.
The actual solution to pimples - double cleanse and spot treatment. That is all you need =)

Shara Shara Bee Tox Spot Cream


13. Sleeping Pack / "Night Cream"

Seal all that goodness into your skin before a good night's sleep!
I find that using a sleeping pack prevents that feeling in the morning where you wake up and there's still skincare on top of your skin instead of inside. Of course, patting your skin in to make the products absorb is also a thing which you do :P But still! ;-;

Palmer's Night Cream
Kiehls Hydrating Masque
Heart Face Ultra Pore Sleeping Pack

 ♥ Caring for the rest of your skin  ♥
Stuff like lipcare, neckcare, body lotion, haircare...

This is an overwhelming amount of information, so I'm going to end it here for now =) Let me know if you enjoyed this post/want to see more! I really enjoyed making this!

A fantastic resource on the Korean multi-step routine is this post at fanserviced-b! She's one of my favourite k-beauty bloggers and I definitely recommend checking her out =)

This post is linked up on FabulousandFunLife! Click to see other great Australian beauty-related posts here!

Hope you guys enjoyed! Love you all~

xx pynkbunny