It goes a bit like this: a balm or oil cleanser (1), a foaming cleanser (2), an exfoliant (3), a toner (4), an essence (5), an ampoule or serum (6), a sheet mask (7), an eye cream (8), a moisturizer (9), and then either a thicker night cream or sleeping mask or an SPF (10).
Conclusion. You do not need to practice a 10-step skincare routine to get the results you want. Skipping breakfast and missing out on night-time chats with people are not worth it... especially because your skin may look even better with only a 3-step routine.
This step is not recommended for daily use. If you have sensitive skin, you'll only want to exfoliate once a week. If you have a tougher complexion, you can do it more regularly (about three times a week).
In Korea, skin is always first. They value skin as being more important than makeup or fashion. Their skin secret is that they are using alternative, animal and natural ingredients that a lot of popular skincare brands hadn't really considered using in the past.
Charlotte Cho, founder and CEO of Soko Glam, even coined the term “10-step Korean skincare routine,” to help to describe the intricate routines people in South Korea used during their night and daytime routines.
Skincare is More Important than Makeup
Since ancient times, Koreans have only used natural, harsh-free ingredients for their skincare routines: green tea, “snail slime”, bamboo extracts, propolis, and honey are just some examples of the elements they used and have passed through generations.
Skin care is highly valued in the Korean culture. Korean skincare focuses on prevention, making it more effective than traditional Western beauty techniques. In South Korea, parents teach their children about skin care very early on. Their children quickly learn the importance of cleansers, SPF, and moisturizer.
Based on tradition, Koreans only used natural and harsh-free ingredients to create the clear, glowy, and natural-looking skin through multiple generations that made K-Beauty products better and so popular today. Natural Korean makeup can still be made today for people to try at home by making your very own face mask.
Majority of the ingredients used in Korean skincare are safe, even the most exotic ingredient such as snail slime are typically safe. Though most Korean skincare brands are cruelty free, and some brands are even vegan friendly by opting for natural traditional ingredients to be used in their products.
“Glass skin is a term for exceptionally smooth, even-toned and lustrous skin that's so flawless it has the appearance of glass,” says skin care blogger and K-beauty expert Jude Chao. “It's simply a clear and elegant way of describing a certain type of enviable complexion,” she adds.
Fundamentally, the routine is about respecting your skin. Instead of using products full of harsh ingredients that strip the skin's natural barrier, Korean skin care philosophy is about working with your skin's natural ecosystem by cleansing, hydrating, nourishing, and protecting it — allowing your skin to thrive.
Get skin care products, including a lotion which makes your skin moist, a primer base (pore cover), a liquid foundation like BB cream, and face powder. You will also need black or brown eyeliner, eye shadows, eyebrow liner, teardrop liner which is kind of a glitter popular among Korean girls, and lip tint.
“Glass skin is when your skin is at its very healthiest,” explains Alicia Yoon, founder of Peach & Lily. “In order for skin to appear poreless, luminous, and translucent, so many things have to happen. You can't just be hydrated and look that way. Your skin really needs to be its healthiest in all aspects.
But what is it exactly? In short, the '7 skin method' is the process of layering three to seven layers of toner or an essence-and-toner-in-one onto your skin immediately after cleansing. As for the name, Koreans call toning and essence products "skin," thus, the seven-skin method was born.
“I do three things to my face: supply moisture, remove dead skin cells through cleansing, and self-massage. I call it the "3-3-3 law”. In the morning, I put whitening toner, moisture cream and sunscreen with BB or CC cream on my face. In the evening, I just apply moisturiser or vitamin cream after a thorough cleansing.
What is dolphin skin? “Dolphin skin is a beauty term that's being used to describe a glistening, hydrated, 'fresh out of the water' makeup look,” explains Mary Phillips, a professional makeup artist who's worked with celebs like Jennifer Lopez, Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner.
Korean beauty products are incredibly advanced when it comes to ingredients and formulations because the Korean beauty R&D labs are pushed to extremes as Korean women continue to raise the bar for beauty products – in a culture where skincare is an extremely serious pursuit and the standard for “flawless skin” is ...
Korean products are significantly cheaper than their western counterparts because manufacturing costs are lower in Korea. There is also stiff competition between companies to offer the “best for less”. Beauty-obsessed Koreans are always on the lookout for the next “Big Thing” in skincare.
According to one survey, the highest-quality beauty products come from Japan, the United States, and France (in that order).