Everyone loves clear and healthy-looking skin, and the glass skin trend does just that. Glass skin is meant to evoke the idea of a crystal clear piece of glass, meaning it's all about skin that looks completely clear. Poreless, dewy, baby-soft skin is the ultimate goal.
Rhea Souhleris Grous is the founder of La Suite Skincare and an aesthetics specialist with more than two decades of skincare experience. The internet broke, repaired itself, then broke again when Allure shared an aspiring makeup artist, Ellie Choi's "glass skin" routine and accompanying dewy skin close-up.
Glass skin and the quest to retain a luminous, translucent skin glow has been a popular trend ever since, but Yoon explains that the luminous appearance of glass skin really comes from within. Achieving this look requires a healthy and balanced lifestyle, as well as a dedication to a skin care regimen.
It means that it looks completely flawless, poreless, clear and translucent with not a blemish in sight. The complexion should look ridiculously radiant and decadently dewy, with a focus on hydration and glow-inducing products. The key trick to achieving "glass skin" is layering your skincare 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.
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.
“Moisturising creams are a must for Korean celebrities, and you'll generally find them favouring hydrating formulas from Chanel, Hera Skincare and Lagom,” she shares.
Well, glass skin denotes a smooth, hydrated and luminous skin which is glass smooth. In layman's language an extremely dewy skin can be termed as glass skin. How is it achieved? Firstly, you have to double cleanse our skin with a gentle oil-based cleanser, followed by a foam-based cleanser.
"Dolphin skin" is a term coined by celebrity makeup artist Mary Phillips. It refers to dewy, glassy-looking skin. The look can be achieved by incorporating hydrating products into your skin-care routine and/or wearing dewy makeup.
Cream skin is a little gentler and combines the softening and absorption powers of a toner with the hydration and benefits of a moisturiser. 10-step Korean Skincare: Does it work?
“The pursuit of a healthy glow is very popular—being confident in your own skin and focussing on healthy skin is one of the main trends in Korean beauty. Forget glass skin, opt for a simple routine with nourishing and brightening ingredients, like propolis and hyaluronic acid.”
"Honey skin" is a popular, trending phrase in Korea used to describe skin that is like honey–smooth, supple, and radiant.
If you're using products with vitamin C, be very careful about cocktailing them with high concentrations of AHAs, BHAs, or retinol. I followed the routine below for a full week (Yoon estimates you need anywhere between one and three weeks to see "profound results").
It looks great IRL too: “The term cloud skin describes a soft, light touch skin texture, unlike glass skin, that is shiny, glossy and reflective. The former is diffused and delicately blurry, easy to create and suits everyone,” shares Dominic Skinner, global senior artist, M.A.C Cosmetics.
While this may sound like what we know as dewy or glass skin, the difference is simple: dewy and glass skin are achieved with your skincare, and dolphin skin is achieved with makeup—pair them together for glow-getting harmony. Before you start: This trend works best on recently exfoliated, ultra-hydrated skin.
A dolphin's skin is smooth and feels rubbery. The skin has no hair or sweat glands. The outer skin layer (epidermis) is about 15 to 20 times thicker than the epidermis of humans. Dolphin skin constantly flakes and peels as new skin cells replace old cells.
Here's a new phrase for you: chok chok. It's a Korean phrase meaning moist—and more often than not, it's used to describe luminous skin.
The TWICE members use Minion's Amino Moist Face Mask, which comes highly recommended by Nayeon. Instead of just using the sheet mask, it's important to, once the mask is on your face, squeeze every last drop of essence out of the packaging and add it onto the mask as well as your neck.
IU uses the CNP Propolis Energy Ampule which helps maintain firm, healthy, and glowing skin. Recommended by her makeup artist, IU has said that it fits her skin just right, especially since she has sensitive skin.
The first step is eye makeup remover. Next, Chung Ha follows with an oil-based cleanser to completely dissolve her makeup. Then she reaches for a water-based cleanser to wash away dirt and sweat from her face. Lastly, Chung Ha likes to do what she calls "bubbling it out" with a face wash that, well, bubbles.
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.