Curious about Korean Skincare? Here's Where to Start, According to Vogue
Keeping up with all the different skincare options out there can be confusing, even exhausting. When it comes to Korean beauty, there's an awful lot of information to sift through, from beauty rituals all the way to the ingredients themselves.
Vogue recently chatted with Charlotte Cho, cofounder of Soko Glam, a marketplace for some of the best K-beauty products on the market, as well as Christine Chang, cofounder of Glow Recipe. "At a young age, Korean children are taught the importance of moisturizing, exfoliating, cleansing the skin thoroughly, and protecting their skin with SPF," Cho told Vogue.
"For example, a common bathhouse tradition is to splash spoiled milk onto faces after cleansing as milk contains lactic acid, which helps smooth and brighten skin," said Chang. "This tradition is an example of the Korean consumers' approach to gentle exfoliation over harsh, physical exfoliation."
There's also ingredients to consider, which in K-beauty often come from traditional Korean medicine, which explains why K-beauty products often feature ingredients that aren't customary in the West — things like snail mucin, ginseng, green tea, and lotus.
But where to start? Thankfully, Vogue has got you covered. Here are 10 products to help kick off your K-beauty journey on the right foot.
Then I Met You Living Cleansing Balm
Key Ingredients: A sorbet-textured balm infused with vitamin E, olive oil, persimmon extract, and sea-buckthorn oil, which is rich in fatty acids and antioxidants.
Skin Benefits: "Cleansing with an oil-based cleanser and following up with a water-based cleanser is called a double cleanse and is a foundational part of an effective multistep skin-care routine," says Cho, who prefers cleansing balms to remove makeup and oil-based impurities. This is crafted to cleanse and condition simultaneously, leaving skin soft and nourished. $38, sokoglam.com.
Peach & Lily Glass Skin Refining Serum
Key Ingredients: A lightweight serum powered by a blend of peach extract, niacinamide, East Asian mountain yam, madecassoside, peptides, and hyaluronic acid.
Skin Benefits: "[This] become a cult favorite for how visibly hydrating, firming, smoothing, clarifying, and brightening this universal treatment is in one easy bottle," says Alicia Yoon, founder of Peach & Lily. Suitable for sensitive skin, the serum is known to combat dark spots and loss of elasticity to promote even-toned, supple skin. $39, ulta.com.
Missha Time Revolution Artemisia Treatment Essence
Key Ingredients: A concentrated essence powered by 100% artemisia extract (mugwort).
Skin Benefits: "An essence is super helpful at kick-starting hydration in the skin," notes Yoon. Through the featured mugwort, expect the essence to quell sensitivity and redness. $55, sokoglam.com.
CosRx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence
Key Ingredients: A lightweight essence powered by 96.3% snail mucin — the buzzy K-beauty ingredient made popular for its resurfacing and hydrating properties.
Skin Benefits: Applied post-cleanser and -toner, this works to fade dark spots, improve hydration, and smooth skin texture — leaving skin soft and dewy. $21, iherb.com.
Zeroid Foaming Cleanser
Key Ingredients: A hypoallergenic foam featuring a blend of surfactants made of botanical extracts, hyaluronic acid, ceramide, and bitter-orange extract.
Skin Benefits: This nonirritating formula offers a deep cleanse while balancing skin's pH, moisturizing, and protecting skin from external stressors. $22, amazon.com.
Innisfree Pore Clearing Clay Mask
Key Ingredients: Innisfree's lineup is powered by ingredients sourced from Korea's Jeju Island. This creamy clay mask is infused with volcanic clusters from the island and lactic acid.
Skin Benefits: Utilize this clarifying mask to slough away dead skin cells, reduce the look of pores, and absorb excess oils in a 20-minute application. $15, sephora.com.
Belif Moisturizing Eye Bomb
Key Ingredients: A silky, lightweight eye cream infused with squalane, ceramides, and centella asiatica — leaf extract.
Skin Benefits: As the name suggests, intensive hydration is the targeted benefit of this eye cream meant to plump fine lines with 26 hours of moisture for a supple undereye. $48, ulta.com.
Sulwhasoo Gently Cleansing Oil
Key Ingredients: A lightweight oil formulated with apricot-kernel oil and tangerine-peel extract.
Skin Benefits: This oil is an ideal first step in a double cleanse, as it emulsifies to wipe away impurities and makeup without stripping skin of its natural oils. $40, sephora.com.
Laneige Water Sleeping Mask with Squalane
Key Ingredients: A gel-textured overnight mask infused with squalane and hyaluronic acid.
Skin Benefits: This is crafted to give your skin a hydration boost while you sleep to reveal soft, bright, supple skin. $29, sephora.com.
Dr. Jart+ Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment SPF 30
Key Ingredients: A creamy treatment featuring a blend of tiger grass (centella asiatica) and broad-spectrum SPF 30.
Skin Benefits: Dr. Jart's color-correcting treatment became popular for its green-to-beige transformation that seamlessly neutralizes redness and evens skin tone. Thus skin is left soothed, moisturized, and protected from UV rays. $52, sephora.com.