Korean Skincare Philosophy

Originating in Korea, the 10-step skincare routine is the secret to maintaining glowing skin, loved by many Korean celebrities and K-pop idols. With 10 steps offering various benefits and nutrients, it helps address your skin concerns and achieve a flawless complexion.

Why is Korean skincare so good?

Korean Skincare aims to heal and strengthen your natural skin barrier, giving your skin a healthy glow. To accomplish this, the skincare tends to be more gentle to nourish the skin, with natural ingredients often featured prominently in formulas. Additionally, Korean skincare really emphasises the importance of layering, this allows different product types to penetrate deeper into the skin, target different concerns, as well as effectively cleanse, prep the skin, and ensure better absorption of the product. The term “quick-fix” doesn’t exist in a Korean skincare routine – it’s all about consistency, dedication, and maintaining long-term skin health. 

On the other hand, Western Skincare focuses on the overall appearance of the skin, with a preference towards more active chemical ingredients that deliver results. Layering skincare is less popular, with some products aiming to substitute quite a few steps at once for faster application. While innovation in Western skincare is present, Korea’s ultra-competitive skincare industry contains thousands of companies that are constantly competing with one another, resulting in greater innovation and affordability.

Where to start with Korean Skincare?

If you are a K-Beauty beginner, we recommend starting with a simple 4-step routine that includes a cleanser, a serum, a moisturiser, and a sunscreen. We recommend starting small because if your skin is not used to many actives and layering, the sudden introduction of a 10-step routine that contains powerful products may overwhelm your skin, or cause it to break out. Slowly increasing the number of products in your routine will also make it easier for you to determine if a product is not suitable for your skin.

What are the 10 steps in Korean Skincare?

The 10 steps in Korean skincare are as follows:

  1. Oil-based cleanser
  2. Water-based cleanser
  3. Exfoliator
  4. Toner
  5. Essence
  6. Serum
  7. Ampoule
  8. Eye Cream
  9. Moisturiser
  10. Sunscreen.

Does Korean skincare work for everyone?

Yes! Korean skincare covers the full spectrum of skin types and concerns, making it easy to put together a routine that suits your skin. However, we recommend you introduce new products into your routine gradually, so as not to overwhelm your skin and cause a negative reaction. 

Oil Cleanser

First step of double cleansing - the oil cleanser will remove oil-based impurities such as excess sebum, make-up, SPF and external pollutants. The oil cleanser is in a much better place to do this as oil attracts oil, and these impurities will roll off your face without stripping your skin of its natural oils.

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Water-Based Cleanser

Second step in double cleansing. The water-based cleanser will clean away water-based debris such as sweat, grime and dirt. Double cleanse to prevent breakouts and give your skin a clean slate for the active ingredients in your skincare routine to penetrate deeper.

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Exfoliator

For clogged pores and dead skin cells, a good exfoliator is just what you need. Reveal bright smooth skin by regularly exfoliating dead skin cells and unclogging pores helping you achieve a more even-looking complexion with ease.

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Toner

Toners help tighten pores and cell gaps after cleansing, preventing more impurities to get into the skin. Use the right toner for your skin type will allow the active ingredients target skin concerns such as control excess sebum, hydration and light exfoliation.

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Essence

An essence is a concentrated product contain lots of active ingredients to deliver amazing benefits for the skin such as increasing cell turnover and hydrating, ensuring your skin revitalised. This step is often skipped but it is one of the most important steps as it will deliver more results than any other product because it treats skin on a cellular level - meaning they deliver rich ingredients deep into your skin quickly.

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Serum & Ampoule

Not all heroes wear capes and serums are one of them. Serums and ampoules contain active ingredients that treat specific skin concerns such as brightening, acne, pigmentation, wrinkles and so on - this is why it's important to pick the right serum for your skin type! The active ingredients penetrate deep into the skin due to their smaller molecular size. The difference between a serum and an ampoule? Think of an ampoule as a supercharged serum with more concentrated ingredients.

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Mask

Masks are an easy, affordable and quick way to give you skin a big boost of nutrients, hydration, vitamins and all those goodies. Using a sheet mask regularly has huge benefits for the skin, ensuring it remains bright, dewy and acne-free. Sheet masks are applied after toning.

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Eye Care

With such busy schedules, we all need to give some extra cares for our under-eyes. Dark circles can be annoying but reducing their appearance is possible with eye creams. Eye creams can also help to minimise anti-ageing and wrinkles under the eyes, making them appear brighter and your skin, younger!

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Moisturiser

Moisturisers work by locking moisture and water into the skin, while protecting and strengthening the skin barrier and protecting it from external pollutants and bacteria.

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Suncream

Suncreams are an essential part of your daytime skincare routine. They protect your skin from harmful UVA rays (causes ageing and wrinkles, plays a role in skin cancer), UVB rays (damage DNA in skin cells, causes sunburns, links to skin cancer) and Blue Light (from electronic devices - causes cell shrinkage and death and speeds up ageing) that contribute to various skin concerns. Make sure you wear your sun cream daily - even when you are indoors and/or it is not sunny outside, as the rays are still there.

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