My Current Korean Beauty Favourites

Over the weekend, our school finished our “end of year” show, called the Lovely Party. The ironic thing is that it’s almost anything but lovely behind the scenes, because of the bizarre amount of importance that is placed on it by the “powers that be”. I am personally of the opinion that kids are kids and shouldn’t have to worry about being performing monkeys if they don’t want to be, but you know, as TayTay says… haters gon’ hate! 

Anyway, now that this big event is thankfully done, I realised that I only have 6 WEEKS left in Korea. This is crazy to me – it really doesn’t seem like that long ago since I packed up me bags and rocked up to this weird and wonderful country. But really, a lot has happened in that time and I do feel like it’s a good time to go… and then revisit regularly. He he he. What this long introduction is (slowly) getting around to, is that I realised it’s been a long while since I actually talked about any Korean beauty products on here. Given that the large majority of my visitors come searching for this very thing, I thought it was time to give y’all a bit of an update.

First up, something that has been saving my skin in this ridiculously harsh winter has been Holika Holika’s Gonyak Soft Cleansing Balm. I bought this quite a while back when I was still a shopaholic, and it sat in wait for a day when I would come crawling back to it. Sure enough, this day did come, and I am so thankful it did. For any of you who haven’t used a cleansing balm before, it is basically a similar consistent to a lip balm in terms of being really moisturising and slightly heavy. The great thing about these is that they moisturise while cleansing your skin, and they never leave you feeling tight. I don’t particularly love the smell of this one, but I do love how it makes my skin feel. I apply a small amount onto my face and then let it emulsify with water. When you rinse off, prepare for soft, moisturised skin!

Another favourite when it comes to removing makeup is Mamonde’s Perfect Clean Lip and Eye Remover. Let me just say that a “lip and eye remover” is much less painful than it sounds (and also missing one crucial, normalising word). Apart from that, this product is lovely. I use it when I’m particularly tired or just taking off my makeup at the basin, as opposed to in the shower (which I generally prefer because it’s so steeeeamy). I really like that this has coconut oil in it, as it melts my makeup off really easily. This product is actually one of those ones where the water and oil parts are divided, so you have to shake it up before you use it – and that’s a bit of fun for someone easily amused like me!

One more previously unmentioned product is Etude House’s Dear My Blooming Eyes Quad in BR402. I purchased this one a while ago and it is sadly unavailable now, but it is one that I have carried around with me on a regular basis. The quality of the shadow’s aren’t necessarily the most long-lasting, but the colours and the convenience makes up for it. As you can see, I have “hit pan” on the bronze shade in the top right-hand corner, and the dark brown one is what I always use on a night out (as you can see, it doesn’t happen that often). This is a handy little eyeshadow quad that looks super cute, too – highly important in Korea!

The su:m37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick and the IOPE Air Cushion XP are two products that I love and have already raved about here and here. If y’all don’t know about them, get on them because they are amazing and they save my lazy butt on the daily.

That’s it for my current Korean skincare and beauty favourites – how about you? Fill me in!

Until next time,

Steph x