Hey friends,
Can you tell I’ve been missing Korea recently? First this, then this and now this. It’s all getting a bit out of hand, isn’t it? But the reality is that the grass is always greener, distance makes the heart grow fonder and kimchi jiggae ain’t never tasted so good (that’s the saying, right?).
Honestly, I always loved Korea, but sometimes it was tricky living there – mainly because my hagwon job tired me out so much that I sometimes couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to, and I felt bad about that #guilt. But since moving away, I’ve found myself longing for my adopted home, furiously trying to learn Korean and reminiscing about the good times of old.
Which brings me to Korean skincare.
I revived this blog from near-death when I went to Korea, and I really do credit it with giving me a new lease on life – and plenty of inspiration for a blog. Whether it was talking about my fondness for autumn in Korea or just generally how to be a Korean (still working on that one), this great republic intrigued me and delighted me.
And of course, it’s where I first really learnt about skincare.
You see, dear reader, before I moved to Korea, I really had no idea about skincare. I mean, I knew about cleansing, toning and moisturising… but that was about it. And even then, I was pushing it a bit. I didn’t really have much interest in it, I thought it was overpriced and honestly, I thought it was boring.
My, how a person can change!
When I moved to Korea, I couldn’t believe the array of cosmetics and skincare shops at my disposal. The range of products was enormous and their accessibility was dangerous. I took full advantage of the weekly sales, and soon enough my hobby had becoming hitting the local sales and bringing home a sweet stash of K-beauty products. It was glorious. Until… I had so many bags and so much stuff that I just didn’t know what to do with it all.
So I decided to stop.
Of course, when you hit something really hard, you often bounce back as hard in the opposite direction. This seemed to be the case with me and Korean skincare (and all skincare and beauty products in general). I went so hard, and so fast, and so damn often that I just couldn’t hack it anymore. My house was full of beauty products that I didn’t have time to use, and frankly, it started stressing me out.
This was all compounded by the fact that I am trying to focus on products not tested on animals, which rules out most brands in Korea. I’m still trying to navigate the best way to become more aware of these issues that concern me, because the truth is that I’m not a vegetarian and I do own leather goods. I am trying my best, but I’m trying to reassess my extreme ways of thinking just a little, perhaps for a greater gain.
And so, this soliloquy brings me to this point: my yearning for Korean beauty products is at an all-time high, and this time, I’m going to be balanced about it. I mean, of course I’m going to get ridiculously excited and praise the Lord for creating such goodness, but I’m also not going to buy products by the metric tonne.
And I’m going to be focusing on cruelty-free brands, but not necessarily 100% exclusively. What I mean by this is that I’m going to talk about whether or not each brand/item is cruelty-free or when it’s planned to become that way. I feel like publicising this can put pressure on brands to change more than just ignoring or boycotting them completely can. Korean cosmetics are a real interest of mine, and if I can even get a conversation about animal testing started, that’s a good thing. It’s something I’m going to try, and definitely not something I’m going to forget. Think about the bunnies!
Most of all, I just want to have fun with Korean beauty products again, because they are so fun! So, from now on you can expect more frequent posts about Korean cosmetics, and also more in-depth posts. I looked through the ‘My Beauty’ category and saw that I hadn’t done a proper review since October 2014… and that’s gotta stop now!
So friends, rest assured that my love for Korea is real and my love for Korean beauty is really real. I’m really excited to ride this (Korean) wave with y’all, and I hope you’re ready for some serious beauty posts coming to you real soon!
Steph x