My KBeauty Story
When people think about Korean Skincare, they may think of the infamous 10 step routine that became popular a few years back. People tried it out, raved about it and swore it could cure all of your skin mishaps if you were just patient enough to give it a go. Beauty magazines, bloggers and skincare specialists praised the lengthy routine, establishing Korea as the innovation beauty hub of the world. Like many others though, I just sat and scoffed at the idea and questioned internally who on earth had time and money for that shizz?
My old skincare regime in the UK usually just consisted of face wipes; lots and lots of face wipes. They were quick and easy so they were my skin saviour. I would come home after a hard days work and the thought of washing my face just seemed too darn much. I slept soundly in the smug knowledge that I wasn't one of those girls that didn't wash their face before bed. I was good, I cleansed, I used a face wipe for goodness sake.
But looking back my skin tone was uneven. I used to love the feeling of using a stringent alcohol based toner thinking that if I could feel the burn then it must be tightening up my pores and clearing my oily skin. The thought of oil cleansers repulsed me. They must make my oily skin even oilier, right? And if I had a spot, well, that was what concealer was for. It was make up over skincare. And SPF? Pfft, give me that tan!
It wasn't until I lived in Seoul that my whole perception of skincare changed. It is safe to say that Korean women are skincare obsessed; they spend more per year on beauty products than any other nation. In Korea, the motto is 'skincare first, make up second' which was the completely opposite mantra to the one I was living. Time well spent is time treating your skin, not hiding it with copious amounts of make up. The idea that if you have glowing healthy skin, then you actually don't really need much make up to enhance your features. I slowly figured out that the Korean 10 Step Routine wasn't about incorporating as many products in to your routine as possible but just having the right products to cater for any eventuality.
Slowly, my three products, become 5 products, my 5 products became 10 until I had a full cabinet of products to choose from depending on my skin’s condition that particular day. To me, that is what KBeauty is about – knowing your skin and treating it accordingly. It's about the small changes. I started double cleansing and using an SPF daily and I never looked back.
Maree x