12 Korean skincare products you need to try!

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Well, hello there, happy Friday! Today I am sharing with you some of my favourite Korean skincare products that I feel like you need to try!

I understand that K-beauty can be quite overwhelming – I adore YesStyle, but they have SO many products, when I first got into Asian/Korean Skincare I did not know where to start.

YesStyle are great to shop from as well, I’ve ordered tonnes from them and shipping to the UK is free if you spend a certain amount (I always hit this limit lol!) – I’ve never had a problem ordering from them and their customer service is great. You can get some Asian beauty from Amazon, but it’s often cheaper on YesStyle. It’s great for trying things you may not otherwise see in the UK!

I’ve found some absolute gems over the past couple of years, so I’ve pulled out 12 products that have changed my skin and I think would be a good start for anyone wanting to dip their toe into Korean Skincare. I say K-beauty… two of the brands mentioned are Japanese, but the rest are Korean.

SCINIC The Simple Calming Toner – £12 from YesStyle

This toner… I’m honestly on my 8th bottle of it. I adore it, my skin adores it, it doesn’t sting, burn or dry out your skin. It really is just a simple toner great for those of us with sensitive skin.

I use this day and night and my skin loves it. It’s never given me texture or made my skin sore, I cannot be without this product now and every time I order anything from YesStyle, I order a couple. I think I have 6 bottles as back up haha!

Hada Labo Goku-Jyun Hyaluronic Acid Mist – Currently unavailable at YesStyle (things frequently go in and out of stock)

I have found it for £10 on eBay (just be careful of fakes!)

I’m such a huge fan of the Hada Labo Goku-Jyun range (this is the Japanese brand I was talking about). It’s got simple, plain ingredients with no fragrance and my skin really seems to love everything I’ve tried. This mist is great for refreshing your makeup throughout the day, or whenever you need a quick burst of hydration.

I used this every night last Summer just before I put on my moisturiser as I was breaking out using a heavier moisturiser because of the heat, but I still had dry patches. This kept the dry patches at bay!

Dr Jart+ Dermaclear Micro Milk Peel – £28.50 from Selfridges or £24 from YesStyle

This is a real gem of a product! You shake it to mix the milk layer and clear layer together and then you wipe it on your face with a cotton pad, leave it for a couple of minutes and rinse it off.

It’s an exfoliant, but it’s really mild and I’ve never experienced any stinging. My skin never feels tight after using this and it’s helped with texture on my forehead and around my nose.

Hada Labo Goku-Jyun Hyaluronic Acid Lotion Light – £10 from YesStyle

Another favourite from this range, this was the first ever product I tried when I started looking into Asian skincare. This is called a lotion, but it’s not what we know as a lotion in the UK – a lotion to me is a cream, this is a clear slightly sticky formula which you pat onto your skin until you feel your skin getting tacky. I apply it after my toner, but before moisturiser.

It is super lightweight and has three different types of hyaluronic acid in it.

COSRX Low PH Good Morning Gel Cleanser – £9 from YesStyle

I am usually wary of products containing tea tree as they can be drying, but I love this cleanser. It’s a non assuming clear gel which foams up a little bit; I use this every morning (I double cleanse at night) and haven’t noticed it drying my skin out at all. It doesn’t give me any texture or break me out which is a great positive.

This product has been a grower on me. I didn’t instantly fall in love with it, but I found myself using it more and more until it became every day and I recently bought a back up as I really love how my skin feels after; clean, but no tightness and it’s helped with breakouts.

Hada Labo Goku-Jyun Cleansing Oil – £11 from YesStyle

I promise this is the last product from this range haha, I’m not trying to sound like a broken record, but this range has done wonders for me and made me fall completely in love with double cleansing.

I had dabbled before, but only with balms and they had broken me out terribly, so I just thought double cleansing wasn’t for me. Then I tried this and it is amazing.

It’s so lightweight, it emulsifies and becomes milky properly and when you rinse it away there genuinely isn’t any residue on your face. Oh and it gets rid of every scrap of makeup. It’s the most amazing cleansing oil and I would recommend it to anyone. My skin is sensitive and combination and this works perfectly for me.

SKINFOOD Black Sugar Mask – £12 from YesStyle (You can also get it at Amazon sometimes)

This is a slightly “controversial” one… but I love it, I’m onto my 4th pot of it and have been using it for about 2 years. Some people are very against physical exfoliants, but I think sometimes your skin needs a good scrub. This is gentle but it feels like you’re sloughing off those dead cells and flaky bits. You can leave it on for 10 minutes, but I just use it as an exfoliator and rinse it off.

I do use chemical exfoliants, but as my skin is so sensitive I have to be very careful. I use the Dr Jart+ one mentioned above and one from Paula’s Choice, but only once a week. I tried doing it more frequently (2-3 times a week) as I’d read that it was fine to do that, but that was horrific for my skin. It was so sore, red, scaly and covered in spots. I fully believe I was over exfoliating. Since I’ve gone down to once a week or once every two weeks if I physically exfoliate once a week, my texture has improved, my skin isn’t sore and I’m not covered in spots. This sugar scrub is without doubt the best exfoliator I’ve used.

Dear Klairs Midnight Blue Youth Activating Drops – £24 from YesStyle

I admit that I don’t fully understand EGF, but I’ve read lots of good things about it being good at promoting cell renewal an healing the skin. This serum is very lightweight and absorbs into the skin almost immediately with no tackiness.

The morning after using this my skin always feels lovely and plump. I use other anti ageing products along with this so I can’t pinpoint any one product and say it works the best (maybe one day I’ll test one product at a time) but I do know when I don’t use this my skin lacks something. It looks a bit lacklustre.

MISSHA Time Revolution Night Repair Borabit Ampoule – £23 from Amazon

This is a beautiful light ampoule, it’s slightly tacky, but absorbs well. I alternate my serums so as not to overload my skin, so one night I’ll use this, the next I’ll use the Dear Klairs one and then on the third night I’ll use retinol. This seems to be the perfect balance for my skin, it’s plump, the fine lines on my forehead have definitely got better since using the three of these together and I feel like my skin is brighter in general and my freckles aren’t as prominent.

This is a great serum/ampoule (I use this after toning and before moisturising) for those of us with sensitive skin.

Laneige Eye Sleeping Mask – £23 from YesStyle

I’ve mentioned this product before in my beauty favourites and I would highly recommend anyone try it. It’s gorgeous and has been the best thing to happen to my under eyes!

I suffer with oily eyelids and dry under eyes, but if I use thick creams I get bumps under my eyes, so this is the perfect balance of being lightweight and super hydrating. I haven’t had one flake under my eye since I started using this and my concealer no longer looks dry and cracked under my eyes.

SKIN&LAB Red Cream – £17 from YesStyle

Oh my goodness, I LOVE this cream. Well, it’s a sort of hybrid gel cream, it smells of roses and it’s quite sticky, but it seals everything else into my skin and I don’t wake up like an oil slick.

If my skin is acting up I put this on and it calms it right back down, it’s just wonderful. I’ve just bought the Red Serum to try so fingers crossed it turns out to be as great as the cream. I really rate SKIN&LAB actually, I have a peeling gel and a clay mask by them too and love them. For this round up though, I didn’t want to list a hundred products, so I really worked hard to just pick 12 products that have made a big difference to my skin.

Skin Aqua Super Moisture Milk SPF50+ – £17 from Amazon

There’s been a new release of this product in a white bottle (the 2019 version) which is the only version I can find available online, but I bought mine last year and got the yellow bottle. Either way, this has become my favourite SPF. It doesn’t leave a white cast and absorbs into the skin really quickly.

I really struggle with SPF and breaking out. Soooo many products give me texture, but this one doesn’t and I’ve found myself using it every morning. I’ve never burned while wearing it and haven’t noticed any sun damage or freckles since I started using it. I have tried another SPF from YesStyle but that one doesn’t agree with me. It smells very lemony and is a weird milky cream which feels like it evaporates as you try to rub it in. I’m super careful with fragrance in skincare, so I already didn’t love it when I opened it, but the Skin Aqua works really well for me, so I’d recommend that one.

So there we have it, 12 Korean skincare products I think you need to try! If you don’t know where to start with K-beauty then I hope this helps as I’ve picked the absolute best I’ve tried. All of these products have transformed my skin in one way or another and I’ll be buying all of them again!