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Who's Who in Korean Cosmetics Skincare: A Guide to the Top Ten Affordable AND POPULAR brands

6/5/2018

1 Comment

 
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Introduction

​When I visited Seoul, South Korea, I was shocked by how many cosmetic stores there were, particularly in the shopping district Myeong-dong. Dozens upon dozens of brightly lit and irresistible cosmetic stories lined the streets packed with young Korean teenagers and young adults.

The stores are like Sephora on steroids. The store clerks are extremely attentive (literally following you around but patiently rather than aggressively, holding your basket and waiting for questions). Best of all, the free samples and sales are out of this world! Store clerks handed out sheet masks to everyone like there was no tomorrow. You can easily find packs of high-quality sheet masks under $1 USD per unit, and freebies of all kinds flow plentifully. 

Needless to say, I was hooked. The best thing about Korean cosmetics (aside from some truly lovely packaging) is that a lot of the products I encountered were high quality and very affordable. I found this to be opposite my experience in the U.S., where you usually have to spend quite a lot to get a decent product. In addition, Korean cosmetic companies are very willing to focus on unusual ingredients and have been leaders in this area--from snail slime to animal fat, you can find many interesting combinations of products you may not have ever thought to try on your skin.

Below is a breakdown of the most common affordable Korean cosmetic stores I ran into, many of which have their products available for shipping to the US or show up in places like Urban Outfitters, Sephora, Ulta, CVS, Target and even their own dedicated storefronts (hello L.A.!). ​The ones listed below are all fairly cheap, though it’s important to note that there are many, many more Korean brands than this, as well as a whole slew of more expensive lines aimed at adult women (these pricy brands, like many women's products, function as a status symbol). However it's my philosophy that skincare and cosmetics shouldn't break the bank.
 
All of these brands carry a wide variety of cosmetics and many are under the largest skincare and cosmetics company in South Korea, AmorePacific (including Etude House and Innisfree). Even better, many of these brands have begun to open U.S. locations, primarily in New York or Los Angeles, so keep your eyes peeled! Unfortunately the U.S. stores have a higher markup on products compared to Korean-based ones, but they still are well within the range of reasonable prices.

1. TonyMoly
This is probably the most recognizable Korean brand, as they’ve made a lot of headway into American markets. You can easily spot TonyMoly products by their irresistibly fun packaging—everything from Pokemon to panda bears is on display here, which makes great gifts for others and leaves quite a few adult women (myself included) swooning. 
 
Products are hit or miss. Some of the cuter packaged items are of average quality (for example, banana-shaped and banana-flavored lip balm), making them fun gifts but not necessarily items you’d want to incorporate into your daily skincare routine.
 
But TonyMoly gets an A+ for packaging and fun concepts, as well as having several outstandingly long-lasting lip products and sheet masks (including snail-based products) that are out of this world.
 
Favorite products:
-Pureness 100 Snail Mask Sheet - Skin Damage Care (review)
-Liptone Get It Tint #5 All-Night (review)
-I'm Real Facemasks (you may have seen these in U.S. stores)
-Cucumber Water Gel (great for sunburns)

Best packaged products:
-Mango hand cream
-Banana lip balm
-Panda eye brightener (review)

2. Skinfood
Skinfood offers a high-quality lineup of products based on food: royal honey, lettuce, egg white, avocado, peach sake, tomatoes, apple, yuja, caviar and other greens. This store is on the higher end of what I consider the affordable range but ships to U.S. customers as well.
 
Favorite products so far:
-Rice Brightening Facial Cleansing Tissue (review)
-Tomato Cool Jelly Tint for lips (review)
-Real Tea Gel Mask (review)
-Any of their black sugar products

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Skinfood's Tomato Cool Jelly Tint for lips
3. InnisFree
This brand is geared more toward natural products, such as volcanic rock, green tea and other plants. Of special interest are their items from the volcanic Jeju Island, an isle off the coast of South Korea. InnisFree offers a huge range of face masks with ingredients spanning from rice to blueberry to pretty much every fruit flavor you could think of.

 I found a lot of really great products here, particularly non-greasy and effective sunscreens (which are incredibly important for skincare).

Favorite products:
-Jeju volcanic melting clay mask
-Green tea seed cream and green tea seed eye cream
-Smoothie booties (for your feet!)
-Face masks in the It's Free and Skin Clinic series
​
Bonus: InnisFree has a product website that ships to the U.S.!

4. MISSHA
 Missha features a good range of affordable as well as higher priced cosmetics. Their BB creams (cover up and healing face products) are of particular note, as well as their wide range of sheet masks, sunscreens and cushion foundations. You can find their products on a variety of websites.

Favorite products:
-Mild Essence Sun Milk SPF 50
-Any of their BB creams (very affordable!)

​5. Nature Republic
Similar in pricing to the Face Shop (see below), Nature Republic covers a wide range of needs. I have to give them call out here for having the single best snail mucus face mask I have tried. Part of what makes this product so notable is its high percentage of snail filtrate. They also have a particular focus on aloe vera as an ingredient in many of their products.
 
Favorite product (and hands down my favorite snail-based sheet mask):
​-Snail Solution Mask Sheet (review)

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Nature Republic's Snail Solution Mask Sheet

6. ​IT'S SKIN (잇츠스킨)
In a nutshell: It's Skin has amazing sheet masks, including a very respectable snail moisture mask. I've found their products to be consistently high quality with a good price. And yes, they ship to U.S. customers!

Favorite products:
-Snail Moisture Mask Sheet (review)
-Nutrition Daily Sheet Mask (review)

Best packaged product:
-Macaron Lip Balms 

7. Too Cool for School
This fun and trendy brand is well known for their egg white line of products. They have some amazing face masks and under eye serums as well. They are also known for their dinosaur theme and other innovative packaging, which is a step up in both price and sophistication from Tony Moly.

Favorite product:
-Any of the egg white masks

Bonus: Too Cool for School recently opened up an online store for U.S. customers and is carried in stores like Sephora, Ulta and Nordstrom.

8. Etude House
 This store, with its distinct pink-and-white decor, is a fun environment and probably the cheapest of the bunch. It caters more to make-up than skincare, but I would be remiss not to mention it on this list. In particular, it has a wide range of lip tints, stains and eye products that are worth perusing.

Favorite product:
-Dear Darling Water Gel Tint
-Water Tint Ice Cream

9. The Face Shop
The Face Shop has a lot of offerings in both skincare and cosmetics. Aside from an extremely diverse range of face masks, they also have foot and hand masks (which are essentially bags of moisturizing ingredients you wrap around your appendages for absorption). They also excel in BB cushions, a popular product for cover up and facial healing.
 
Favorite products:
-BB creams/cushions
-Mascream Face Sheets

10. Banila Co
This brand is noted for its products that help both prep the skin for make-up and remove make-up. Its make-up primers and very effective oil-based cleansers are now available through Amazon. If you haven't explored oil-based cleansers, the Banila Co line is the one to start with--it gently and effective cleans skin without drying out.

Favorite product:
-Clean It Zero sherbet (review)
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Banila Co's Clean It Zero face sherbet
 Other Korean cosmetic brands to check out
By no means an exhaustive list, but here are  a few additional brands (both cheap and expensive) worth noting:
  • CosRX (good for very sensitive skin)
  • Dr. Jart+ (try the rubber masks)
  • Mizon
  • Benton
  • Klairs (great for sensitive skin)
  • Neogen (focused on biopeels and exfoliating pads)
  • Laniege (known for the lip sleeping masks and night creams with ingredients like mulberry yogurt)
  • Olive Young
  • History of Whoo
  • Sulwhasoon
  • Iope
  • AHC
  • Saem
  • Natureby

Any favorite Korean brands that I missed? Let me know in the comments!

Additional Reading

  • Bustle Magazine - "7 All Natural Korean Beauty Brands Committed To All Things Organic" and "5 Korean Beauty Brands That'll Make You Feel Like A Teenager"
    ​
  • ​New York Magazine - "The 14 Best (Lesser-Known) Korean-Beauty Skin-Care Products on Amazon, According to Hyperenthusiastic Reviewers​"

  • Stylecaster - "12 K-Beauty Skin-Care Brands Everyone Loves and You Should, Too"

  • Buzzed - "20 Korean Beauty And Skin Care Brands You'll Want To Try Out ASAP"
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5 Tips to getting the most out of your sheet masks

6/8/2017

2 Comments

 
So you're just venturing into the wonderful world of sheet masks and don't know where to start? Or perhaps you're like me and have bought dozens upon dozens of enticing sheet masks and are looking to optimize your usage. For either case and anything in between, read on for some handy tips that anyone can use to maximize their sheet mask experience!

What is a sheet mask?
​Sheet masks are popular face moisturizing products that are popping up in stores everywhere from Target to high-end cosmetic boutiques. These are typically a one-time use sheet made out of cotton, polymer or other material infused with a liquid concoction of skin moisturizers.

Some face mask ingredients are really far out (caviar, gold, horse fat, and snails to name a few) and materials have expanded to cotton, silk and a variety of plastics. Speciality masks are also trending, such as ones that are self-heating or bubble-forming.

My focus here is really Korean brand sheet masks, as South Korea has paved the way for sheet masks and many high-end cosmetics in general. Japan and Taiwan also have a wealth of sheet masks available and more and more European and American companies are also getting in on the action (these will be explored in a future post).

How do they work?
Though there are exceptions, for most sheet masks the use is similar: put onto a clean, dry face; leave on for 15-30 minutes; remove and voila! Moisturizing benefits galore.

Do they really help your skin?
In short, because the face-fitting sheet mask keeps moisture from evaporating and creates a mini humid chamber so to speak, the masks act like moisturizing gloves or other slimier products. But of course, as with product, your experience will depend on the ingredients and the quality of the product.


Aside from checking out the ingredient list on any sheet mask, here are my 5 simple tips to get the most out of your sheet masks:

  • 1 - Put 'em in the fridge
    Seriously! Just like other perishable products, the cooler temperatures will help maintain their freshness and give you an extra cooling relief when you apply to your face. Not the freezer though--the extreme temperature can damage molecules.


  • 2 - Scan the ingredient list
    When I do a quick scan of the ingredient list, I like to make sure that whatever the advertised selling point of the mask is (e.g., snail filtrate, green tea, rice, rose, etc.) is fairly high up, indicating its relative amount compared to other ingredients. My rule of thumb is, if it's at least in the first half of the ingredient list, I can feel reasonably confident proceeding with the purchase. While the verdict is out on so many ingredients and their particular benefits on skin, at least I'm getting what I paid for in these cases. 

    As for whether particular ingredients work for your skin type, experimentation is best. My personal favorite is snail filtrate, which I've found gives a consistently smooth and moisturizing experience.


  • 3 - Check the date
    I went through a complete and utter moment of panic when I saw that several of my much anticipated sheet masks were dated from over a year ago! However, thanks to the interwebs, I uncovered that many Asian sheet masks list manufacturing date, NOT expiration date on the sheet masks. Phew! Here's how you can tell the difference:

    Production or Manufacturing Date (most commonly listed): 제조
    Use-by Date: 까지
    A lot of sheet masks only list production date and no expiration date. A good rule of thumb for how long the sheet masks last is about 3 years in a cool, dry environment. Here's a more in-depth blog post on identifying expired Korean cosmetics by Peach & Lilly.


  • 4 - Put that extra liquid to use
    Some sheet mask packages will be full of excess liquid. Don't let it go to waste! I like to use the excess on my hands, elbows and other areas that need moisturizing.


  • 5 - Take a picture
    Save the packaging for at least a day or take a picture of the front label. That way, if you wake up the next morning with the best skin of your life, you'll know all the details of the product!

Any other tips on making the most of your sheet masks? Feel free to add them to the comments below!
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a few of my favorite sheet masks!

-COSRX Snail Mucin Sheet Mask
-Innis Free Variety Pack
-Skinfood Variety Pack

Amazon Recommendations

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    About Me

    I use my background in molecular biology and science to dive into what makes Korean skincare and cosmetic products so effective. Then, I share my findings with you all!

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