Let me start by saying that historically I’ve never had terrible issues with my skin. I never experienced a huge amount of acne in my teens, I never really had issues with my skin at all, but I also never really had much of a skincare regime either. I wasn’t shy of using a baby wipe to take off make up, I’d slept in make up on more than a few occasions, I never even thought of the importance of daily SPF; I mean if I wasn’t sunbathing or out in direct sunlight I was ok, wasn’t I?

Well after having my baby boy in May 2016 my ‘no problemo’ skin disappeared along with the pregnancy glow. What I was left with was horribly sensitive, hyper reactive, dull, dry and spotty skin. My skin was honestly a mess, make up seemed to exaggerate the dryness in little clumps. The dullness looked like I hadn’t slept in forever, despite having a new born baby who was a great sleeper. I needed to take care of my skin but just felt at a loss of how.

I began using products specially formulated for hyper sensitive skin and continued to try different brands to no avail for the next 2 years! From Superdrug’s own affordable sensitive range to the more expensive LaRoche Posay and Avene in the hope that spending a little more the product might have a better formula for my difficult skin. Nothing worked. I was fairly sure this was my skin now and I was stuck with it.

I began to see vloggers/bloggers and magazine articles mentioning Korean beauty products and the hype surrounding them, I dismissed these claims as just that, hype. But as always, curiosity got the better of me and I found myself reading into Korean skin care brands as well as Japanese ones. I couldn’t argue with the before and after pictures I saw. The difference in these people’s skin was the definitive proof that these products worked (or the individuals writing about them were being compensated well for their reviews; What can I say I’m not easily sucked in by marketing ploys and am especially dubious about ‘miracle’ products). I couldn’t find anything less than glowing reviews, no matter how hard I tried! I decided at this point I had nothing to lose and threw myself into finding the product for me, but which brand or product was going to be the most effective ? Would I have to wait forever for overseas shipping? Would it be too expensive to maintain this kind of routine?

I soon found the brand I wanted to try after reading nothing but glowing reviews on it- Pyunkang Yul; a range of products developed by the renowned Pyunkang Oriental Medicine Clinic in Korea.

I found a UK stockist of Korean beauty brands called Beauty and Seoul and I couldn’t have been happier with their incredible service. Within 2 days of having placed my order I received the two ‘grail’ products as well as a number of free sample products and an adorable compliments slip, it really felt like a personal touch from someone who really cared about customer happiness and who truly believed in the products they were stocking. I’m 100% a returning customer now based on my experience shopping with this company and have signposted family and friends to them too as I believe they will have the products needed to help them achieve their skincare goals too!

I finally narrowed my choices down to the Essence toner (100ml 9.50GBP) and the Moisture ampuole (200ml 22.00GBP) in conjunction with a sensitive cleansing soap bar from Simple (not K or J beauty but something I already had).

I committed to the following routine initially;

AM

1. Cleanse face with simple soap using the Magnitone Barefaced2 cleansing and toning brush (currently £30 off via the link)!
2. Apply essence toner using patting and pressing techniques to get the product fully absorbed
3. Apply the moisture ampuole over the essence toner in the same fashion as the essence toner
4. I would use two sheet masks a week in conjunction with this routine on a Sunday and a Wednesday (Malie Systems sheet mask bundle from Amazon).

The difference I felt was almost immediate; my itchy,dry and ANGRY looking skin felt less tight, looked less red and blotchy and spots seemed to settle within days. Within a couple of weeks I didn’t recognise my skin. I felt comfortable going make up free (which very likely helped my skin too) and when I chose to wear make up there was no clumping or drying out on top of my skin. Instead my skin felt prepped to have make up applied.

I maintained this routine over a month or so before I decided to add an additional step/product. I had read amazing reviews about the Hada Labo premium lotion and ordered this from Amazon to use post cleansing and before using the essence toner and moisture ampuole. This product seemed to amplify the effectiveness of the Pyunkang Yul products by allowing them to absorb even more, my skin felt bouncy and looked glowing. It was like having a pregnancy glow back again but even better!

This routine was effective to say the least but I felt I wanted to switch more towards a 10 step skincare regime. I would double cleanse by first using a micellar water I already had prior to using the simple cleansing bar and barefaced2 brush. This was often just at night but occasionally in the mornings too just depending on how my skin felt. I will be swapping micellar water for Korean beauty water once I have used up my current bottle and decided on the right product for me.

Here is my current full skin care regime;

AM and PM

1. Cleanse face with simple soap using the Barefaced2 facial brush (double cleanse if required)
2. Apply essence toner using patting and pressing techniques to get the product fully absorbed
3. Apply the moisture ampuole over the essence toner in the same fashion as the essence toner
4. Two sheet masks a week in conjunction with this routine on a Sunday and a Wednesday (Malie Systems sheet mask bundle from Amazon).
5. Apply Strivectin SD to forehead, ‘crows feet’ and ‘laugh lines’ areas as a preventative measure (although currently researching Kbeauty and Japanese alternatives- if you have any suggestions I’d be pleased to hear them)!

So that’s it, my full skin routine, for now any way. It’s a more condensed version of the Korean 10 step routine due to some double action type products I use. I cannot stress enough how adopting this routine has changed my skin, I was overwhelmed at the difference it has made and truly believe that these products are miracle workers, I’m looking forward to the changes another two months of use brings.

What’s your Korean and Japanese beauty recommendations? What products can you not live without? Let me know in the comments.

Stay cute 可愛いままでいて

Hannah (^_^)