Welcome! Today’s blog post is inspired by the #1 most famous K-Beauty blogger Fiddysnails, also known as Fifty Shades Of Snail, and her upcoming book “Skin Care For Your Soul: Using the Korean Skincare Routine for Self-Care and Inner Peace” and her original article ‘HOW MY ELABORATE KOREAN SKINCARE ROUTINE HELPS ME FIGHT DEPRESSION’.
Fiddysnails was my original K-beauty blogging role model that helped get me into learning about and analyzing skincare ingredients in the first place, back when I was just originally a K-Pop fan that liked to buy the items that my favorite trendy Korean popstars promoted, and even eventually went onto buying an online shopping spree that eventually filled my overflowing cupboard full of $200 worth of sheet masks. This was BEFORE sheet masks were available at every corner store & pharmacy, Target, and department store, and I had to outsource nearly all of them one-by-one from Korea (and I can’t help but give myself some of the Google foot trail I left behind credit to the localization of sheet masks in the US).
I too, like Fiddysnails, started my Korean skincare routine when I was in a low place in my life, and likewise it helped both transform my face from acne-ridden, dull, tired red and gray skin marked with a permanent frown to turn upside-down to glowing skin with a smile of a calmer sense of happiness/inner peace. There’s just something so self-pampering and calming about the 10+ step Korean skincare routine that’s almost like a ritual of meditation. This is meditation that is much-needed by many in this world of strife and chaos right now.
“So as you water a flower daily to maintain its beauty, so you must moisturize your skin”, as my Animal Crossing villagers like to quote daily at me.
Today I’m going to highlight some tips that will both calm your skin, and your inner nerves about the future.
“The world is ending, but at least we can still have fun playing with skincare products.”
-The Queen of Skincare Addiction (Me), 2021
At least we can still have great skin!
1. Sheet Mask Everyday at the END of Your Skincare Routine
( Props go to EuniUnni from YouTube for this tip! )
We all know sheet masks are calming, fun, and Bomb.com when it comes to hydrating your skin. Soaking your entire face in a rich serum for 10-20 minutes with a cotton or hydro-gel based sheet and sitting back and relaxing typically leads to an extremely well-hydrated face with a healthy glass-like glow.
But while many people tend to do a sheet mask as a single-step fun activity (often a great activity for lazing around the house during COVID-19 quarantine while reading a book, or watching a TV show on your smart TV or phone!), sheet masks are generally recommended to be used AFTER your toner (and before your serums and moisturizer) to replace the “essence” step.
This is mainly recommended to get your face thoroughly wet and damp before proceeding with products with thicker consistency such as moisturizing lotions and creams, which are heavier and have larger molecular size.
They’re also great for helping certain active ingredients targeting specific skin concerns (such as retinol for aging) to penetrate further into the skin, thereby getting them deeper into your skin cells and the layers of your skin and increasing their efficacy in addressing dryness and other specific concerns.
This step (which I recommend using an actual essence for, or a sheet mask during a SEPARATE skincare routine during a different time of day (such as morning or night)), serves an important step and purpose in a traditional K-Beauty skincare routine. I even think the essence step is one of the 2 or 3 keys to Korean women having the best skin in the world (the other being the hydrating toners they use and layer and layer upon each other, and the sheer amount of care and effort they put into protecting their skin from the sun, such as using umbrellas during the daytime).
BUT! Did you know that sheet masking AFTER applying all your other skincare products can really help make them get trapped and penetrate even deeper into the skin, making ALL of your steps even MORE effective? Doing so even AFTER your oil occlusive layers will help double the sealing and trapping effect! Not only that, but it helps calm the mind and helps you wind down and relax after the stress of work, school, or the extensive, possibly 10 or 12-step skincare routine you did prior–and not to mention the worry of the “Plague” step of the apocalypse we seem to be living in.
Masking more than once a week, daily after your nighttime skincare routine, or even twice a day after both your morning and evening skincare routine for ultimate hydration and maximum efficacy of your (possibly quite expensive) skincare products.
Recommended: Doing this right after the shower for ultimate hydration penetration!
This is the 1st post in a set of a series of blog posts I plan on posting.
The Queen of Skincare Addiction’s Diary 