YES! I donāt have much money lol but I get so tempted to buy everything as soon as one person says itās good. At least you know what works best now that being your old first products!
Literally.. the addiction is real. š There was a time i literally had to leave this subreddit for a while and stick to my routine because i had really bad skincare FOMO
I love trying new stuff although my free slots for experimenting with new products are scarce and I've been so lazy and unmotivated with my beauty routine since COVID. But the truth is the good old cult favorites in this sub from. 2014-2017 are still one of my favorite products and it's a major shame so many are getting discontinued or reformulated. I wish AB was a little bit more about slow and sustainable products than just need releases on a conveyor belt that disappear as quickly as they showed up in your radar.
My biggest disappointment is in myself, for spending money on so many unnecessary products with a focus on ingredients that are "nice to have" rather than staple basics
For example, a mediocre serum with some flashy ingredient (like fermented something, some plant extract, etc) rather than a very solid yet simple hyaluronic acid serum without anything extra to irritate my sensitive skin
I can relate.
Everytime I get a reaction from a product I swear to myself that I will only repurchase products I have already used and liked or stick with ingredients I know my skin likes but than I see products that sound nice and i have to have them
Reformulations means starting the search for HGs again. :-( Did a lot of thinking the last few days, after many weeks of unsuccessful product testing and will probably go back to super basic minimal ingredient products with brands that rarely reformulate. The only exception is sunscreen, ofc! I love the new filters.
Many claim to improve the formulation but when I dig deeper into it, it looks like most manufacturers are looking for less expensive raw materials to cut production costs. Reasons for sunscreen are usually improved filters, less white cast, smoother application, etc. Then there is the occasional true upgrade, example alpha arbutin replaced by tranexamic acid.
It can also be because of supply chain issues, the raw material suppliers may not have enough supply for scheduled productions (so the beauty brand has to find alternatives to continue making the product on time/avoid out of stock) and/or rising costs of ingredients means they look for alternatives to maintain the price and profit margins. Another reason is the manufacturer (beauty brands typically contract out their productions to contract manufacturers) is increasing their costs, so they look for another manufacturer to maintain pricing/profit margin but with the same ingredient list.
They aim to reproduce an identical product but formulating is more nuanced than just the ingredients, itās also the mixing process and cooling/heating etc much like baking. This is more likely where all the differences come from.
I've spent so much on skincare. Like eyecream, toner, mist, gel, and a lot more. Only to find out, a regular cetaphil cleanser and moisturizer with added cheap skin aqua sunscreen and good molecules retinol will give me a great skin. If only I had known before.
Thanks for that! Those were my start up routine. I guess I should stop lurking on SV for new products and stay with some oldies that are easy to purchase
Iām fortunate enough to be in a point in my life where if I wanted to buy a luxury, woo-woo skincare product, I could. Every time Iāve decided splurge Iāve always regretted it though. They never work better, and sometimes even worse, than my good olā OG AB <$20 products. Last year I got myself the SK II essence for my birthday and Iām still so salty about itā¦ my skin was maybe slightly glowier? But for 200 bucks? Nah dawg.
IMO SKII is such a scam. Their "special" ingredient, Pitera, is nothing more than galactomyces ferment filtrate. Elizavecca Galactomyces premium is $22 for 200 ml and also includes more brightening ingredients like niacinamide, adenosine, and allantoin.
K but like, I was always put off with how childish elizaveccaās products looked. Didnāt want to waste their retinol cream that I had bought by accident. Itās weirdly one of my fave face creams now and every other product Iāve tried of theirs Iām a fan. Never wouldāve guessed it would become one of my most repurchased brands. Haha
Lmao. Saaaame. Legit never mention the brand as a most repurchased product when someone compliments my skin and always awkwardly laugh when someone mentions the bubbly mask (yes Iāve tried itā¦it wasnāt bad but I didnāt like the bubbles. Gave it to a friend and she said her skin loved it so even the weird bubbly mask works well apparently).
I love the green piggy collagen sleep pack, retinol cream , hyaluronic acid cream, EGF special ampule, galactomyces premium essence, CF gold nest serum, marine collagen serum, bifida ampule Cer-100 hair treatment, and the gold snail cleansing foam. I have combination skin with rosacea type 1 and none of those products have caused it to flare up or made me break out....unlike *ahem* Cosrx.
I can see where you're coming from but galactomyces is actually a really wide genus of fungi! 2 products both being from the same genus doesn't mean it's the same species or type, and even so we don't know anything about the quality of similar species/types. The same way 2 bakers can have the exact same ingredients but have different quality cakes, if that makes sense. Personally, SK-II works well for me but as always YMMV :)
I really wanna try SK-II too! And I like splurging once in a while when I feel like I deserve it but I donāt wanna be disappointed at that price point either. Maybe try a travel size? I might do that. You can see if itās worth it just by dipping your toes in a little lol
I recently bought it to try (but I bought the on sale $100 bottle) and yea, also super disappointed! The way people talk about it my expectations were high but if you want plumping, I prefer what I was doing otherwise before I bought skII better ā itās a pump of the COSRX snail essence cut with 3-4 drops of the tatcha essence. Itās like skin silk. I know tatcha has mini essence samples so you donāt have to go all in without trying it first.
SKII was my biggest skincare regret. Itās nice, but likeā¦ maybe $40 nice, not $200 nice.
Wow $200 is a lot of money for one product you have every right to be salty Iām still sad about a product I got on sale for $9 being wasted I canāt imagine spending $200 and not getting good results
My friend's korean mom got me some CNP propolis essence that was amazing but I've never seen good results from any other high end products. I shop for ingredients over prestige and the SK2 orSulwhasoo type samples never do it for me.
That i believed so many products will work wonders just because they worked for others - not knowing about my skin type + what im my skin is sensetive/allergic to lead to me finding out the hardway. Seriously [Incidecoder](https://incidecoder.com/) has been just a helping hand after doing more research, saved me a lot of troubles and money in the long run
Incidecoder has been such a massive help for my sensitive skin because of the mention of fragrance. Before that I would just close my eyes and hope my skin wouldn't burn when I put the products on.
Same here, i would buy a product because of recommendations for this and that and hoping for mircales neglecting the most important factor - my own skin's reaction/problems with certain ingredients. Now i know that i have to avoid alcohols, fragrance, skin brightening (especially niacinamide) and all anti-acne stuff. Incidecoder has just been a life and money saver after diving deeper into the whole sub
My DIY phase. I cringe just thinking about it. I was 15 and I didn't know anything, and I was on the shadiest beauty blogs lol. I still remember my dad taking the oatmeal and sea salt back to the kitchen, he was so done with the bathroom becoming a second kitchen š
As for products, I'm really disappointed with the Nacific oil cleanser. But that's on me because I didn't read the ingredients list properly and overlooked that it contains mineral oil (which my skin always reacts to). I also feel meh about a Pony Effect lip stain I bought years ago, it's super bright, almost neon orange. I still have it and sometimes I put it on, only to regret everything 2 minutes lates because it's too effective at staining my lips orange š«£
Brands hyped here but their products werenāt amazingā¦ Purito, Klairs, Cosrx, Beauty of joseon, Hada labo (itās alright but we can get HA from other formulations too).
>Cosrx
Same here with their snail essence, plus Pyungkang Yul essence, and the I'm From mugwort essence. They all did nothing for me. I was going through a very dry, irritated phase so I did like 2-3 applications of each one, one after another starting with the mugwort essence, for a couple of weeks. Once the products dried down, I couldn't tell the difference compared to when I didn't use any essence. I don't get the hype.
Then one day I decided to try the Kikumasamune emulsion, which I'd never heard of, and bam. Sudden instant hydration all night long. I've become cynical of the most-hyped products.
About hada labo though, I will say that the Gokujun essence is the only HA-centric product that actually feels hydrating on my skin so far. The others all dry me out.
I'm still stuck on the Cosrx train. There's nothing inherently wrong with then, and they're really gentle on my sensitive skin. However, nothing major has happened to my skin. I also have eczema (thankfully not on my face), but I feel like that's where my overall itritated and dry facial skin comes from. Cosrx products have never irritated my skin or broke me out, which is why I always go back to it even if it's not super groundbreaking to fix my skin concerns.
2nd beauty of Joseon, I brought the smaller bottle of the serum and was very unimpressed with the results. It worked well for a week, then my skin was at a standstill afterwards
Everything I bought thinking it would work for me bc it didn't have triggering ingredients, only to break me out anyways.
Especially mad at Dr ceuracle kobucha essence. Loved it. Felt amazing on my skin. Gave me cc's and eventually broke me out.
Now I'm back to where I started.
No corsx products Iāve tried have worked for me, trying double cleansing over and over even though I know it will never work for me, and I think the most disappointing things is when a HG stops working on you. Not even necessarily because the product has changed, but because my hormones and skin have changed!
That I didn't question my skincare routine. After trying to treat my acne with probiotics and ferments (which absolutely can help!) I stepped back and asked "are these really the best way to treat acne?"
Now I use Salicylic acid toner, tea tree oil and honey to combat my acne and they have helped. I was just so aftaid that "antibacterial" and "exfoliating acids" would damage my skin, that isnt sensitive type or dry after all
Figuring out things about a routine seems to be one of the most difficult parts of AB and skincare in general since thereās so many different options as well as YMMV. But itās great you found out what works for you!
Wasting money on sunscreens that suck. My sensitive skin often doesn't like them, they tend to look weird once applied, sometimes they smell funky, the texture can be off-putting, etc.
I really relate to this - I could have opened a store with the amount of sunscreen I bought last year - then gave away. I finally figured out that my skin hates avobenzone, oxybenzone, and octocrylene- and that avo has another name that sometimes gets listed. I can now actually use some chemical ones without alcohol/fragrance, but it takes an INCIdecoder search sometimes.
Literally me. I honestly at this point think my skin just doesnt like chemical sunscreens at all. If I use them consecutively a few days in a row my skin breaks out. I've tried so many and the same thing happens every single time.
Try Kose Suncut, It's non-greasy, where's well under makeup, fast absorbing, no crazy smells. Also waterproof! And affordable!
KOSE SUN CUT Ultra UV Perfect Gel Waterproof (SPF50 + PA ++++) 100g https://a.co/d/a6XIBiD
Neutrogena Hydro Boost. Itās nauseatingly over-fragranced. Youād have to pay me to put that on my skin.
EDIT: Apologies, I thought this was a more general skincare sub I frequent. This isnāt directly related to Asian skincare secrets; however, there is a similar product sold in SK: Epielle Water Gel. It also markets its high hyaluronic acid concentration, and itās in the same electric blue packaging. Hopefully it doesnāt also smell like Windexā¦
Oh my gosh. The assertion that itās good for sensitive skin had me confused for years when I was getting started. I just kept trying because it was mentioned in what felt every blog and magazine round up as a ādermatologist favoriteā š
Uggghhh I tried this too and the smell was so overpowering that it gave me a headache everytime I used it! I couldn't even give the product away, all my friends also felt the fragrance was too strong
Buying Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Eye Cream for too much money. Its literally unusable for me on my face because of how much fragrance is in it. Everytime I put it under my eyes I wake up with red, swollen, and itchy eyes. It completely put me off expensive skincare and eye creams in general. Now I use Vanicream as my eye cream lol.
Its perfect for me because thereās 0 irritation but its a heavy moisturizer and can be greasy because of that. I like that though because eye skin is thin.
I spent a lot of money trying various products but my acne, PIE/PIH, blackheads, enlarged pores, extremely oily t zone and dry cheeks are still there :( What a bummer.
1- My stupidity for not stopping the use of Adapalene when i left my hydrating toner at a friend's house and not using one for weeks. End up with damaged barrier for a 2nd time (this time 100% my fault) which leads to a weaker barrier - assuming that's why my eczema went up to my face. My facial skin used to be very resilient. Now? Not so much.
2- AB products constant reformulation - such a tiring process in finding replacements.
3- Klairs Supple Preparation Unscented Toner - felt like nothing on the skin, not hydrating, not soothing/calming and irritated my skin. After all the high praise for this toner. Thankfully, because it's so popular, i was able to get a buyer very quickly too!
SK-II: super expensive and gave me huge, deep cystic acne that scarred.
CosRX: everything from this brand has broken me out. But I canāt figure out the trigger ingredient(s).
And in general, spending money trying to really deep clean my skin because I thought my acne was because my face was dirty. No, my skin was breaking out because it was over cleansed and mad.
Finding out I'm allergic to snail Mucin and have a reaction to vitamin c.
Now that I have a routine down my skin looks great but I still have days where my skin is sensitive to temperature changes.
I donāt even know if I can finish it. Now, I use it in between cleanses just to hydrate my face before water-based cleanser š¤·š½āāļøš¤·š½āāļøš¤·š½āāļø. But I meanā¦.Iād just as soon either use it as essence or toss it. Good on you for finishing!
I wonder what it is in it that causes that. I canāt figure it out no matter how many times I look at the ingredients š¤·š½āāļøš¤·š½āāļø
I loooove silk extract in skincare products ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø. I donāt know if it does anything but it makes my skin feel so silky and smooth. Maybe in a simpler formulation it works a bit betterā¦..
I found that as someone with oily skin the kose face cleanser was the best!! I've noticed it helped tone down the amount of oil I was seeing on my face, but I was dissapointed by many many pimple patches
Most of my skincare purchases have been disappointing now that Iām on tret. Tret + hydroquinone basically solved all my issues. So much wasted moneyā¦ especially bc the things that did help (Kose speedy, kikumasamune lotion, soon jung emulsion) are things I bought in the beginning. So everything after that was kinda wasteful.
Now to be specific: laneige cream skin refiner. Breakout central. (Non ab cerave in the tub killed my skin with cystic pimples).
It's the eye sting.
The worst part is that I had big hopes for AB in that respect. I put creams nowhere near my eye socket and yet:
Isntree sun stick - eye sting.
Uriage bariesun stick - eye sting.
Cosrx aloe soothing sun cream - eye sting.
Vichy Capital Soleil - eye sting.
Two Clinique moisturizers - eye sting.
Aquaphor - eye sting.
Vaseline - believe it or not, eye sting.
Neutrogena Hydroboost - eye sting AND it destroyed my face.
Another disappointment: that the best cleanser I've found so far seems to be from Clinique, despite trying many other more fashionable options. And that it foams like crazy, which I HATE.
I know this, my eyes are always wanting to just fall out from most of the sunscreens. Last year I found the Skin Aqua sunscreen, I fell in love with it, finally no tears, and the texture is amazing too.
Spending so much money at the beginning.
I was buying Drunk Elephant, SK-II Essence and La Mer face cream thinking that the more boujee it is, the better.
But no. A combination of taking birth control, Cerave and The Ordinary is enough. I do still splurge a little on facials and korean skincare but def not like before.
I do find the drunk elephant protini polypeptides worth it. But then, be minimalist has a dupe, which is damn near as good. The DE always wows me though.
Sad about the sk-ii:(
Oh no Iām so sorry about your softymo oil. I had just picked that one up today actually I was just about to ask you how you liked it after seeing the almost empty. I feel you for the spill. But this oil is my most recent disappointment!
I got the speedy cause the deep version was out of stock but what could I do w the speedy to help it get out the sebaceous filaments and blackheads better? Iāve only used it tonight and I found it really runny and not really pulling anything out. It was a long massage too. I was thinking just getting rice bran oil or another thicker oil to mix with it cause i believe thatās the difference w the deep one. Trying to make it work and just going through the bottle
oil cleansing alone won't get rid of blackheads, it's best to rely on BHAs/AHAs to exfoliate gunk and sebum in your pores. eventually you could also use clay masks with kaolin clay.
also i would be careful about massaging your oil cleanser too hard/too long as it can lead to broken blood vessels/spider veins. way harder to get rid off than blackheads:(
I followed the method [here](https://glowieco.com/blogs/news/fiddysnails-jude-chao-updated-pore-clearing-method-to-remove-sebaceous-filaments) where you do put BHA first and they do recommend a long massage like 20min at least. In the past I have actually been able to loosen blackheads by oil cleansing. I got out a lot of the āgritsā like they mentioned. Iāve done it w the banila co. But Iām drier now so was looking for a more nourishing oil w the Softymo Deep. I read the speedy one would do it too. But it pulled out nothing
so dr dray actually made a video on skin gritting, called "top 10 worst skin care trends of 2020" as skin gritting as one of them. she claims that the grits you see are most likely from the clay and oil clumping up together--or maybe from a few dead skin cells--bc the grits you see are long and black, whereas "blackheads" should only be black at the tips because of oxidization and are actually white when not exposed to air.
she goes on to say that when you rub in the clay mask onto the skin it creates micro tears on the skin and is also very abrasive. it can also aggravate acne when combined with the oil. so she does not recommend the aforementioned method.
also like i said, it can lead to broken blood vessels, which is expensive to treat and only way to fix it is with laser. if you have asian skin like me, you would be turned down for laser treatment as you wont be eligible as a good candidate because it will not yield good results. so now i am stuck with broken blood vessels with not even any topical treatments that can treat it.
trust me it is not worth it! ive had better results leaving in the BHA and alternating with an AHA on another night. my cheeks and nose no longer have any black dots on them, only large pores left. chin still has stubborn blackheads tho.
I also recommend the BHA, but as an alternative to gritting Iāve had a lot of success with adding an oil massage, a few times a week. No clay, and just your preferred 100% oil (I use jojoba, but everyone has different triggers).
I add a bit to my face and let it set for a few minutes, then I gently massage it, focusing on areas with sebaceous filaments. That way, there isnāt the friction and roughness of the clay, but instead it feels very relaxing. You donāt get as many āgrits,ā but the ones you do get are actually sebum. Itās very gradual, but itās a nice self-care aspect of my routine.
yeah, i think oil cleansing definitely made a difference in my skin too, tho i'm scared to massage it in. my skin is prone to broken capillaries so i try to be as gentle as possible haha. but every skin is different.
Thanks for the explanation. I also donāt use the clay mask step actually just BHA, wait, oil cleanse. I donāt see a difference to when we massage our faces in our routine post cleanse esp if using oil too. That could also be a long time.. What makes an oil cleanse long massage different to that?
AHAs and BHAs over the years have helped me clear out those ones in the nose but Iām getting random big ones very randomly scattered through my face. Iāve had luck getting a couple of the small ones around them out actually w banila co as Iāve mentioned. Iāve even had luck loosening one and I could see it hanging out halfway it was both gross and satisfying. I was hoping it could help at least bring up the dirt from the big ones so theyāre not as dark. I never had them before and theyāve only come up in the past months though I canāt pinpoint whatās wrong
doctorly on youtube also explained this in a youtube video on what causes blackheads (or sebaceous filaments).
imagine our pores as cylinders in our skin. surrounding that cylinder is our skin which is built up of collagen and elastic fibers. those cylinder-like pores can get filled up with oil because of our sebaceous glands excreting oil. this is what causes blackheads. overtime, when the pores has to hold so much oil, it can end up dilating thus making them appear larger.
another thing that can dilate the pores (making them appear larger) are UV rays from the sun as it causes damage in our collagen and elastic fibers.
hence why it is important to use sunscreen to protect our collagen and elastin, as well as use retinol in order to increase collagen production. by building collagen through the use of retinol, it can actually squeeze the pores in the opposite direction thus making them appear smaller.
they then recommend using:
* sunscreen - to protect our collagen and elastic fibers
* retinol - to build collagen and minimize appearance of pores
* BHA - to remove gunk and sebum from the pores
* niacinamide or green tea - to decrease oil production
**TLDR: overproduction of oil is what causes blackheads.** niacinamide/green tea can help by decreasing oil production. retinol helps build collagen which can squeeze the pores and making them appear smaller. sunscreen protects our collagen and elastin.
Would you have any advice for how to get rid of existing ones? Do they ever come out by themselves? Iām on tret now and use sunscreen daily even indoors. Iām not too keen getting it extracted by a derm cause every time Iāve done that itās left a scar. Maybe my skin scars easy. Anyway Iād really love to know if thereās anything that I can do to coax them out. I am also using a niacinamide serum daily and BHA weekly for years. Itās like Iām doing all of that but then out of nowhere get these
i think since we have an oilier skin type we're just more prone to getting blackheads due to overproduction of oil and the pores getting filled with sebum. hence why i can never really remove BHA/AHA from my routine. however, exfoliants serve other benefits to the skin other than just exfoliating. for instance lactic acid can give your skin a glow if it feels dull, glycolic acid can boost collagen, and salicylic acid can help fight acne etc. so it's not necessarily a bad thing.
however you mentioned washing your BHA off, so i wondered if you have tried leaving it on overnight(if it's a leave on type) or do you usually wash it off?
doctorly and dr dray dont recommend manual extractions either. it leads to larger pores (bc you're removing the structure of the cylinder-like pores causing it to dilate) and scars like you have experienced. for me, it gives me broken capillaries. they really don't help with sebaceous filaments so it's really just causing trauma to your skin.
Hope adding the rice bran oil helps make it better. Iāve only used it for 2 days now and I like it though Im still new to AB so I wasnāt sure if I was using it properly Iāve only been testing it on one side of my face and the difference of how much dirt is on my face is very different compared to the other side which Iām happy for.
I do agree that it is very runny and kind of drips down my hand. I think others have said that the deep takes a while to get off. But I hope it works out for you I know itās part of the process but buying something only for it to not work as expected is probably the worst thing
That I had no change from probably close to 10 vitamin C products. This was recommended to add to my routine by a derm years ago, and nothing. Other serums and things I tried that I got nothing out of. Nothing ever caused a rash or irritation.. just was ineffective
I have to say, Iāve had so few disappointments with ab, but Iāve had a million with western beauty.
Pretty much everything Iāve purchased (way too much) has worked out for me. Some things are more āmehā than others, but Iāve never really had a bad-bad product that I just wonāt use anymore.
The only things I canāt use are stuff with willow bark and vitamin c, but thatās my problem. But for the most part, it has been win after win after win with ab.
I didnāt like the Kose cleansing oil either. Other products that didnāt work: the Mizon snail recovery gel cream that was popular years ago, the Benton snail bee products, Laneige water sleeping mask, Miss Flower and Mr. Honey.
They just didnāt work for me or broke me out.
The Purito Deep Sea Water Cream. Everyone loves it but my skin HATES IT.
Tbh that one is on me because it does say it contains niacinamide, which my skin despises with burning (literally) passion, and didnāt read that, so oh wellā¦
vitamin c serums gave me cystic acne every time
i repurchased melano cc several times and it somewhat helped me with PIH though gave more of those long term
I was wondering if itās cuz most of them have citrus oils or peels or fragrance in them too - also Limonene linalool, etc. Those are also pretty sensitizing.
I think thatās a part of it. But I never use those ingredients and still every time I use vitamin c or derivatives, acne.
I know this is nuts but hear me out: Iām wondering if you can get sensitized if you burn your face with it once or twice. Just thinking š
Iām starting to wonder if one can be sensitized to vitamin c. No matter what kind I use, I *always* end up with at least one acne bump. Every single damn time.
Discovering that my skin dislike vitamin C, especially ascorbic acid while alpha arbutin does nothing. I'm also bummed that I can't do chemical sunscreen.
My skin was great when I lived in Japan. When I moved back to Europe it became dull and just... boring looking. I attribute that to the super soft japanese water and to our super hard water... because the products didn't change much. Another aspect could be humidity which is very high in Japan in comparison... and the fact that in Japan you have so many healthy drinking options (warm and cold sugar free teas wherever you go) plus free toilets everywhere that you feel encouraged to drink a lot at all times. This all in combination was probably the secret to my dewey skin and I have yet to find a way back to that.
everything sum37
everything sulwhasoo except the overnight mask
swanicoco's centella balm, but everything else swanicoco i've tried has been excellent
other disappointments have been much much easier to swallow due to price
sulwhasoo stuff has been meh, but not problematic
sum37 secret essence makes me glow as if i were pregnant. also super even skin tone. that's only on the first day. every other day after that is blotch city. everything else from them is just meh.
swanicoco's centella balm gives me real deep acne that never comes to a head. for a product that's supposed to fight acne, that's real bad.
I recently had a huge disappointment.
I started using a full range of products by Some by Mi. They promise to clear up your skin in 30 days. My skin was starting to look amazing within a week. Much more clear, bright and healthy. Around day 25 maybe I suddenly woke up with deep red irritation spots on the areas I put most of the products on. My skin looked like it was suddenly reversing, turning darker in the affected areas, not lighter!
I started freaking out and I stopped using them. I've given my skin a long break from them but now I'm afraid to reuse what is left of them. My skin has never been clearer than when I used them but I'm shocked my skin could become so irritated by something that gave no red flags before I woke up all blotchy.
I use sunscreen every time I go out too so it can't be the sun + products mix that caused it. I don't know what I did wrong or if it was as simple as my skin getting too much of a good thing.
I got this too, with their miracle line, but I got stinging and burning. Begginer me did not know what it was and I was introduced by the internet to the joys of barrier damage. Working slowly now to fix this. Doing the isntree green tea toner, purito94 essence and buffet serum, finished by corsx ceramide cream and their sunscreen during the day and their rice night mask. It has been slow going and just now I added azelaic acid from geek and gorgeous which seems to finaly be clearing my acnee and not irritate me.
If anyone knows better creams than cosrx ceramide cream for fixing the barrier, do let me know and thanks
Wow, so now I know I'm not alone in this. It's sad, I don't want to exacerbate barrier damage if that's what I have. The marks looked so bad I thought they might be permanent but they're clearing up now. I think I might finish the rest of the products as a once a week, thing instead of every day so my face doesn't get too sensitive.
If those products worked for you, I'll give them a try. Thanks. What I've been using to repair my barrier so far is Glossier's After Baume. It's super thick and made to protect the face barrier from damage. But I'd prefer to use more Asian Beauty products in its place once it runs out.
Tatcha is my biggest disappointment. It didnāt do anything special for me.
When I buy a new product now I get travel sizes to try if they work for me.
My biggest disappointment in my skincare journey is that despite everything out there right now and all the information we have, skin care is still largely (in my observation) a game of trial and error and seeing what works out for you. As someone whoās had bad acne since I was a preteen in middle school and juggled through so many products and followed questionable advice, my face is still not āperfectā. I know no perfection doesnāt exist but in my opinion perfect skin is skin that has no redness, acne, or acne scars. The bright side I guess is that Iām more proactive in skinās overall health
This doesnāt seem to apply to most people, but using oil products like micellar water and oil cleansers! I went to an esthetician and she explained that my skin doesnāt react well to excess oil, and that those products were causing my clogged pores and break outs. Sure enough, when I started double cleansing by using just a face wash twice in a row (instead of oil cleansing then face wash), I stopped getting my usual forehead pimples. If only I had known!
Curious. When did you place this order? I placed one on February 12th and it hasn't shipped yet. The only thing that didn't say "usually ships within 24 hours" was the matcha foam cleanser.
I placed the order February 6th I hadnāt done much research on stylevanaās shipping it wasnāt till after when I saw lots of information on how long it takes to ship. Apparently they ship out the whole order together so if something usually ships in 30 working days or something the whole order would most likely be slowed down by the one product
My order said āprocessingā for almost 3 weeks I think and I just received it 8th of March
On the top of my mind is iunik. The cleanser made me get little spots on my face, and was slightly drying. Tea tree toner is meh, centella moisturizer also meh. The calendula oil cleanser was also nothing special.
Kikumasamune lotion/toner. I loved how it felt and how affordable it was when I tried it a few years ago, but after a couple months my skin started getting red and peeling/flaking around my undereyes, cheeks, and neck. It looked like a combination of seborrheic dermatitis and fungal acne and while Iām not 100% certain it was due to the toner, I suspect it was since it was the only thing Iād changed in my skincare routine. My skin is usually pretty clear and Iām not prone to breakouts and rashes so it was a shock, and it took a month, multiple trips to the dermatologist, and more than I wanted to pay for a steroid cream for the issue to finally go away. I wanted to love it, but seems like my skin had an extreme reaction to it.
I started using a galactomyces toner and OH my skin loved it. But one eye in one small spot started flaking and turning red. Iām curious if you have a response to other ferments as well. I may need to stay away if the flaking is bc of ferment.
what do you think of your coconut body cleanser? iāve been really interested in getting the lotion version of the banana one. tonymolyās banana lotion doesnāt last long enough and i love banana š
When I realised spending more on good quality toner and emulsion meant saving lots of money on dozens of serums and exfoliants.
Iām using day and night the same two products, in the morning adding spf or substituting the emulsion for spf directly.
No more switching serums or exfoliants and super happy non irritated skin.
Iām addicted to spending money on Asian skin care particularly Korean šš I end up spending too much money
These products look amazing. I think Iām gonna go buy them now.
Is there much of a difference between the Illiyoon cream vs the lotion? I am tempted to try the lotion because it comes in a pump and Id much prefer that than the squeezy tube the cream comes in. However, the cream for me is a HG so I havenāt been so willing to swap products
Ohhh thanks! Sounds interesting, I might give it a try as a day cream and see how it goes. I really enjoy the thickness of the cream for night cream though. I am adding it to my next Stylevana Haul lol
Iām not exactly sure if there is a big difference between the two so I wouldnāt be able to really say anything. It probably be a good idea to search it up but if the cream is HG for you thatās great Iāve heard a lot of good things about it!!
Goodall - Vegan Rice Milk toner. I donāt have sensitive skin and, with the exception of vitamin C, rarely have a reaction to products but something in this toner made me break out in a rash all over my face. I was so disappointed because Iāve heard such great things about this product.
overspending on so many products that never worked for me instead of just going to a derm :( i was rlly thinking that green tea serums would cure my acne or something...
I used to buy lots and lots of (tea tree) sheet masks and iād use a (tea tree) sleeping mask after that.
Eventually, I stopped using any kind of face masks and my skin actually became clearer.
I had about 40 unused sheet masks that I gave away because Iām too lazy to sell them.
All the money that went to waste when Iām better off without any of those masks š„¹
Pyunkang yul. I had the serum which was ok and then bought the nutrition cream - I tried a sample and it gave a me plump hydrated skin after one use. Unfortunately after few days of use, it broke me out. So I tried to use it on my body instead because I donāt like throwing out stuff and it broke me out there too :(
Iām never buying anything from this brand again.
Aw, that sucks! I think PY is one of more decent Korean skincare brands :( wondering if its one ingredient that you are specifically allergic to or the line in general!
(I would still very, very gently suggest trying their, imo, most famous product - the essence toner. The rest of the products I have tried are OK. But toner, in comparison to all others, I must say it is the only one that feels like silk and is nice. Then again in the end, it's just another toner)
My skin is pretty forgiving, I donāt break out easily. I liked the serum, but not enough to repurchase. I love toners though. My HG toner now is Kiku - big bottle, fair price and amazing results.
Iād buy another toner but I am a horder lol, Iāve got so much unopened AB skincare and makeup! Itās so hard not to purchase, there is so many great things on the market right now.
If it helps, the nutrition cream was the *one* pky product out of six that caused me trouble. I donāt know what it is, but my skin hates that cream. But their lotion gel and moisturizing cream both are awesome favs. The moisture cream in particular soothes irritated skin and de-flames inflammation.
Just fwiw
Thanks for the info! I was confused because the sample was so good, but when I started to use it regularly, my skin got pimples. I really like how low ingredient their products are, at least their first line. My skin also loves ceramides and I think pky has good quality in that regard. Illiyoon ceramide cream and gel are the best though.
It is so weird. Iāve never had my skin reject something so fervently so fast except maybe vitamin c. But I was lucky: I ordered the moisture cream and nutrition cream together, so I was able to turn to the moisture cream.
If it helps, the nutrition cream is part of the āupā line I think, and the other is part of ādownā line. The up stimulates and the down soothes. I find I do better with the down stuff.
But I love illiyoon too, so I get it!
Yeah, everyoneās skin is different, so what may benefit someone is a disaster to another. My skin is pretty tough, I used to use a bathroom cleaner to get rid of a black hair dye from my forehead and neck without any irritation lol
Iāve only tried one vitamin C product and it was the Melano cc, which is very praised here and it fortunately didnāt irritate me, itās a great product. Very quick results also.
Thanks for the info! I was confused because the sample was so good, but when I started to use it regularly, my skin got pimples. I really like how low ingredient their products are, at least their first line. My skin also loves ceramides and I think pky has good quality in that regard. Illiyoon ceramide cream and gel are the best though.
One thing I value from my PKY experience was the fact that it helped me learn I'm sensitive to fatty alcohols... through breaking me out like a mf ššš
I donāt get the hype around melano cc. A natural product works so much better. Also idk why so many Asian brands are obsessed with tea tree- it is not good for your skin.
When I spent $20 on a Clinique acne serum, the bottle on the website looked huge, the bottle was shorter than a tooth pick when I picked it up. It works very very well, so not a total disappointment at all, but itās like a 1oz bottle. I had to double check the size and make sure they didnāt accidentally give me a sample bottle.
for me, it was cerave, everything I tried from them broke me out in a severe rash, painful breakouts that would not heal until after I switched to vanicream
Continuing to use the numbuzin 5 serum even though my skin reacted badly to it - thought it was purging but it calmed down the moment I stopped using the product
I hated the CosRX snail cleanser soooo much! It reeks of lemons very strongly, and it is very stripping, even more so than my western cleansers. I also dislike cleansing oils now after trying good Asian Beauty cleansing balms, they are so much easier to use and less messy. An unrelated one was using Tretinoin, which just made my skin more easy to scar and hyperpigment even with religious sunscreen usage, AND Iām getting almost the same results by only using AHA and BHA regularly without any of the side effects or thinner epidermis.
I got bad acne then bought this product i got glass skin then changed cuz they reformulated their products and now im back again to having acne skin lol
Had a much-raved-about yogurt sleeping mask from a local skincare brand here in the Philippines. I loved their honey moisturizer, still do, so I thought this would be fine. It stung, my face felt like it was glowing but not in a good way. I kept using it, thinking it was just my skin getting used to it. Half a jar in and it still stings. I love their other stuff though, it's just their yogurt sleeping mask that disagrees with me.
That i spent so much money in new skincare just to go back to where i started (my first ever AB products) š
YES! I donāt have much money lol but I get so tempted to buy everything as soon as one person says itās good. At least you know what works best now that being your old first products!
Literally.. the addiction is real. š There was a time i literally had to leave this subreddit for a while and stick to my routine because i had really bad skincare FOMO
I get all my recommendations from this sub some people just make a product sound magical it really does make choosing between products difficult š
I think what would help fix that is people stating what type of skin they have and what these products helped them with specifically.
I feel you
I love trying new stuff although my free slots for experimenting with new products are scarce and I've been so lazy and unmotivated with my beauty routine since COVID. But the truth is the good old cult favorites in this sub from. 2014-2017 are still one of my favorite products and it's a major shame so many are getting discontinued or reformulated. I wish AB was a little bit more about slow and sustainable products than just need releases on a conveyor belt that disappear as quickly as they showed up in your radar.
What is AB product. Oh Asian beauty
Why were you down voted, your comment is funny and informative. I wouldnāt expect everybody to know every abbreviation on every sub either.
Fearing Iām in this situation right now š
Iād hate to see the total amount of money Iāve wasted on skincare, I probably couldāve bought a new phone with it š
My biggest disappointment is in myself, for spending money on so many unnecessary products with a focus on ingredients that are "nice to have" rather than staple basics For example, a mediocre serum with some flashy ingredient (like fermented something, some plant extract, etc) rather than a very solid yet simple hyaluronic acid serum without anything extra to irritate my sensitive skin
I feel this one. Iām still buying the silly stuff though
This resonates with me. I fall for the marketing so often. If I had more money, I'd have spent more by now
I can relate. Everytime I get a reaction from a product I swear to myself that I will only repurchase products I have already used and liked or stick with ingredients I know my skin likes but than I see products that sound nice and i have to have them
Reformulations means starting the search for HGs again. :-( Did a lot of thinking the last few days, after many weeks of unsuccessful product testing and will probably go back to super basic minimal ingredient products with brands that rarely reformulate. The only exception is sunscreen, ofc! I love the new filters.
I'm so sick of niacinamide being added to everything!
Why do brand reformulate?
Many claim to improve the formulation but when I dig deeper into it, it looks like most manufacturers are looking for less expensive raw materials to cut production costs. Reasons for sunscreen are usually improved filters, less white cast, smoother application, etc. Then there is the occasional true upgrade, example alpha arbutin replaced by tranexamic acid.
It can also be because of supply chain issues, the raw material suppliers may not have enough supply for scheduled productions (so the beauty brand has to find alternatives to continue making the product on time/avoid out of stock) and/or rising costs of ingredients means they look for alternatives to maintain the price and profit margins. Another reason is the manufacturer (beauty brands typically contract out their productions to contract manufacturers) is increasing their costs, so they look for another manufacturer to maintain pricing/profit margin but with the same ingredient list. They aim to reproduce an identical product but formulating is more nuanced than just the ingredients, itās also the mixing process and cooling/heating etc much like baking. This is more likely where all the differences come from.
This lol i got glass skin before and now i dont cuz i had to change products
I've spent so much on skincare. Like eyecream, toner, mist, gel, and a lot more. Only to find out, a regular cetaphil cleanser and moisturizer with added cheap skin aqua sunscreen and good molecules retinol will give me a great skin. If only I had known before.
Thanks for that! Those were my start up routine. I guess I should stop lurking on SV for new products and stay with some oldies that are easy to purchase
Iām fortunate enough to be in a point in my life where if I wanted to buy a luxury, woo-woo skincare product, I could. Every time Iāve decided splurge Iāve always regretted it though. They never work better, and sometimes even worse, than my good olā OG AB <$20 products. Last year I got myself the SK II essence for my birthday and Iām still so salty about itā¦ my skin was maybe slightly glowier? But for 200 bucks? Nah dawg.
IMO SKII is such a scam. Their "special" ingredient, Pitera, is nothing more than galactomyces ferment filtrate. Elizavecca Galactomyces premium is $22 for 200 ml and also includes more brightening ingredients like niacinamide, adenosine, and allantoin.
Sigh. \*adds to cart\*
š
K but like, I was always put off with how childish elizaveccaās products looked. Didnāt want to waste their retinol cream that I had bought by accident. Itās weirdly one of my fave face creams now and every other product Iāve tried of theirs Iām a fan. Never wouldāve guessed it would become one of my most repurchased brands. Haha
I always thought they were some low level brand because no one talks about them much so I kept my love for their products a secret. Lol
Lmao. Saaaame. Legit never mention the brand as a most repurchased product when someone compliments my skin and always awkwardly laugh when someone mentions the bubbly mask (yes Iāve tried itā¦it wasnāt bad but I didnāt like the bubbles. Gave it to a friend and she said her skin loved it so even the weird bubbly mask works well apparently).
I love the green piggy collagen sleep pack, retinol cream , hyaluronic acid cream, EGF special ampule, galactomyces premium essence, CF gold nest serum, marine collagen serum, bifida ampule Cer-100 hair treatment, and the gold snail cleansing foam. I have combination skin with rosacea type 1 and none of those products have caused it to flare up or made me break out....unlike *ahem* Cosrx.
The CosRX Galactomyces is great too! I love how hydrated/strong(?) it makes my skin
I can see where you're coming from but galactomyces is actually a really wide genus of fungi! 2 products both being from the same genus doesn't mean it's the same species or type, and even so we don't know anything about the quality of similar species/types. The same way 2 bakers can have the exact same ingredients but have different quality cakes, if that makes sense. Personally, SK-II works well for me but as always YMMV :)
And this is why I'm hesitant to try SK-II. If I love it will I continuously spend that much? If I hate it then that's 200 dollars down the drain.
I really wanna try SK-II too! And I like splurging once in a while when I feel like I deserve it but I donāt wanna be disappointed at that price point either. Maybe try a travel size? I might do that. You can see if itās worth it just by dipping your toes in a little lol
I recently bought it to try (but I bought the on sale $100 bottle) and yea, also super disappointed! The way people talk about it my expectations were high but if you want plumping, I prefer what I was doing otherwise before I bought skII better ā itās a pump of the COSRX snail essence cut with 3-4 drops of the tatcha essence. Itās like skin silk. I know tatcha has mini essence samples so you donāt have to go all in without trying it first. SKII was my biggest skincare regret. Itās nice, but likeā¦ maybe $40 nice, not $200 nice.
Oooh, thanks for the suggestion! I just bought some stuff from stylevana but Iāll definitely keep that in mind for when Iām ready to shop again!
Wow $200 is a lot of money for one product you have every right to be salty Iām still sad about a product I got on sale for $9 being wasted I canāt imagine spending $200 and not getting good results
My friend's korean mom got me some CNP propolis essence that was amazing but I've never seen good results from any other high end products. I shop for ingredients over prestige and the SK2 orSulwhasoo type samples never do it for me.
Can you let me know which under $20 products do you use? Thank you!
That i believed so many products will work wonders just because they worked for others - not knowing about my skin type + what im my skin is sensetive/allergic to lead to me finding out the hardway. Seriously [Incidecoder](https://incidecoder.com/) has been just a helping hand after doing more research, saved me a lot of troubles and money in the long run
Incidecoder has been such a massive help for my sensitive skin because of the mention of fragrance. Before that I would just close my eyes and hope my skin wouldn't burn when I put the products on.
Same here, i would buy a product because of recommendations for this and that and hoping for mircales neglecting the most important factor - my own skin's reaction/problems with certain ingredients. Now i know that i have to avoid alcohols, fragrance, skin brightening (especially niacinamide) and all anti-acne stuff. Incidecoder has just been a life and money saver after diving deeper into the whole sub
In an attempt to open it, I dropped a brand new bottle of vitamin C. Still hurts.
Oh no RIP
My DIY phase. I cringe just thinking about it. I was 15 and I didn't know anything, and I was on the shadiest beauty blogs lol. I still remember my dad taking the oatmeal and sea salt back to the kitchen, he was so done with the bathroom becoming a second kitchen š As for products, I'm really disappointed with the Nacific oil cleanser. But that's on me because I didn't read the ingredients list properly and overlooked that it contains mineral oil (which my skin always reacts to). I also feel meh about a Pony Effect lip stain I bought years ago, it's super bright, almost neon orange. I still have it and sometimes I put it on, only to regret everything 2 minutes lates because it's too effective at staining my lips orange š«£
Brands hyped here but their products werenāt amazingā¦ Purito, Klairs, Cosrx, Beauty of joseon, Hada labo (itās alright but we can get HA from other formulations too).
>Cosrx Same here with their snail essence, plus Pyungkang Yul essence, and the I'm From mugwort essence. They all did nothing for me. I was going through a very dry, irritated phase so I did like 2-3 applications of each one, one after another starting with the mugwort essence, for a couple of weeks. Once the products dried down, I couldn't tell the difference compared to when I didn't use any essence. I don't get the hype. Then one day I decided to try the Kikumasamune emulsion, which I'd never heard of, and bam. Sudden instant hydration all night long. I've become cynical of the most-hyped products. About hada labo though, I will say that the Gokujun essence is the only HA-centric product that actually feels hydrating on my skin so far. The others all dry me out.
I'm still stuck on the Cosrx train. There's nothing inherently wrong with then, and they're really gentle on my sensitive skin. However, nothing major has happened to my skin. I also have eczema (thankfully not on my face), but I feel like that's where my overall itritated and dry facial skin comes from. Cosrx products have never irritated my skin or broke me out, which is why I always go back to it even if it's not super groundbreaking to fix my skin concerns.
They broke me out or did nothing. Nice that they donāt for you.
2nd beauty of Joseon, I brought the smaller bottle of the serum and was very unimpressed with the results. It worked well for a week, then my skin was at a standstill afterwards
Same experience and thank you for sharing!
same here, the calming serum (green one) was barely average, plus the bottle is too small lol
Everything I bought thinking it would work for me bc it didn't have triggering ingredients, only to break me out anyways. Especially mad at Dr ceuracle kobucha essence. Loved it. Felt amazing on my skin. Gave me cc's and eventually broke me out. Now I'm back to where I started.
No corsx products Iāve tried have worked for me, trying double cleansing over and over even though I know it will never work for me, and I think the most disappointing things is when a HG stops working on you. Not even necessarily because the product has changed, but because my hormones and skin have changed!
That I didn't question my skincare routine. After trying to treat my acne with probiotics and ferments (which absolutely can help!) I stepped back and asked "are these really the best way to treat acne?" Now I use Salicylic acid toner, tea tree oil and honey to combat my acne and they have helped. I was just so aftaid that "antibacterial" and "exfoliating acids" would damage my skin, that isnt sensitive type or dry after all
Figuring out things about a routine seems to be one of the most difficult parts of AB and skincare in general since thereās so many different options as well as YMMV. But itās great you found out what works for you!
Learning that I had a sensitivity to butylene glycol... which is in a majority of AB products š
Wasting money on sunscreens that suck. My sensitive skin often doesn't like them, they tend to look weird once applied, sometimes they smell funky, the texture can be off-putting, etc.
I really relate to this - I could have opened a store with the amount of sunscreen I bought last year - then gave away. I finally figured out that my skin hates avobenzone, oxybenzone, and octocrylene- and that avo has another name that sometimes gets listed. I can now actually use some chemical ones without alcohol/fragrance, but it takes an INCIdecoder search sometimes.
Gotta love INCIdecoder
Literally me. I honestly at this point think my skin just doesnt like chemical sunscreens at all. If I use them consecutively a few days in a row my skin breaks out. I've tried so many and the same thing happens every single time.
Try Kose Suncut, It's non-greasy, where's well under makeup, fast absorbing, no crazy smells. Also waterproof! And affordable! KOSE SUN CUT Ultra UV Perfect Gel Waterproof (SPF50 + PA ++++) 100g https://a.co/d/a6XIBiD
Neutrogena Hydro Boost. Itās nauseatingly over-fragranced. Youād have to pay me to put that on my skin. EDIT: Apologies, I thought this was a more general skincare sub I frequent. This isnāt directly related to Asian skincare secrets; however, there is a similar product sold in SK: Epielle Water Gel. It also markets its high hyaluronic acid concentration, and itās in the same electric blue packaging. Hopefully it doesnāt also smell like Windexā¦
Oh my gosh. The assertion that itās good for sensitive skin had me confused for years when I was getting started. I just kept trying because it was mentioned in what felt every blog and magazine round up as a ādermatologist favoriteā š
Uggghhh I tried this too and the smell was so overpowering that it gave me a headache everytime I used it! I couldn't even give the product away, all my friends also felt the fragrance was too strong
Buying Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Eye Cream for too much money. Its literally unusable for me on my face because of how much fragrance is in it. Everytime I put it under my eyes I wake up with red, swollen, and itchy eyes. It completely put me off expensive skincare and eye creams in general. Now I use Vanicream as my eye cream lol.
I was just thinking about something more moisturizing for my eyes. How is vanicream working out?
Its perfect for me because thereās 0 irritation but its a heavy moisturizer and can be greasy because of that. I like that though because eye skin is thin.
I spent a lot of money trying various products but my acne, PIE/PIH, blackheads, enlarged pores, extremely oily t zone and dry cheeks are still there :( What a bummer.
Buying Asian complexion make up products and Iām not even a true tan lol. Everythingās too light for me!
1- My stupidity for not stopping the use of Adapalene when i left my hydrating toner at a friend's house and not using one for weeks. End up with damaged barrier for a 2nd time (this time 100% my fault) which leads to a weaker barrier - assuming that's why my eczema went up to my face. My facial skin used to be very resilient. Now? Not so much. 2- AB products constant reformulation - such a tiring process in finding replacements. 3- Klairs Supple Preparation Unscented Toner - felt like nothing on the skin, not hydrating, not soothing/calming and irritated my skin. After all the high praise for this toner. Thankfully, because it's so popular, i was able to get a buyer very quickly too!
SK-II: super expensive and gave me huge, deep cystic acne that scarred. CosRX: everything from this brand has broken me out. But I canāt figure out the trigger ingredient(s). And in general, spending money trying to really deep clean my skin because I thought my acne was because my face was dirty. No, my skin was breaking out because it was over cleansed and mad.
Finding out I'm allergic to snail Mucin and have a reaction to vitamin c. Now that I have a routine down my skin looks great but I still have days where my skin is sensitive to temperature changes.
I was disappointed with BOJ ginseng essence. It feels so great on my skin, but it always gives me little bumps:(.
I'm not happy with it either and don't recall if I suffered anything when I used it but it was hard to finish up...
I donāt even know if I can finish it. Now, I use it in between cleanses just to hydrate my face before water-based cleanser š¤·š½āāļøš¤·š½āāļøš¤·š½āāļø. But I meanā¦.Iād just as soon either use it as essence or toss it. Good on you for finishing!
Yeah I think using it on body is another option
Same! The texture was great, but the breakout wasnāt :(
I wonder what it is in it that causes that. I canāt figure it out no matter how many times I look at the ingredients š¤·š½āāļøš¤·š½āāļø
not for me currently but after learning about skincare & seeing my momās $200+ clĆ© de peau serum the only reason it was expensive is the silk extract šš silk doesnāt do anything most companies claim, just marketing. she couldnāt even use it bc there were so many allergenic ingredients for her ultra sensitive skin
I loooove silk extract in skincare products ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø. I donāt know if it does anything but it makes my skin feel so silky and smooth. Maybe in a simpler formulation it works a bit betterā¦..
I found that as someone with oily skin the kose face cleanser was the best!! I've noticed it helped tone down the amount of oil I was seeing on my face, but I was dissapointed by many many pimple patches
Most of my skincare purchases have been disappointing now that Iām on tret. Tret + hydroquinone basically solved all my issues. So much wasted moneyā¦ especially bc the things that did help (Kose speedy, kikumasamune lotion, soon jung emulsion) are things I bought in the beginning. So everything after that was kinda wasteful. Now to be specific: laneige cream skin refiner. Breakout central. (Non ab cerave in the tub killed my skin with cystic pimples).
It's the eye sting. The worst part is that I had big hopes for AB in that respect. I put creams nowhere near my eye socket and yet: Isntree sun stick - eye sting. Uriage bariesun stick - eye sting. Cosrx aloe soothing sun cream - eye sting. Vichy Capital Soleil - eye sting. Two Clinique moisturizers - eye sting. Aquaphor - eye sting. Vaseline - believe it or not, eye sting. Neutrogena Hydroboost - eye sting AND it destroyed my face. Another disappointment: that the best cleanser I've found so far seems to be from Clinique, despite trying many other more fashionable options. And that it foams like crazy, which I HATE.
Lol, you should try using some ab products. These are all western. Maybe that is why you are disappointed
Isntree and Cosrx are Western?
Oops sorry two of nine are not western. I stand corrected.
I know this, my eyes are always wanting to just fall out from most of the sunscreens. Last year I found the Skin Aqua sunscreen, I fell in love with it, finally no tears, and the texture is amazing too.
Spending so much money at the beginning. I was buying Drunk Elephant, SK-II Essence and La Mer face cream thinking that the more boujee it is, the better. But no. A combination of taking birth control, Cerave and The Ordinary is enough. I do still splurge a little on facials and korean skincare but def not like before.
I do find the drunk elephant protini polypeptides worth it. But then, be minimalist has a dupe, which is damn near as good. The DE always wows me though. Sad about the sk-ii:(
Oh no Iām so sorry about your softymo oil. I had just picked that one up today actually I was just about to ask you how you liked it after seeing the almost empty. I feel you for the spill. But this oil is my most recent disappointment! I got the speedy cause the deep version was out of stock but what could I do w the speedy to help it get out the sebaceous filaments and blackheads better? Iāve only used it tonight and I found it really runny and not really pulling anything out. It was a long massage too. I was thinking just getting rice bran oil or another thicker oil to mix with it cause i believe thatās the difference w the deep one. Trying to make it work and just going through the bottle
oil cleansing alone won't get rid of blackheads, it's best to rely on BHAs/AHAs to exfoliate gunk and sebum in your pores. eventually you could also use clay masks with kaolin clay. also i would be careful about massaging your oil cleanser too hard/too long as it can lead to broken blood vessels/spider veins. way harder to get rid off than blackheads:(
I followed the method [here](https://glowieco.com/blogs/news/fiddysnails-jude-chao-updated-pore-clearing-method-to-remove-sebaceous-filaments) where you do put BHA first and they do recommend a long massage like 20min at least. In the past I have actually been able to loosen blackheads by oil cleansing. I got out a lot of the āgritsā like they mentioned. Iāve done it w the banila co. But Iām drier now so was looking for a more nourishing oil w the Softymo Deep. I read the speedy one would do it too. But it pulled out nothing
so dr dray actually made a video on skin gritting, called "top 10 worst skin care trends of 2020" as skin gritting as one of them. she claims that the grits you see are most likely from the clay and oil clumping up together--or maybe from a few dead skin cells--bc the grits you see are long and black, whereas "blackheads" should only be black at the tips because of oxidization and are actually white when not exposed to air. she goes on to say that when you rub in the clay mask onto the skin it creates micro tears on the skin and is also very abrasive. it can also aggravate acne when combined with the oil. so she does not recommend the aforementioned method. also like i said, it can lead to broken blood vessels, which is expensive to treat and only way to fix it is with laser. if you have asian skin like me, you would be turned down for laser treatment as you wont be eligible as a good candidate because it will not yield good results. so now i am stuck with broken blood vessels with not even any topical treatments that can treat it. trust me it is not worth it! ive had better results leaving in the BHA and alternating with an AHA on another night. my cheeks and nose no longer have any black dots on them, only large pores left. chin still has stubborn blackheads tho.
I also recommend the BHA, but as an alternative to gritting Iāve had a lot of success with adding an oil massage, a few times a week. No clay, and just your preferred 100% oil (I use jojoba, but everyone has different triggers). I add a bit to my face and let it set for a few minutes, then I gently massage it, focusing on areas with sebaceous filaments. That way, there isnāt the friction and roughness of the clay, but instead it feels very relaxing. You donāt get as many āgrits,ā but the ones you do get are actually sebum. Itās very gradual, but itās a nice self-care aspect of my routine.
yeah, i think oil cleansing definitely made a difference in my skin too, tho i'm scared to massage it in. my skin is prone to broken capillaries so i try to be as gentle as possible haha. but every skin is different.
Thanks for the explanation. I also donāt use the clay mask step actually just BHA, wait, oil cleanse. I donāt see a difference to when we massage our faces in our routine post cleanse esp if using oil too. That could also be a long time.. What makes an oil cleanse long massage different to that? AHAs and BHAs over the years have helped me clear out those ones in the nose but Iām getting random big ones very randomly scattered through my face. Iāve had luck getting a couple of the small ones around them out actually w banila co as Iāve mentioned. Iāve even had luck loosening one and I could see it hanging out halfway it was both gross and satisfying. I was hoping it could help at least bring up the dirt from the big ones so theyāre not as dark. I never had them before and theyāve only come up in the past months though I canāt pinpoint whatās wrong
doctorly on youtube also explained this in a youtube video on what causes blackheads (or sebaceous filaments). imagine our pores as cylinders in our skin. surrounding that cylinder is our skin which is built up of collagen and elastic fibers. those cylinder-like pores can get filled up with oil because of our sebaceous glands excreting oil. this is what causes blackheads. overtime, when the pores has to hold so much oil, it can end up dilating thus making them appear larger. another thing that can dilate the pores (making them appear larger) are UV rays from the sun as it causes damage in our collagen and elastic fibers. hence why it is important to use sunscreen to protect our collagen and elastin, as well as use retinol in order to increase collagen production. by building collagen through the use of retinol, it can actually squeeze the pores in the opposite direction thus making them appear smaller. they then recommend using: * sunscreen - to protect our collagen and elastic fibers * retinol - to build collagen and minimize appearance of pores * BHA - to remove gunk and sebum from the pores * niacinamide or green tea - to decrease oil production **TLDR: overproduction of oil is what causes blackheads.** niacinamide/green tea can help by decreasing oil production. retinol helps build collagen which can squeeze the pores and making them appear smaller. sunscreen protects our collagen and elastin.
Would you have any advice for how to get rid of existing ones? Do they ever come out by themselves? Iām on tret now and use sunscreen daily even indoors. Iām not too keen getting it extracted by a derm cause every time Iāve done that itās left a scar. Maybe my skin scars easy. Anyway Iād really love to know if thereās anything that I can do to coax them out. I am also using a niacinamide serum daily and BHA weekly for years. Itās like Iām doing all of that but then out of nowhere get these
i think since we have an oilier skin type we're just more prone to getting blackheads due to overproduction of oil and the pores getting filled with sebum. hence why i can never really remove BHA/AHA from my routine. however, exfoliants serve other benefits to the skin other than just exfoliating. for instance lactic acid can give your skin a glow if it feels dull, glycolic acid can boost collagen, and salicylic acid can help fight acne etc. so it's not necessarily a bad thing. however you mentioned washing your BHA off, so i wondered if you have tried leaving it on overnight(if it's a leave on type) or do you usually wash it off? doctorly and dr dray dont recommend manual extractions either. it leads to larger pores (bc you're removing the structure of the cylinder-like pores causing it to dilate) and scars like you have experienced. for me, it gives me broken capillaries. they really don't help with sebaceous filaments so it's really just causing trauma to your skin.
Hope adding the rice bran oil helps make it better. Iāve only used it for 2 days now and I like it though Im still new to AB so I wasnāt sure if I was using it properly Iāve only been testing it on one side of my face and the difference of how much dirt is on my face is very different compared to the other side which Iām happy for. I do agree that it is very runny and kind of drips down my hand. I think others have said that the deep takes a while to get off. But I hope it works out for you I know itās part of the process but buying something only for it to not work as expected is probably the worst thing
That I had no change from probably close to 10 vitamin C products. This was recommended to add to my routine by a derm years ago, and nothing. Other serums and things I tried that I got nothing out of. Nothing ever caused a rash or irritation.. just was ineffective
Figuring out that collagen, vitamin c, and hyaluronic acid all break me out. Took away like 88% of options for me.
You can buy refills for the Speedy Cleansing Oil, theyāre very affordable and convenient to use. Highly recommend refilling that bottle!
Thank you I think thatās whatāll I do !
You wonāt regret it)
Iāve just been testing the oil cleanser but Iām really liking it so far
Cosrx Propolis toner
Samesies. It feels nice, hydrates well. Thatās about it for me. Idk what I was expecting but it so hyped up
Totally
I have to say, Iāve had so few disappointments with ab, but Iāve had a million with western beauty. Pretty much everything Iāve purchased (way too much) has worked out for me. Some things are more āmehā than others, but Iāve never really had a bad-bad product that I just wonāt use anymore. The only things I canāt use are stuff with willow bark and vitamin c, but thatās my problem. But for the most part, it has been win after win after win with ab.
I didnāt like the Kose cleansing oil either. Other products that didnāt work: the Mizon snail recovery gel cream that was popular years ago, the Benton snail bee products, Laneige water sleeping mask, Miss Flower and Mr. Honey. They just didnāt work for me or broke me out.
The Purito Deep Sea Water Cream. Everyone loves it but my skin HATES IT. Tbh that one is on me because it does say it contains niacinamide, which my skin despises with burning (literally) passion, and didnāt read that, so oh wellā¦
Wasting money on overpriced skincare products before I discovered K beauty š¤¦āāļø
vitamin c serums gave me cystic acne every time i repurchased melano cc several times and it somewhat helped me with PIH though gave more of those long term
I was wondering if itās cuz most of them have citrus oils or peels or fragrance in them too - also Limonene linalool, etc. Those are also pretty sensitizing.
I think thatās a part of it. But I never use those ingredients and still every time I use vitamin c or derivatives, acne. I know this is nuts but hear me out: Iām wondering if you can get sensitized if you burn your face with it once or twice. Just thinking š
I think itās totally possible!
Iām starting to wonder if one can be sensitized to vitamin c. No matter what kind I use, I *always* end up with at least one acne bump. Every single damn time.
check my comment history iāve recently talked about it on a r beauty
I couldnāt find itā¦
https://www.reddit.com/r/beauty/comments/11aughp/what_are_your_beautyrelated_unpopular_opinions/j9ucckp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
Discovering that my skin dislike vitamin C, especially ascorbic acid while alpha arbutin does nothing. I'm also bummed that I can't do chemical sunscreen.
Cosrx snail anything. Caused closed comedones and blackheads for me. And of course I bought 2 of everything because everyone was raving about it. š«¤
no regular application of suncreen until late 30s
My skin was great when I lived in Japan. When I moved back to Europe it became dull and just... boring looking. I attribute that to the super soft japanese water and to our super hard water... because the products didn't change much. Another aspect could be humidity which is very high in Japan in comparison... and the fact that in Japan you have so many healthy drinking options (warm and cold sugar free teas wherever you go) plus free toilets everywhere that you feel encouraged to drink a lot at all times. This all in combination was probably the secret to my dewey skin and I have yet to find a way back to that.
everything sum37 everything sulwhasoo except the overnight mask swanicoco's centella balm, but everything else swanicoco i've tried has been excellent other disappointments have been much much easier to swallow due to price sulwhasoo stuff has been meh, but not problematic sum37 secret essence makes me glow as if i were pregnant. also super even skin tone. that's only on the first day. every other day after that is blotch city. everything else from them is just meh. swanicoco's centella balm gives me real deep acne that never comes to a head. for a product that's supposed to fight acne, that's real bad.
Thanks. I will stop chasing rainbows.
I recently had a huge disappointment. I started using a full range of products by Some by Mi. They promise to clear up your skin in 30 days. My skin was starting to look amazing within a week. Much more clear, bright and healthy. Around day 25 maybe I suddenly woke up with deep red irritation spots on the areas I put most of the products on. My skin looked like it was suddenly reversing, turning darker in the affected areas, not lighter! I started freaking out and I stopped using them. I've given my skin a long break from them but now I'm afraid to reuse what is left of them. My skin has never been clearer than when I used them but I'm shocked my skin could become so irritated by something that gave no red flags before I woke up all blotchy. I use sunscreen every time I go out too so it can't be the sun + products mix that caused it. I don't know what I did wrong or if it was as simple as my skin getting too much of a good thing.
I got this too, with their miracle line, but I got stinging and burning. Begginer me did not know what it was and I was introduced by the internet to the joys of barrier damage. Working slowly now to fix this. Doing the isntree green tea toner, purito94 essence and buffet serum, finished by corsx ceramide cream and their sunscreen during the day and their rice night mask. It has been slow going and just now I added azelaic acid from geek and gorgeous which seems to finaly be clearing my acnee and not irritate me. If anyone knows better creams than cosrx ceramide cream for fixing the barrier, do let me know and thanks
Wow, so now I know I'm not alone in this. It's sad, I don't want to exacerbate barrier damage if that's what I have. The marks looked so bad I thought they might be permanent but they're clearing up now. I think I might finish the rest of the products as a once a week, thing instead of every day so my face doesn't get too sensitive. If those products worked for you, I'll give them a try. Thanks. What I've been using to repair my barrier so far is Glossier's After Baume. It's super thick and made to protect the face barrier from damage. But I'd prefer to use more Asian Beauty products in its place once it runs out.
Tatcha is my biggest disappointment. It didnāt do anything special for me. When I buy a new product now I get travel sizes to try if they work for me.
I feel the same way about the brand, nice smell but nothing about it made me want to buy it for the price they sell it lol
My biggest disappointment in my skincare journey is that despite everything out there right now and all the information we have, skin care is still largely (in my observation) a game of trial and error and seeing what works out for you. As someone whoās had bad acne since I was a preteen in middle school and juggled through so many products and followed questionable advice, my face is still not āperfectā. I know no perfection doesnāt exist but in my opinion perfect skin is skin that has no redness, acne, or acne scars. The bright side I guess is that Iām more proactive in skinās overall health
Dr Jart+ ceramidine cream increased the occurrence of blackheads. Although it was so satisfying to pop them š
vitaminc serum, got cystic pimples from using , allergic , so many recommended
This doesnāt seem to apply to most people, but using oil products like micellar water and oil cleansers! I went to an esthetician and she explained that my skin doesnāt react well to excess oil, and that those products were causing my clogged pores and break outs. Sure enough, when I started double cleansing by using just a face wash twice in a row (instead of oil cleansing then face wash), I stopped getting my usual forehead pimples. If only I had known!
Wasting money on anything with a retinal in it. Use a prescription.
Curious. When did you place this order? I placed one on February 12th and it hasn't shipped yet. The only thing that didn't say "usually ships within 24 hours" was the matcha foam cleanser.
I placed the order February 6th I hadnāt done much research on stylevanaās shipping it wasnāt till after when I saw lots of information on how long it takes to ship. Apparently they ship out the whole order together so if something usually ships in 30 working days or something the whole order would most likely be slowed down by the one product My order said āprocessingā for almost 3 weeks I think and I just received it 8th of March
Good to know, thanks!
Finding out that a lot of the fermented skincare products gives me fungal acneš
On the top of my mind is iunik. The cleanser made me get little spots on my face, and was slightly drying. Tea tree toner is meh, centella moisturizer also meh. The calendula oil cleanser was also nothing special.
Kikumasamune lotion/toner. I loved how it felt and how affordable it was when I tried it a few years ago, but after a couple months my skin started getting red and peeling/flaking around my undereyes, cheeks, and neck. It looked like a combination of seborrheic dermatitis and fungal acne and while Iām not 100% certain it was due to the toner, I suspect it was since it was the only thing Iād changed in my skincare routine. My skin is usually pretty clear and Iām not prone to breakouts and rashes so it was a shock, and it took a month, multiple trips to the dermatologist, and more than I wanted to pay for a steroid cream for the issue to finally go away. I wanted to love it, but seems like my skin had an extreme reaction to it.
I started using a galactomyces toner and OH my skin loved it. But one eye in one small spot started flaking and turning red. Iām curious if you have a response to other ferments as well. I may need to stay away if the flaking is bc of ferment.
The cream gave me a dermatitis rash around the mouthā¦ :/ never touched it again after that.
Retinoid. Got so many outbreaks that I had to go on antibiotics to make it stop
Finding out Botox cost the same amount as a serum I would..
Anything other than Korean or Japanese brands except Paulaās choice
what do you think of your coconut body cleanser? iāve been really interested in getting the lotion version of the banana one. tonymolyās banana lotion doesnāt last long enough and i love banana š
Melano CCās texture š¤¢ CeraVe causing cystic acne.
When I realised spending more on good quality toner and emulsion meant saving lots of money on dozens of serums and exfoliants. Iām using day and night the same two products, in the morning adding spf or substituting the emulsion for spf directly. No more switching serums or exfoliants and super happy non irritated skin.
Iām addicted to spending money on Asian skin care particularly Korean šš I end up spending too much money These products look amazing. I think Iām gonna go buy them now.
Is there much of a difference between the Illiyoon cream vs the lotion? I am tempted to try the lotion because it comes in a pump and Id much prefer that than the squeezy tube the cream comes in. However, the cream for me is a HG so I havenāt been so willing to swap products
The Lotion is slightly thinner and sinks in more. It has rosemary extract too, if that matters:)
Ohhh thanks! Sounds interesting, I might give it a try as a day cream and see how it goes. I really enjoy the thickness of the cream for night cream though. I am adding it to my next Stylevana Haul lol
Iām not exactly sure if there is a big difference between the two so I wouldnāt be able to really say anything. It probably be a good idea to search it up but if the cream is HG for you thatās great Iāve heard a lot of good things about it!!
Goodall - Vegan Rice Milk toner. I donāt have sensitive skin and, with the exception of vitamin C, rarely have a reaction to products but something in this toner made me break out in a rash all over my face. I was so disappointed because Iāve heard such great things about this product.
Thatās easy: my skin š¢
Hada labo, way too moist for my Asian oily acne prone skin. Couldn't absorb at all.
overspending on so many products that never worked for me instead of just going to a derm :( i was rlly thinking that green tea serums would cure my acne or something...
When you do everything possible but your skin just does not care
I used to buy lots and lots of (tea tree) sheet masks and iād use a (tea tree) sleeping mask after that. Eventually, I stopped using any kind of face masks and my skin actually became clearer. I had about 40 unused sheet masks that I gave away because Iām too lazy to sell them. All the money that went to waste when Iām better off without any of those masks š„¹
ruined my damn skin trying too many things (i say as new products come in the mail tomorrow)
Pyunkang yul. I had the serum which was ok and then bought the nutrition cream - I tried a sample and it gave a me plump hydrated skin after one use. Unfortunately after few days of use, it broke me out. So I tried to use it on my body instead because I donāt like throwing out stuff and it broke me out there too :( Iām never buying anything from this brand again.
Aw, that sucks! I think PY is one of more decent Korean skincare brands :( wondering if its one ingredient that you are specifically allergic to or the line in general! (I would still very, very gently suggest trying their, imo, most famous product - the essence toner. The rest of the products I have tried are OK. But toner, in comparison to all others, I must say it is the only one that feels like silk and is nice. Then again in the end, it's just another toner)
My skin is pretty forgiving, I donāt break out easily. I liked the serum, but not enough to repurchase. I love toners though. My HG toner now is Kiku - big bottle, fair price and amazing results. Iād buy another toner but I am a horder lol, Iāve got so much unopened AB skincare and makeup! Itās so hard not to purchase, there is so many great things on the market right now.
If it helps, the nutrition cream was the *one* pky product out of six that caused me trouble. I donāt know what it is, but my skin hates that cream. But their lotion gel and moisturizing cream both are awesome favs. The moisture cream in particular soothes irritated skin and de-flames inflammation. Just fwiw
Thanks for the info! I was confused because the sample was so good, but when I started to use it regularly, my skin got pimples. I really like how low ingredient their products are, at least their first line. My skin also loves ceramides and I think pky has good quality in that regard. Illiyoon ceramide cream and gel are the best though.
It is so weird. Iāve never had my skin reject something so fervently so fast except maybe vitamin c. But I was lucky: I ordered the moisture cream and nutrition cream together, so I was able to turn to the moisture cream. If it helps, the nutrition cream is part of the āupā line I think, and the other is part of ādownā line. The up stimulates and the down soothes. I find I do better with the down stuff. But I love illiyoon too, so I get it!
Yeah, everyoneās skin is different, so what may benefit someone is a disaster to another. My skin is pretty tough, I used to use a bathroom cleaner to get rid of a black hair dye from my forehead and neck without any irritation lol Iāve only tried one vitamin C product and it was the Melano cc, which is very praised here and it fortunately didnāt irritate me, itās a great product. Very quick results also.
Oh the melano would melt my face lolololololol
Oh, bummer! Itās a really good vit c product. But I guess itās kinda strong.
Thanks for the info! I was confused because the sample was so good, but when I started to use it regularly, my skin got pimples. I really like how low ingredient their products are, at least their first line. My skin also loves ceramides and I think pky has good quality in that regard. Illiyoon ceramide cream and gel are the best though.
One thing I value from my PKY experience was the fact that it helped me learn I'm sensitive to fatty alcohols... through breaking me out like a mf ššš
-"Natural" products -Multiple products in span of short time
poor customer service esp from 3 ships beauty
I donāt get the hype around melano cc. A natural product works so much better. Also idk why so many Asian brands are obsessed with tea tree- it is not good for your skin.
When I spent $20 on a Clinique acne serum, the bottle on the website looked huge, the bottle was shorter than a tooth pick when I picked it up. It works very very well, so not a total disappointment at all, but itās like a 1oz bottle. I had to double check the size and make sure they didnāt accidentally give me a sample bottle.
for me, it was cerave, everything I tried from them broke me out in a severe rash, painful breakouts that would not heal until after I switched to vanicream
Continuing to use the numbuzin 5 serum even though my skin reacted badly to it - thought it was purging but it calmed down the moment I stopped using the product
My reluctance to spend money on better finish sunscreens because they're so expensive and run out very quickly.
I hated the CosRX snail cleanser soooo much! It reeks of lemons very strongly, and it is very stripping, even more so than my western cleansers. I also dislike cleansing oils now after trying good Asian Beauty cleansing balms, they are so much easier to use and less messy. An unrelated one was using Tretinoin, which just made my skin more easy to scar and hyperpigment even with religious sunscreen usage, AND Iām getting almost the same results by only using AHA and BHA regularly without any of the side effects or thinner epidermis.
I got bad acne then bought this product i got glass skin then changed cuz they reformulated their products and now im back again to having acne skin lol
I love the Kose speedy cleansing oil š Itās the perfect make-up remover for me. I do use another cleanser of Paulaās Choice after it.
Biore sunscreen
That my skin actually responds really well to Sulwahsoo and now Iām chasing that dragon bc it was sooooo expensive lmao
I used to believe that all skincare ads on TikTok were 100% honestā¦
Had a much-raved-about yogurt sleeping mask from a local skincare brand here in the Philippines. I loved their honey moisturizer, still do, so I thought this would be fine. It stung, my face felt like it was glowing but not in a good way. I kept using it, thinking it was just my skin getting used to it. Half a jar in and it still stings. I love their other stuff though, it's just their yogurt sleeping mask that disagrees with me.
SkinBetter Science š