Asian Beauty Trends in Skin Care
Put Your Best Face Forward
Asian beauty care often seems to be ahead of Western care, built on taking time for the ritual of daily skin care and drawing on a treasure trove of affordable, diverse product offerings. The beauty care marketplace, particularly in South Korea, is one teeming with fresh, luxurious serums, masks, toners, cleansing waters, and so much more. They flaunt their inclusion of natural ingredients, from snail mucin and starfish extract to aloe extract and tea tree oil. Embracing this sheer array of offerings allows consumers to find products to benefit every skin type, and they often come at a price point well below that of their American counterparts. It’s no wonder #kbeauty is a popular hashtag.
Want to know how to take advantage of these trends? Stay fresh, focused, and find something new.
Customize Your Ritual
Often, at least in America, customers are given the hard sell on full brand loyalty regardless of their unique and personal skin care needs. This is by no means universal, but it can be demoralizing and lead to disappointment in your beauty regimen - whether you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and are being pushed toward a harsh synthetic product, or only need a hydration cream but find a full cleansing set being rung up.
This sort of tactic doesn’t play overseas; customers mix and match product lines to achieve the best results. It’s refreshing common sense that one brand may excel at mud masks for your skin, while another brand offers the best cleansing water. Discover what works best for you from a robust beauty market - after all, you’ve lived with your skin all your life. You know what it needs. There should be only two guiding principles to your beauty ritual: treat yo’self and respect yo’self. (Both Tommy and Donna would totally agree.)
Embrace Weird Ingredients
No matter where you look when you first start exploring Asian beauty products, you’ll find yourself confronted with all the weird stuff that goes into them. Snail mucin! Donkey milk! Starfish extract! Crushed pearls! It’s a weird world when you chase beauty into the Asian market, and the Internet wants you to know it.
(Quick primer: Snail mucin may restore skin and supports cell regeneration. Donkey milk hydrates and is vitamin-rich. Starfish extract may replenish skin and even out complexion. Pearls may have antioxidant properties and help rebuild collagen.)
Just two things:
First, not all skin-care products from Korea, Japan, China, etc. contain such allegedly weird ingredients. (Check out 50 Shades of Snail’s word on the matter.) You’ll find as many or more beauty care items featuring honey or aloe or conventional vitamins or rose water - and many other ingredients the West considers “normal.”
Secondly, there’s nothing wrong or outlandish about using products incorporating such “weird” natural ingredients. After all, the majority of people don’t seem to mind putting ingredients made in a lab on their bodies - why balk at unusual organic extracts? (That have been proven safe for such use, of course.)
Mask It Up
You basically can’t take one step into the wide world of Asian beauty products without tripping over six different face masks. Masks are amazing, diverse little spa dates that you can go on at home - and not enough of us are using them. Seriously. You see so many people masking it up on television, but I hardly hear about any of my friends using them - and those few who do, don’t make a regular point of it. (This is one of the only acceptable examples where we should be more like TV.)
Any adherent to the K-beauty scene can suggest a dozen different masks to try out, from tissue masks saturated with regenerative serum to rice masks that brighten your complexion to exfoliating clay masks. (And bubble masks, overnight masks, tightening masks, modeling masks - exploring the world of face masks can definitely trigger a “gotta catch ‘em all!” moment.)
Beyond being a fun way to try new beauty products and pamper yourself, regular use of face masks can bring a new dimension of mindfulness to your skin-care routine. Use the mask application as a moment to reflect and meditate, taking a step back from your busy daily grind. For the ultimate in relaxation, pair this with our Tips for a Achieving A Clutter Free Mind.
There’s also an intense interest in incorporating the purest water available - into one’s body, simply by drinking, and also into a variety of beauty products. We’re talking H₂O from sources like Alaskan glaciers, Polynesian lagoons, and the deep sea.
Also, I can’t help sneaking in my favorite beauty tip: hydrate. Are you drinking water right now? Get some. Drinking enough water is one of the best things you can do for your body.
This is just dipping a toe into the realm of Asian skin-care trends, and there’s so much more out there to discover. Just remember: try fresh products, focus on finding what works for you, and you’ll always put your best face forward.
What favorite skin-care products or routines have you incorporated from the Asian beauty care scene?
