Best Korean Winter Skincare Products & Routine

Winter is the season that brings lots of hassles to your skin’s health. People with dry skin experience dryness and dullness, whereas people with a combination of oily skin also struggle to protect themselves from harsh weather. Sebum production also slows down during this season, making our face look less moisturized and healthy. Korean brands have been developing products to deal with this season’s problems with all these things in mind. Such skin nightmares can be dealt with the help of the Korean winter skincare routine and products that are known for bringing excellent results!

Why Korean Winter Skincare Routine & Products?

From the mesmerism of K-drama beauty divas to K-Pop music bands, the eye-enchanting spotless, moisturized, and perfect skin of Koreans is the dream of every person out there. 

Due to this, Korean winter skincare routine and products are in the hot talk among young women worldwide. 

6 Step Korean Winter Skincare Routine To do At Home

Dry patches on cheeks and flaky skin are the most significant indicators that you’ve got a dry skin type. If your T-zone or cheeks skin remains shiny all the time, congrats, you have got oily skin. 

To protect your skin from getting more drying, irritating and tight skin, you must follow the 6 steps Korean winter skincare routine that is designed specifically for dry skin:    

Step 1: Removing Makeup & Cleansing

Before you begin, your face must be free from any makeup residue. In the first cleansing round, you remove your makeup, and in the second, you remove the dirt, sebum, and impurities deeply from the skin. For this, oil-based makeup removers are known for removing makeup perfectly. 

Hanskin Pore Cleansing Oil

Consider using an oil-based makeup remover just like this Hanskin Pore cleansing oil. It is an oil-based deep makeup removing cleanser with salicylic acid. This oil cleanser not only deeply cleanses your pores but also prevents blackheads from reoccurring!

• Suitable for combination and oil skin types.
• How to Use: Take out a product and massage it on your face. Wash off with warm.

After removing your makeup, cleanse your skin with a mild cleanser. For this, we’d recommend MAKEP:REM Safe Me. Relief Moisture Cleansing Foam for all skin types.

MAKEPREM Hydrating Cleansing Foam for Sensitive Dry Skin - Naturally-derived ingredients Face Wash Low pH 5.5 - Sub-acidic Safe Me. Relief Moisture 5.07 fl. oz.

$19.99

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Etude Soon Jung pH6.5 Whip Cleanser

This high-quality foam cleanser is specially formulated with 98% naturally derived ingredients to clean your skin in the softest and purest way. The size is 5.07 fl.oz. / 150 ml and the price quite friendly! See HERE my detailed review of this whip-type mild cleanser and ingredients for your skin type.

Step 2: Exfoliation

In step 2, we recommend using products that remove dead skin cells to reveal youthful and healthier skin. For the guide of exfoliating (physical or chemical way), check this post.

Dr.G Brightening Peeling Gel

It’s a Korean aqua-based soft peel-off exfoliating gel that contains Vitamin C, E and willow bark extracts for gentle exfoliating. It will make your skin (Both: dry & oily skin!) brighten and brings up much healthier, and fresh-looking skin. For my review of this peeling gel, head HERE.

How to Use:

1. Take out an average amount of product by squeezing the bottle.
2. Apply the gel on your face and leave it on your face.
3. When it dries, peels it off, and voila, our skin is perfectly exfoliated!

Step 3: Toner

Now you have to tone up your face. This means you need to balance up your skin’s pH levels so you move towards the next step of your skincare routine effectively. For this, we listed up the top 3 Korean toners based on ingredients, price, and clean beauty.

KLAIRS Supple Preparation Facial Toner

It’s an amino acid-packed cleanser which means it rejuvenates damaged skin, pores, and scars. It hydrates your skin without over-hydrating it skin that causing skin breakouts. It’s a perfect hydration dose for your oily skin! If you have sensitive skin, I’ll recommend Klairs Supple Preparation Toner (Unscented) due to irritant-free. Here, you can check their key ingredients like Vitamin C and uses.

How to Use: Take out your cotton swabs and apply the toner over them. Now apply the toner all over your skin to hydrate up your skin. 

Isntree Green Tea Fresh Toner

ISNTREE Green Tea Fresh Hydrating Face Toner 6.17 Fl Oz with Hyaluronic Acid for Sensitive, Oily, Dry, Skin | Deep Moisturizing Facial Moisturizer...

$15.85

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This toner has the traditional K-beauty secret ingredients. It contains Green Tea Leaf Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Allantoin, Beta-Glucan that is popular for nourishing, hydrating, calrming and softening your skin. Especialy it’s good for oily, combination, acne-prone skin with natural BHA ingredient, Willow Bark Extract that is well known for it’s daily exfoliating effect in toner.

Step 4: Ampoule or Serum

The ampoule is a leave-in skin product similar to serums and essential oil. However, it’s more concentrated than serums and essential oils with active ingredients such as Niacinamide, Adenosine, Vitamin C, and more. Mainly, we use ampoule to solve specific skin concerns like anti-aging, dark spots, or dryness.

If you are struggling to reduce acne problem, use an ampoule containing tea tree. An ampoule with hyaluronic acid is suitable for dry skin. For powerful hydrating, we love Mizon’s Hyaluronic Acid 100 Ampoule.

Mizon’s Hyaluronic Acid 100 Ampoule

Mizon Original Skin Energy, Hyaluronic Acid 100, Facial Care, Moisturizing Ampule 30ml

$18.99

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It’s a paraben, fragrance and artificial color-free ampoule formulated to treat dry, dull, and lifeless skin. It contains hyaluronic acid and skin moisturizing, rich ingredients that nourish and improve your skin from inside out. 

How to Use: It comes with a dropper. Once it sucks in enough amount, take it out from the bottle and drop 3-4 drops on your skin. Massage and leave it on your skin. 

Innisfree The Green Tea Seed Serum

innisfree Green Tea Seed Intensive Hydrating Serum, Face Treatment, New 2021, 2.7 Fl Oz

$24.00 $30.00

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We’re here with the most popular Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum on our list. The green tea seeds contain essential skin-loving ingredients that fill the hunger of nutrient hunger skin. 

While strengthening your skin’s protective barrier and improving your overall skin texture, the Jeju green tea extract, panthenol, and seed oil are the ingredients that make it happen.  

In short, when you apply this liquid to your skin, it rejuvenates your healthy-looking skin.  

Step 5: Eye Cream & Moisturizer & Eye Cream

Your skin around your eyes is more delicate, more prone to get damaged, and get wrinkles earlier. To protect, eye cream is what you should use. We liked the results of the following eye cream. 

Etude House Moistfull Collagen Eye Cream

This eye cream contains a smooth texture, and it has collagen water and baobab oil that perfectly moisturizes and rejuvenates the skin around your eyes. When you choose an eye cream, check if it has Adenosine for wrinkle, Peptide for elasticity, Caffeine for dark circle, and Ubiquinone is the hottest ingredients in Korean beauty industry for anti-aging! Here is my review of Etude House Moistuful Collagen Eye Cream.

How to Use: Take out pea-sized eye cream on your hand and dab it around your eyes. Massage gently to absorb under the skin. 

Next you’ll use a moisturizer.

One of the important steps that must be followed in 10steps Korean skincare routine is a moisturizer. This helps to maintain healthy skin by supplying moisture to the skin and forming a protective film to prevent the moisture from escaping. If it is a moisturizer with added ingredients such as Panthenol, Allantoin, Beta-glucan, or Cica, you can expect soothing effect while it’s making your skin hydrated. Definitely, a moisturizer deeply nourishes your skin, helps maintain a healthy glow and skin moisture, and prevents dry skin.

Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin

It is specifically formulated to make your skin’s protective barrier strong. While nourishing your skin deeply, it makes your skin retain its natural hydration and youthfulness back! This all becomes possible just because of its ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, ferment lysate, and plenty of ceramides. See my review of Dr. Jart Ceramide cream here.

How to Use: Squeeze out a pea-sized cream on your hand and gently massage it until it gets absorbed into your skin. 

Step 6: SPF/ Sunscreen

Lastly, you need an SPF to seal in your skin to protect you from harmful UV sun rays. Not only It’s necessary for anti-aging and pygmentation but it also needed to be layered every 3-4hours. Among tons of chemical / physical sunscreens, this Korean sunscreen, A’Pieu’s Pure Block Natural Sun Cream is one of the bestsellers. If you have sensitive skin, I recommend physical one rather than chemical because of less irritating. Fortunately, you can easily find non whitecast physical sunscreen in K-beauty!

Missha All Around Safe Block Essence Sun SPF45 PA+++

It’s a no-white cast, easy to absorb, moisturizing lightweight sunblock cream with an SPF 45. While protecting your skin from UVA rays and UVB rays for long hours, Missha Sun Essence also hydrates and moisturizes your skin. 

How to Use:  Squeeze SPF on your hand and apply it all over your sun-exposed skin. 

Is it Good to Use Hyaluronic Acid in Winter?

Yes, you can restore your healthy, moisturized, and nourished skin by using hyaluronic acid. We know winters dry out the skin and affect the hydration of your skin. Hyaluronic Acid is a super popular ingredient used in many skin care products. It can bind up to 1000 times its own weight in water and is very powerful at moisturizing. It is divided into low molecular weight, medium molecular weight, and high molecular weight, and the skin penetration rate varies depending on the size. Properly formulated with these in toners or serums or moisturizers are available on the market. In Korean cosmetic brands, The Lab By Blanc Doux and Torriden are well-known for using hyaluronic acid effectively.

The Lab by Blanc Doux Oligo Hyaluronic Acid 5000 Toner

• 500ml / 200ml
• Ideal for all skin types

The best part of this toner is that it has only 5 ingredients, Allantoin, Butylene Glycol, Panthenol, Sodium Hyaluronate, and Tocopherol. The more ingredients the more irritant the skin can get, but this toner has a very simple list so there is no irritant at all. Plus, the toner’s pH level is the same as the skin to help keep the skin balanced. With natural ingredients & alcohol-free, it is compatible with regular, sensitive, and oily acne-prone skin and is perfect for both men and women.

KEY INGREDIENTS

• Hydrating: Sodium Hyaluronate, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate
• Soothing: Beta-Glucan, Allantoin, Panthenol

The Lab by Blanc Doux Oligo Hyaluronic Acid 5000 Toner

• 27ml * 10EA
• Ideal for all skin types

It has 5 kinds of hyaluronic acid, so it’s the best mask for moisturizing. It deeply penetrates dry and sensitive skin with a mixture of polymer, and low molecular hyaluronic acid to supplement moisture. Moisturization is always important for Acne-front skin as well as dry skin. Even though my skin is super sensitive, there was no irritation at all and the moisture lasted for a long time. It shows that Torriden products are the best for hydrating. Moreover, the Torriden Dive-in Serum is one of the best sellers in the serum category. It has a lot more essence than other mask packs, so it is enough to apply 2 or 3 times more.

Verdict of Korean Winter Skincare

Beauty enthusiasts know that without Korean beauty products, your daily skincare routine does not get complete. 

If you’re new to skincare, then you don’t have to worry anymore! 

Above, we’ve discussed the best Korean winter season skincare routine for oily and dry skin. 

In addition to this, we’ve also recommended the best K-beauty products for oily and dry skin that are essentials to indulge in your winter’s skincare routine to achieve that perfectly healthy-looking, radiant, and youthful skin.

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