I'm no skincare expert, but I have tried a lot of products over the years.
I constantly battle skin that's oily in the summer… combination in the winter… and acne prone year round.
My skin is at its worst in the summer. Extreme humidity, lots of time in the sun, and sweating with makeup is the perfect storm for bad skin.
When this summer hit, my face started experiencing serious breakouts. Some of the worst I've had in years.
So I decided it was time to change up my skincare routine.
Now, I'm an avid Korean drama watcher. If you've ever seen a K-drama, you likely know about face masks.
Lots of people swear by the power of Korean face masks.
Back in January, I visited the Face Shop with some friends (a couple of whom are Asian beauty experts) and decided to try out the face mask craze.
I've been hooked on face masks ever since. But other than face masks, I've never used any Korean skincare.
As I said, I've tried a lot of products before… products that are popular in the West. And I've never had any spectacular results.
After a lot of research, and talking to some people with great skin, I decided to try out the popular 10-step Korean skincare routine.
For an entire month.
We do have a beauty expert here at WKP (and trust me, her skin is gorgeous), so the logical thing would have been to ask for her help.
Instead, I decided to go it alone.
I felt overwhelmed pretty quickly.
There are thousands of different products to choose from. And each store has lots of brands to choose from. I spent hours watching Korean beauty YouTubers and researching which brands were best.
But I still didn't know the best place to start.
So I decided to go with Soko Glam's 10-step Korean skin care kit for oily skin. (They also offer kits for combo or dry skin.)
In one kit, I got everything I needed to get started as well as how to use them.
Here's a picture of what came in the kit:
What you don't see is the one mask that's included. But if you're curious, the masks I used most of the month were the MEDIHEAL P.D.F.A.C masks and the TONYMOLY I'm Real masks.
The Routine
Here was my basic routine for the month…
In the morning…
Step 1: Oil-based cleanser
Step 2: Water-based cleanser
Step 3: Toner
Step 4: Essence
Step 5: Serum
Step 6: Eye Cream
Step 7: Moisturizer
Step 8: Sunscreen
After putting on the sunscreen, I did my makeup as usually… BB cream, foundation, concealer, and a finishing spray.
Here's what I did in the evening…
Step 1: Oil-based cleanser
Step 2: Water-based cleanser
Step 3: Exfoliate (twice a week)
Step 4: Toner
Step 5: Sheet mask (twice a week)
Step 6: Essence
Step 7: Serum
Step 8: Eye Cream
Step 9: Moisturizer
The Results
After the first couple days, my breakouts started healing (must faster than usual) and my skin tone looked more even. My skin also didn't get very oily during the day, which was new for me!
I should note that I didn't actually wear any makeup the first few days. When I did start wearing makeup, it lasted much longer. I put on my makeup around 7 am and it's only for up to 7 hours most days. And I didn't need to touch it up at all… Again, something that was new for me. Usually the oil in my skin breaks the makeup down, so I've needed to touch it up around 2 pm. But not anymore!
After about five days, my face began the dreaded purge. This is the time when, thanks the new routine, my skin cells started to turn over faster than usually. So basically every pimple I would have had over the course of one month showed up on my skin at the same time. Ugh.
By the end of the month my face was much clearer and my pores were less noticeable. I even started getting compliments on how nice my skin looked (without makeup!).
Final Thoughts
I was pretty skeptical of testing the 10-step Korean skincare routine, especially when I started using the products I bought. An oil cleanser when I've got oily skin? Multiple products that seem to do the same job?
It all seemed like a lot of time and a lot of money.
The price tag was also a lot to get over. For the whole month (including the face masks I bought separately) I spent around $230 U.S. That's a lot of money to shell out at once. But, aside from the toner, and the face masks, after a month I still had more than ¾ of each product left.
For most of the products, you need a small amount (smaller than you'd think) of the product. Everything I used went a long way. So I wouldn't have to spend $230 every month. But I could easily spend several hundred dollars throughout the year buying everything I need.
It also takes a lot of time.
Before this, I spent about two minutes washing and moisturizing my face. This took 10 to 15 minutes plus an extra 20 minutes on the nights I exfoliated or used a face mask.
Will I keep up with the step-10 routine?
Mostly.
For this experiment, I stuck to using the full routine every day. Even those mornings where I was in a rush or nights I got home late wanting to go to bed.
For me, the improvement in my skin is worth the extra time, effort and money, but I won't stress over skipping the routine (or a few of the steps) from time to time.
I also plan to test out new products to really personalize my skin routine.
WKP note: We received no compensation for any of the products mentioned.