Bubble toner, snail mucin essence and sheet masks: Must-haves for glass complexion

Has your hunt for unblemished and luminous skin led you to the world of Korean trends? The phrase of what you’re looking for is called ‘glass skin’. It’s the trend that makes your skin look dewy, crystal clear and poreless. The bonus: Your skin is said to glow.

The Korean stars themselves have been at the forefront of their rigorous skincare routines, while conducting their interactions with their fans. The idea behind the trend is to get that radiant complexion, which has now taken over the West. Most of the K-stars have different rules and products. Song Hye-Kyo includes milk in her routine; Hyun Bin treasures his moisturising sheet masks. Or take a leaf out of K-Pop artist Wooyoung fro Ateez. He prefers to wash his face with rice water.

In short, there’s a lot that you could do. Don’t get confused; it’s not impossible to get the perfect Korean glass skin. You just need to know what essential products to use.

Oil-based cleansers and water-based cleansers

Rule number one of any skincare routine is cleansing. There’s nothing as comforting as a good cleanse. Start with-oil based cleanser and then move to a water-based cleanser. You’ll be rid of all the dirt without stripping your skin of moisture that’s important for the glass-skin look.

Look for rice water products in terms of cleansers, as rice water extracts that are enormously beneficial for the skin. Rice water is also filled with vitamins C, D and E, so that helps keeping skin hydrated and plump.These would also be a lighter cleanser, which lathers into a light foam. It can brighten and hydrate the skin. Micellar water cleanser is quite handy too.

Kary Cheng, the founder and CEO of the premium sheet mask brand GLIST, explains, “Thoroughly cleanse your face in the morning and the evening,” she says. “If you wear makeup I would suggest to double cleanse, especially during the summer months as the weather can be humid and the air is full of dust. This can leave dust and dirt particles on your skin which over time can cause blocked pores,” she says.

Red Velvet Joy’s routine

The singer Joy from the popular Korean band Red Velvet, packs a backpack full of skincare products whenever she goes on tour. After washing her face with double cleansing, she puts on a moisturising mask. And then, she washes it off with toner.

It’s not any toner, as she told the fashion outlet Allure in 2019. It’s a bubble toner, a growing K-trend now, which leads to a fluffy cloud-like dollop on the skin. After that she adds a moisturising ampoule, spreads a thick moisturiser, a skin-barrier cream and finishes her routine off with a sleep-mask.

The power of snail mucin and serums

Get the right serums.

Go for the snail mucin essence, as it is an extremely popular ingredient in most K-Pop beauty products. Snail mucin is a powerful hydrating agent. It’s a lightweight essence, which contains 96 per cent snail mucin. This helps in nourishing your skin, and pumps moisture into your skin.

Cheng advises you to also focus on skin hydration. Use the hyaluronic acid serum too for layering. Hyaluronic acid is a potent humectant and can benefit those with dry skin. Your other best options are green tea-based serums. Green tea has always had a star status in health trends, and perhaps for good reason. It is a rich antoxidant, and coupled with hyaluronic acid, it can amplify hydration of the skin.

Sheet masks

Keep your friends close, but keep your sheet masks closer.

Joshua from the K-Pop band Seventeen had once revealed that he usually grabs a sheet mask from the mini-fridge in his room. If you are a BTS fan (ARMY as they’re called), you wouldn’t have missed the members sitting with face-masks while talking to fans, most notably Suga and J-Hope.

“I recommend incorporating sheet masks into your skincare routine,” adds Cheng. Sheet masks are suitable for every skin type and they’re one of the easiest and most effective ways to feed your skin with an instant hydration boost. They also replenish the essential vitamins and minerals we naturally lose from our skin every day, she explains.

Exfoliation

Gentle exfoliations with natural scrubs or peels once a week can work well too, advises Cheng. Preferably keep this step for night-time, especially if you choose to use photosensitising acids as means of exfoliation.

The secret ingredient: Sleep

In essence, a healthy lifestyle is what you need. Take it from Blackpink’s Rose, who once said in her live, “So recently, I have noticed that sleep is the best thing for your skin,” she had said. “When I’m lacking sleep, my skin definitely becomes way more rough, and I just look really bad, for some reason, without makeup on. Today, I had a pretty good sleep, [and] my face is kinda glowing… That’s because of sleep, I would say.”