An Honest Review Of My 2024 Korean Beauty Finds & How I have Been Healing My Skin With K-Beauty Products

Introduction

As a beauty enthusiast, I have always wanted to share the products that I had fallen in love with/or simply didn’t live up to my expectations and with the year coming to an end, I thought it would be great to share my personal thoughts on Korean beauty products I have used this year.

Whilst the hype surrounding K-beauty is not new, I only began my journey this summer after reaching a breaking point with drugstore skincare. As someone who had relatively healthy skin throughout their adolescent years and early 20s, having to deal with hyperpigmentation scarring arising from acne and sebum spots was an uphill and emotionally draining battle in my late 20s. The more I researched, the more I came across actives which resulted in me using salicylic acid and glycolic acid to treat these concerns, which at first helped but overtime damaged & irritated my skin barrier.

My skin was inflamed with tiny cluster spots and bumps which were itchy, and as you can imagine this was not cute for my esteem nor my physical appearance. Along with this, I had a pityriasis rosea outbreak in late spring which led me to researching about low-PH cleansers and alternatives to drugstore skincare & thanks to reddit, I came across a K-beauty forum and went through the various recommendations and stuck with products that focused on repairing the skin’s barrier and also had minimal actives.

Previously my go to cleansers were the Neutrogena clear and defend + which contains AHA and BHAs, and the Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cleanser which both worked at some point to tackle the excess sebum production and keep my skin clear. However, I didn’t realise or anticipate how much these cleansers would strip my skin as time progressed. Little did I know how much moisture I really needed to help balance the excess sebum production and one common misperception in the oily skin community is that moisture-based products lead to excess oil production.

Hence, products that are advertised for this specific skin concern are usually mattifying and drying. But, it was only until I began my K-beauty skincare journey did I realise that this was the very thing my skin needed. So whilst I am not a skincare guru or specialist, I am simply here to inform and share my experiences with individuals like myself who may be going through what I went through.

My favourite K-beauty products that I purchased this year

1. Purito Wonder Releaf Centella Unscented Serum

Whilst I have not ranked any of these goodies in any particular order, I am excited to talk about this serum because as someone who previously wasn’t interested in serums am excited to talk about this product, because I believe this serum played a big role in soothing the irritation and itchiness I was feeling. This product can be layered without feeling cloggy on the skin and I personally use it with my moisture on damp skin to allow it to sink in better.

I have always been a cleanser, toner, moisturiser girlie so on a whim I added this to my basket and now it is a must have! If you are looking for something to soothe itchy-irritated skin but also provide moisture and a nice dewyness to the skin this is something I would recommend & if you are curious to find out more about the ingredient used in this serum you can click here.

2. SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Watergel Sheet Ampoule Mask

Face-sheet masks! With the oversaturation of these skincare goodies in the market, it can be confusing on where to start and having tried multiple face-sheets myself in the past, I had stay steered away from this product due to the burning sensation I would feel using drugstore ones such as Garnier moisture bomb face sheet mask which I onced loved.

In the summer, in the peak of my K-beauty search I came across this product and was initially skeptical because I was anxious about the burning sensation that could occur but I purchased the item anyway and have to say this product did not irritate my skin.

I used this on holiday and this left my skin with a nice glow, and there was no fragranced scent which I liked. My only downside to this product, is that there perhaps too much product on it which you may have to exercise caution when applying around the eyes and mouth area. Like the serum above, this product contains centella which is said to help damaged skin so this was a win-win for me and a product I have re-purchased as a staple in my skincare.

To find out more about the ingredient list please click here to head to the SKIN1004 website.

3. Rovectin Aqua/Hydration Gentle Cleansing Gel

Prior to purchasing this cleanser, I had been going back and forth about whether I should even purchase it as at the time I was on a budget and it was around £18-£20, which is slightly higher than what one would pay for high-street drugstore cleansers. However, as I was in search of a low-PH cleanser that wouldn’t strip my skin or irritate the itchiness I was already experiencing, I purchased it.

Now, upon my first pump I felt like too much had pumped out quite easily which put me off. Additionally, I felt like this cleanser was too creamy which led to me leaving it alone somewhere on my shelf and it was only in December did I glance at the bottle again, and thought hmm let me try this out again and to my surprise I really liked how this felt on my skin. It wasn’t stripping neither was it drying it was hydrating and have gotten used to the fact that a lot of product comes out with each pump so having an awareness of this helps.

Whilst there are actives in this gentle cleanser has a PH range of 4.5–6 which is quite low and different from my usual cleansers. Additionally, I love the moisture that is retained with this face wash and has a planet-based formula & is one that I would recommend if you are looking to repair your skin barrier or just use cleaner alternatives.

4. Illiyoon Ceramide Ato Concentrate Cream

I recently purchased this face cream sometime in November to prepare my skin for the drying winter months. The word concentrate can throw you off a little here if you do have oily skin and are weary about shine. Prior to purchasing this I watched various reviews on tiktok of regular people sharing their experiences and one thing across the board which I kept hearing was how it helped repair their damaged skin barriers or irritated skin and with an affordable price point on Amazon, I decided to purchase this bad boy.

Now, this is a thick cream so less is more here and whilst there is a visible shine after applying this product it is not something that would deter me from using this concentrated cream. I use this along with my Beauty Of Joseon Red Bean Water Gel cream which makes the product easier to apply and sometimes alternate between the water gel cream and my serum.

One caution that I will state is that because it is a thicker cream, it may be best to use this as a daytime cream as opposed to nighttime if you pores get clogged easily. It is still early days so I can’t provide a detailed review right now, but so far there is no fragranced scent which I like and it also hasn’t broken me out. If you are interested in reading the ingredients list, please click here to see more.

My least favourite/over-hyped k-beauty products that I purchased this year

1. Beauty of Joseon Red Bean Water Gel

In no particular order, I shall be listing my least favourite K- Beauty items that I think are overly hyped or just did not work for me. Again, this is not me saying they won’t work for you but because of their price points I think it can help to have real and honest reviews of these products to help you save your coins.

Now, onto the Beauty of Joseon Red Bean Water Gel, I purchased this in the summer so the hotter months which typically require some form of control with oil-production and having read various reviews and also seeing this product being advertised as a “holy-grail” for the warmer summer months. So I gave it a try, but I found even when I used this in hotter climates abroad my skin would still feel dry and not moisturised. And whilst, I do believe it works better when paired with a serum or another concentrated moisturiser I did not buy this product to substitute it with another product.

So on it’s own its not my favourite but mixed with another hydrating product, you can make it work and it will help on the days you are using a water based primer as they say it is best to prime a water based primer with a water based moisturiser. I also like that it contains peptides which are said to help to soothe skin inflammation.

2. B.LAB Match Hydrating Foam Cleansing PH-Balance Soothing Cleanser

When I purchased this item on Amazon, I was impressed with the price point of this product and also with the fact that the reviews raved about how this low-PH cleanser was gentle. From late May till October, I had used this matcha cleanser and actually thought for the most part that it was assisting with my sebum production and I liked the colour and the bits in the cleanser. However, overtime I realised that it wasn’t actually soothing the rashes and redness I was experiencing. It is also referred to as hydrating but I find this cleanser rather stripping which perhaps is better for hotter climates as it did clean my skin quite well over the summer months, but as I said above, the main aim was to restore my damaged skin barrier and it didn’t feel like this product did that, which was also a shame as I had high hopes for this product as I really liked the price point and was an affordable K-beauty product.

2. Purito Wonder Releaf Centella Unscented Cream

Similar to the Beauty of Joseon water gel cream, I found this moisturiser to not be so hydrating but combined with the serum or the water gel cream it isn’t so bad. But again, when you by products you may not always have other products to combine them with especially if you are looking to reintroduce moisture back into your skincare routine and I was slightly disappointed with this cream. However, applying this cream as a moisturiser on days I wore make-up didn’t leave me feeling oily or greasy which is a positive.

I also purchased the travel size version before going full throttle which I am happy about as it did not feel like I had wasted a lot of money, so I would always recommend going for the mini versions first if you are starting out and simply want to try a product out without having to break the bank.

4. Pyunkang Yul Mist Toner

The Pyunkang Yul Mist Toner is one of my more recent purchases, which I purchased as a substitute for the toner step I had removed from my skincare routine, but something I could spritz directly onto my face to seal moisture as a final step after completing my skincare but my thoughts outside of the spritzer spraying far too much product, I found that my skin felt tingly and had a burning sensation which is something that I was actively trying to avoid so for this reason I have ranked it as one of my not so favourite products.

It’s still early days, and I am still finding new ways to utilise this product. However, I do like the glow it gives me once it has been absorbed into the skin but I do believe that it needs a moisturised based for this to fully occur. Applying this on dry skin, may just cause the product to sit on the skin surface and dry as opposed to hydrate.

5. Purito Wonder Releaf Centella Unscented Toner & ISNTREE Mugwort Calming Gauze Mask

Unfortunately I do not have pictures of these two products but I found the toner to just sit on the skin surface or at times irritate the inflammation that was already there which is weird because again, unlike the Purito serum, I had high expectations for this.

I found the INSTREE “calming” gauze mask to be irritating to the skin although it claims to be calming, I felt my skin stinging and burning unlike the SKIN1004 face sheet. I believe that the Mugwort has calming properties but this unfortunately this was not the case for me.

My final thoughts

Overall, I am happy with my decision to begin this journey with K-beauty products and have also come to realise that healing ones skin after years of damage or lack of knowledge can impact one's emotional and mental health and I have had to overcome uncomfortable/intrusive thoughts in regards to my appearance, my skin health, and making peace with that which cannot change overnight.

For a long time, I have steered away from moisturising products because I believed they would make my skin concerns worse and having been on this journey of reintroducing moisture back into my skincare, some products I have fallen in love with and other products I have discovered are just not for me. Which is also okay, I am excited to try new K-beauty products in 2025, such as exfoliating pads to help with my whiteheads but as they say slow steady wins the race. In this process of healing my skin, I am grateful that my barrier is slowly being restored and hope to share my experiences and journey in the coming months.

Whilst, my skin is imperfect I have found myself wanting to gravitate towards clean beauty products in this process. Over the past few months, it has indeed been a journey which has not come without its own trials and errors but in that I have found myself loving serums which I thought I never would and just as I am beginning to find a regime that works for me, I pray you are also able to trust the process even on the days you are struggling to love your skin and may your inner guide, guide you along this journey and help whisper little nudges to you along your skincare healing journey.

Skin was never made to be perfect and indeed healthy skin can be scarred and pigmented & this will never take away from your inner and external beauty.