#WeTried The 10-Step Korean Skincare Regime For A Week—Fabian
As opposed to my daily one step regime? I am sooo looking forward to this.
This is a regime that literally has 10 times the number of steps I’m used to, but hey, no one ever said no to a good complexion, yes?
Skincare Profile
Skin Type: Normal-Oily combination
Makeup wearer: Nope, but does tinted pimple cream count?
Skincare regimen: Cleanse, Tone, Treat
Day One
11:05 p.m. — 12th March 2018. Today will be the start of my transformation. Goodbye boring, lame complexion, and hello flawless Korean skin. If all it takes is a (laborious) 10-step skincare regime, then sign me up. But first, I need to hunt down all the products that I will need: cleanser, exfoliator, toner, essence, treatment, mask, eye cream, moisturiser, and sun protection. Good thing my sister is sleeping — it’s time to raid her vanity table.
12:03 a.m. — One. Whole. Hour. It’s either I’m doing something wrong, or I’m going too slow. But either way, I’m going to have to speed things up tomorrow. No one has the luxury of time to invest an entire hour on their face. And since I was going to sleep, I swapped out the sun screen for my pillow instead. Hopefully, I’ll remember to put it on before heading out in the morning.
Steps completed: 8? No one in my house owned an eye cream (which by proxy meant I didn’t too).
Day Two
12:30 a.m. — If I don’t wear makeup, I get to skip the oil-based cleanser, right? Have also decided to skip exfoliating and masking (since the recommended frequency is at least twice a week and once a week respectively). This time, the whole process took around 10 minutes. Now this is something I can get onboard.
12:50 a.m. — I don’t know if it’s the products that I’m using, but I’m heading to bed feeling like I’m wearing a lot of things on my face. It’s weighing on my skin and my ability to toss and turn freely. It’s an added layer of worry, that I might transfer all the product onto my pillow. Ah, the price of beauty.
Steps completed: 5.
Day Three
10:30 p.m. — Wait a second, why am I growing a pimple from this?! Is this not suppose to give me the complexion of a block of silken tofu? Or maybe I’ve just been sleeping late. But in other news, I can now go through the skincare regime while watching an episode of Altered Carbon on Netflix. I’ll take that as a win.
11:55 p.m. — Perhaps beauty sleep should be part of the routine too. I’m going to improvise and add that to my skincare routine.
Steps completed: 5 + 1.
Day Four
11:15 p.m. — You know you are a changed person when you actually look forward to performing the skincare ritual. It feels really good to set aside 20 minutes lying on the bed with a cold sheet mask on, and the soulful vocals of Sam Smith playing in the background.
For a while, I forgot that this was actually part of my school assignment, and really just tuned out. I think I can get used to this.
Steps completed: 9.
Day Five
10:00 a.m. — S.O.S!!! My total pimple count just rose to THREE. I demand an explanation for this!
10:50 a.m. — Putting another sheet mask in the fridge. It’s the weekend, and my skin deserves a treat.
12:08 a.m. — I reach for my go-to pimple product: the Onsaemeein Magic Solution Skin Powder. Turns out, the product is from Korea. And a quick Google search revealed that this product is actually pretty effective. Guess I’m not that far-removed from the K-beauty scene after all.
Steps completed: 7.
Day Six
10:35 a.m. — My pimples are unfortunately, still present.
11:30 p.m. — By this stage, I’m so familiar with the steps that I don’t even need to refer to my list anymore. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I can’t help but feel a little bummed by the pimple eruption. Sigh. I was really looking forward to having silky-smooth skin. But come to think of it, those could very much be stress-induced pimples with FYP submission looming (less than two weeks to go).
Steps completed: 5.
Day Seven
11:30 p.m. — It’s the end of the week, which marks the final day of this mini experiment. Time to mask my face, lie introspectively on bed, and think back on how I feel about spending an average of 30 minutes every night slapping (literally) products on my face.
11:55 p.m. — Objectively, I think my complexion feels better than before. My skin feels smoother, and my blackheads have dwindled in numbers. (I’m going to ignore those three cursed pimples.) When you are using more than five products, one or more of them is bound to work, right?
Steps completed: 9.
Final Thoughts
What I truly enjoyed about the Korean 10-step regime is that it ‘forces’ you to take time to invest in yourself and pamper your face. They say self-care is important, and perhaps taking 30 minutes out of your busy schedule everyday to take care of yourself and your skin is really what we need to feel good, and look good. Because you are worth it.
This is a two-part skincare diary series, click here for Chelsea’s journey.
