Peach and Lily has been in Korea for a few weeks now and it’s been quite an adventure. We have so much to share! This week, we’ll post our favorite brands that we’ve searched high and low for while here.
What stood out to me most during these past few weeks of trawling through beauty stores all throughout Seoul is the complete (and rightful) obsession with hydration! I felt strangely proud that this city has well understood the importance of hydration.
In a nutshell, dehydrated skin not only wrinkles faster but more problematically will quickly lose elasticity. Once skin loses that firmness and sagging takes place, short of a face lift, this is a tough problem to fix.
So, how does one really know just how hydrated/dehydrated your skin is?
Technology! So these moisture level analyzers (typically using bioelectrical imedance analysis to get an accurate hydration read) can be found in the US in some beauty stores. What surprised me is how commonplace this is in Korea. The beauty agents in stores take this seriously and will help you determine just exactly how much hydration help is needed. You can buy these kinds of devices online for under $30 which is cheaper than we had anticipated…or you can just gauge the old-fashioned way by paying very careful attention to your skin (check out our hydration sponge test entry: http://peachandlily.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/is-your-skin-screaming-for-more-hydration-heres-how-you-can-tell/)
One part of the solution that this city is obsessed with!
Paper facial masks. Of all ingredients, formulations, brands…oh my. These masks are everywhere. They range from as cheap as around a buck to as much as 20 bucks for one sheet. Apparently, women use these masks at least a few times a week. The best part is that each mask focuses on one key ingredient plus hydration, so you can really get that extra dosage of whatever ingredient your skin needs that week or even that day. Talk about a super customized skincare routine. So, to test out these masks, I’ve been using one every night and loving it…for one, I feel like I’m being pampered at a spa. But more importantly, my skin glows (usually doesn’t especially in the winter), is eating up incredible ingredients each night, and the moisture analyzer has told me that my moisture level has gone from 28% (dry) to 48% (normal)! I’ll be sharing which of these masks I’ve loved throughout this week. (Prepare for a rather long list)
Aspirations…
This 12-feet tall ad stood right in front of me in the subway stop (in Seoul, there are huge ads on the glass doors that you wait in front of at the subway platform). An ad for vitamins, but this celebrity is known for her flawless skin and careful skincare regimen. So of course that’s all I could notice. Gawking at her skin at the subway stop. She’s 42!!! We posted about her once before. She’s back on our blog as she’s currently a Peach and Lily aspiration/obsession.
On that note, after a long but fun day of beauty hunting, signing off to call it a day. Stay tuned this week for our beauty finds!
-Alicia
