My epic winter skincare routine – Full Korean Skincare Routine

If summer is the time that I had to stay lightweight, winter is the best time for me to layer on as much as I want.

After a period of trial and error, I am finally settled down with this routine that’s working perfectly for my skin. It is a very long routine and I usually don’t go to this length. But this winter has been extremely dry and harsh on me and I haven’t been able to do a lot of sheet masking which puts the pressure on my usual skincare routine, that ended up being not quite enough to give me the soft, supple skin that I’m used to.

This routine uses 10 steps and I would occasionally add a peeling gel, a wash off mask or a clay mask depending on my schedule. The best thing about this routine is that I’ve used very lightweight and easily absorbing products so it doesn’t feel heavy or suffocating at all.

For your reference, I have oily dehydrated acne-prone skin that’s also sensitive.

This routine is focused on hydration, whitening, soothing and clarifying.

Double Cleanse

Double cleanse has worked wonders for my skin for years. I use an oil-based cleanser to remove my makeup first then cleanse my skin with a water-based cleanser.

The oil-based cleanser I’m using at the moment is the Banila Co Clean it Zero Purity. This cleansing balm is fuss-free to use and fragrance-free. I love how well it cleanses and doesn’t feel too oily on the skin.

The Herbal Soap from Sulwhasoo has been my favourite for a few years now. I have yet to find a cleanser that works better for my skin. It’s non-drying, cleanses well and doesn’t leave any residue. My skin is always pleasantly clean and moist after using the soap. You can find my previous review here.

I use the Sulwhasoo Herbal Soap with a foaming net and the Clarisonic fitted with a delicate brush head, which has been keeping my pores very clean.

Toner

Yes, I’m using three different toners. The Cosrx Centella Water Alcohol Free Toner is a clean, water-based toner with 10% Centella Asiatica Extract and a few hydrators. This is a refreshing hydrator that I like to use right after washing my face. It immediately adds moisture back to my skin, prepping it for the functional toners that I’ll use next.

I’m testing out the effects of Centella Asiatica in relation to my acne-prone skin. I found my skin has been a lot more resilient and I haven’t been getting those large deep-rooted pimples when I used this. I had a few very smaller one that popped up but disappeared right after I noticed them. I also had a lot less sensitivity than I used to when using acid products.

I normally spray the toner 5-6 times all over the face, then pat dry and repeat with a second layer.

The second toner I use is the Nacific Phyto Niacin Whitening Toner. After the success with their original herb line, I decided to give the whitening line a go to lighten my skinton after my recent trip to the tropical islands. This toner is water-based, with 5% Niacinamide – which is my top trusted ingredient for whitening. After two months of usage, my skin has been lighter, but Niacinamide is a gentle ingredient, so it’ll take longer to see real results.

This toner is slightly heavier than water, I apply two layers and pat into the skin using my palms until absorbed.

Last but not least, I have the Benton Aloe BHA Skin Toner. This toner has worked wonders for me when I tried to clear my cystic acne a few years back, when it was a lightweight toner that only contained Aloe Water and 0.5% BHA. After its reformulation, I was a little hesitant to try it due to its slightly heavy consistency. The toner now contains Aloe Leaf water, Hyaluronic Acid, Snail Mucin and 0.5% BHA. So it has the combined power of soothing, hydrating and repairing. The 0.5% BHA is perfect to loosen up the gunks without any irritation.

My skin has been loving it. As mentioned above, I haven’t been breaking out lately and I believe part of it is because of this toner.

I apply one pump of this toner and gently smear it into my skin. Then repeat with a second layer.

Yes, that’s a total of 6 layers of toner across 3 products. My skin would be slightly tacky after the Aloe-snail-mucin toner.

Serum

I’m using two lightweight serums at the moment. The first I use is the Nacific Phyto Niacin Whitening Essence. It’s the same series as the Phyto Niacin Toner I mentioned above. This essence is Bamboo Extract-based, with 5% Niacinamide, Lotus Extract, Lemon Extract and Vitamin C – which are all effective whitening ingredients. The serum is quite lightweight and easily absorbed into the skin. It has a slight slip and leaves the skin slightly glowing afterwards. The whitening effect is as explained above in the toner section.

I apply one pump of this serum all over the face.

The second serum I use is the Huxley Grab Water Essence. It has been my skin saviour in terms of hydration. At the beginning of this winter, my skin was simply screaming for hydration. It felt deflated and rough, then I decided to incorporate this serum. The hydrating power of cactus is unparallel by any other extracts. The serum is light weight and easily absorbed into the skin. The skin will feel drenched with water and plump after using the serum.

I apply 5 drops of this essence all over the face.

Eye Cream

The eye cream I’m currently using is the Benton Fermentation Eye Cream. My eye area has been adequately hydrated thanks to this eye cream. I love its non-greasy but smooth texture, that absorbs quickly and doesn’t interfere with my makeup.

I apply a generous layer all around my eye area and inbetween the roots of my lashes.

Moisturiser

This moisturiser is a surprise find and has since become my favourite moisturiser for winter time. It’s the Cosrx PHA Moisture Renewal Power Cream. This cream is a gel consistency that absorbs so well into the skin, making it moist and smooth. The 4% PHA is lightly exfoliating, which has improved my skin’s tone and texture visibly and tangibly.

I think this is the last factor that contributed to my clear skin this month. In the past, I haven’t had any good results with acid products, but recent incorporations of this 4% PHA cream and the 0.5% BHA toner has given me rather promising results.

I apply about a 5c coin size all over my face and neck.

Sealer

This is another skin saviour for winter this year. My skin was losing so much moisture overnight that no matter what I used and how moist my skin was after the night skincare routine, I would always wakeup with deflated, rough and tight skin in the morning. Then I gave this a go – the Pyunkang Yul Balancing Gel. I knew what kind of product it is before using it and have always been intimidated by the sticky texture of it. I hate products that are sticky. But since nothing else was working, I decided to give it a go.

And it has saved my dryness!

I now wake up with perfectly balanced and plump skin. If you feel nothing is fixing your dryness, definitely give this a go.

I take about 1 spoonful (using the spoon included) of the balancing gel, press it in between my fingertips and tap it all across my face. Then I spread it out my entire face using my fingertips to gently massage the face. It will be sticky, but the stickiness disappears after a few minutes when the product sinks into the skin. Avoid using palms, it will not spread.

The End

That’s it for my epic skincare routine. It sounded quite hectic but takes about 10-15 minutes each day to do all these and I think it’s definitely worth it. It also shows that you can always incorporate more products into your skincare routine if you’re feeling it’s not enough. There’s really no limit to it. Work with the texture of the products and apply the most easily absorbing ones first then layer on the denser ones.