Korean Skincare

A while ago, I reviewed the Etude House Baby Choux peach primer, the Dear Darling Jelly lip tint, and the Princess Etoinette lipstick.  I raved over the benefits I saw, the positive skin changes I experienced with the products as well as glee over the scents and effects they rendered.  Because I am a scientist at heart, I began to research South Korean beauty trends, products and skin treatments.

What I found was intriguing.  For one thing, South Korean Beauty culture is one of the most frighteningly damaging things I could ever hope to learn about.  Sure, they based a person's beauty on a standardized "Golden Ratio".  They also view beauty as a sign of good health and invest a great deal of research in products that will treat beauty problems from the inside out... That's all fine.  The Golden Ratio is hardwired into our brains to help us pick out healthy partners for reproduction.  It's science.

But they also have an absurd frankness when it comes to evaluating their beauty.  The stigma of possibly being ugly shadows both men and women.  There's an also a destructive amount of esteem placed on plastic surgery...to the point where parents are recommending it preteens to get it before their kids hit puberty.  As damaging as this plastic surgery culture is... I have to admit that they still have some very effective skin treatments.

Serious stuff aside, since my affectionate relationship with Etude House began, I've been on the look out for any other cool, cute, and effective beauty items I can snag from Korea.  It was through this that I discovered that Etude House, with all its pretty packaging, sweet scents was only considered a "Drug Store Brand" as far as Korean cosmetics go. 

Now Etude House is cheap for a drug store cosmetic brand, so I was intrigue and went forth to learn more about higher end products.  Let's face it, in the past, I've had luck with finding the right shades in American drug store brands, but the skincare products are of lower quality and break me out.  My line of thought was, if Etude House is drug store for Korea and it does nice things for my skin, then surely the higher end products will do even more wonderful things for my skin.... 

I was right.  Check back for a review of the first product on Monday.