What is Hydrogel?

A hydrogel is a network of cross-linked polymer chains that are hydrophilic, sometimes found as a colloidal gel in which water is the dispersion medium. hydrogels are highly absorbent (they can contain over 90% water) natural or synthetic polymeric networks.
(According to Wikipedia)

What is a Hydrogel mask?

A hydrogel mask is a skincare mask formulated with hydrogel. Unlike the traditional sheet masks, the Hydrogel mask has a unique formula like jelly full of essence. The hydrogel can hold a large amount of water and prevent its evaporation. While naturally melted by the skin temperature and absorbed into the skin, hydrogel fully transfers the active ingredients and the moisture contained to the skin.

Covid19, a newly discovered coronavirus in 2019, still stays in our life. Since it occurred, it has changed all of our daily lives, including study, work, and eating. People stay at their home longer time and should wear a mask when going out. Naturally, this virus influenced our skincare habits as well. 

Three new skincare trends by COVID 19

1. Calming Skin

Maskne, a combination of the words “Mask” and “Acne”, is a new skin problem. Why does Maskne occur on your skin? One of the main reasons is the friction between face and mask and eventually, it leads your skin to be irritated and stressed out. To calm irritated skin and prevent Maskne, calming skincare became essential. One of the easiest ways of calming skin is applying toner. Mild and gentle toner soothes sensitized skin with deep hydration.

2.  Pore Care

The damp and hot environment under the mask makes your pores enlarged and loose. The friction between face and mask and high humidity build up sebum and skin waste. To control excess sebum and get rid of blackheads, pore care products is being spotlighted. A bubble cleanser or bubble mask that gently controls pores will be a good choice for your enlarged pores.

3. Foundation Free

Everyone probably has experienced the mask stained with foundation. People started to enjoy foundation free makeup because heavy makeup causes skin irritation easily and makes skin feel stifled. Lightweight tone-up cream and tinted sunblock, featuring natural shade, get popular as its alternatives.

Sheet mask every day or 1 mask a day is the famous K-beauty skincare routine. Many Korean celebrities do ‘sheet mask everyday’ to get clear and flawless skin. This trend spread out around the world as K-Beauty got popular. Today I’d like to talk about the benefits of sheet mask every day for K-beauty beginners.

 1. It gives deep hydration to your skin.

Sheet mask allows your skin to achieve deep hydration while you put the mask on your face for 20-30 min. As soon as you place it on your face, it provides moisture and keeps your skin supple with the enriched formula. If you are suffering from dehydration and rough skin texture, try 1 mask a day 😊

2. It solves your skin concerns

As you know, there are tons of Korean sheet masks in the market. Korean sheet masks deal with lots of skin problems such as dullness, acne, wrinkles, enlarged pores, and dryness. If you want to get rid of your skin concerns, put on sheet masks that target your problem every night. You can manage various skin troubles with various masks.

3. The coolest thing is it’s fun

Using a sheet mask is really fun! The time you take a selfie or watch Netflix during wearing a sheet mask isn’t boring at all. Especially when you share sheet masks with your family or friend, you can have a super-exciting family (or friend) time🥳

Hi K-secret lovers, I’d like to introduce 5 Step skincare routine which is perfect for your daily skincare. Lots of my Korean friends including me use this skincare step on a daily basis. This step is simpler than 10 step care however in respect of daily care, it’s exemplary steps making healthy skin. Let’s see all the steps now!

Step 1.  Cleanser

Cleansing is an indispensable step. It removes your makeup, dirt, and skin impurities to make skin supple and clear. I strongly recommend you use a low pH cleanser. It works softly and doesn’t break up your skin barrier.

Step 2. Toner

The toning step not only hydrates skin but also helps to improve skin texture and to soothe tired skin from outside irritation. You can choose toner according to your skin concern or type. If you worried about acne, you can pick a functional toner for Acne. To make your skin absorb the efficacy of toner deeply, I recommend you try "Toner Pack" —Place soaked cotton swab with toner on the spot such as cheeks and forehead for 1-2 min.

Step 3 Serum / Ampoule

In the skincare routine, Serum / Ampoule is the most enriched product. It focuses on specific skin concerns such as dull skin, fine lines, acne so on.

Step 4 Moisturizer

Moisturizer is an essential part of skincare. It makes skin hydrated and healthy. Please remember, you should pick the moisturizer that suits your skin type. If you are oily skin, you better select mattifying moisturizer. If you are dry skin, you better select a rich moisturizer.

Step 5 Sunblock

Are you worried about reddish skin and dull skin caused by sunburn and sunlight? Only with sunblock, you can solve and shield this problem. In addition, you can prevent harmful UV rays causing skin cancer by putting sunblock every day. 

Retinol, also known as Vitamin A, is a representative cosmetic ingredient good for diminishing wrinkles. According to the article of Harvard Health Publishing, it was used as an acne treatment in the 1970s, but researchers later discovered that it also fades actinic keratosis spots, evens pigmentation, and speeds the turnover of superficial skin cells.

Retinol increases collagen, leading to reduce wrinkles and improving skin elasticity. Besides, this substance stimulates the metabolism, working to improve skin structure and complexion and to prevent skin dullness and roughness while reducing dark spots and blemishes. However, when retinol meets sunlight, it can cause skin sensitivity and irritation, you need to apply the products formulated with Retinol at night before sleeping and to wear sunblock during the day.

Hyaluronic acid, also known as hyaluronan, is a substance that exists naturally in the human body. This is the hydrophile property and the main role is maintaining moisture in your skin. Hyaluronic acid absorbs moisture around it like a sponge, preventing moisture loss.

That is, this ingredient helps to keep your skin supple and hydrated by retaining moisture. Hyaluronic acid originally exists on the skin, but this decreases sharply as human ages.

Luckily, you can supply Hyaluronic acid to your skin by applying cosmetics containing Hyaluronic Acid.

 CENTELLIAN24 MADECA CREAM POWER BOOSTING FORMULA

Complete harmony of Elastic 3cores complex (Collagen, Elastin, hyaluronic acid)

-Skin elasticity (Collagen)

-Relief of sagging skin and skin wrinkle (Elastin)

-Keeping skin moisturizing, Skin elasticity (Hyaluronic acid )

COSRX HYALURONIC ACID INTENSIVE CREAM

Formulated with high concentrated of Hippophae Rhamnoides Water and hyaluronic acid, Hyaluronic Acid Intensive Cream helps to moisturize and nourish your skin deeply. This intensely hydrating cream boosts moisture content in your skin and seals it inside, protecting your skin from further loss of hydration. 

DR.JART DERMASK WATER JET VITAL HYDRA SOLUTION 

Aquaxyl Technology: patented ingredient derived from plant glucose and xylitol for hydration and functional barrier to trans-epidermal water loss. Super Vital Complex: Oilgo-Hyaluronic Acid+Algae Extract are proven to support long lasting moisturization through strengthening of skin barrier matrix and collagen synthesis promotion. 

BENTON FERMENTATION ESSENCE 

1. High concentration of fermented ingredients, EGF, Hyaluronic acid

2. Wrinkle Improvement Functional Cosmetic

3. Nutrition/ Moisture Supply Wrinkle improvement / pore care / moisturizing / skin protection / helps in skin improvement

Popular makeup products that Korean women love

APRILSKIN Magic Snow Cushion 3.0

This is the famous foundation cushion as a perfect cover cushion in Korea. With its reasonable price and flawless coverage effect, young Korean women love this product. The 45% moisture serum base provides a moisturizing and high coverage that sticks straight to the skin. Included mochi sponge only releases a controlled amount of foundation when pressed.

Click here to see this item

PERIPERA Ink Airy Velvet (AD)

This is the hot-selling lip tint in the Korean drug stores. Its light but long-lasting formula allows finishing perfect velvet lip makeup easily. The most fascinating factor is that this tint doesn’t make lips dry out with the airy color film, maintaining moisture. No dead skin on your lips and stays on your lips for a long time.

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MISSHA M Perfect Cover BB Cream

This is so much popular blemish cover cream with over 30 million sold worldwide. This bb cream makes skin look clear and pure. With sun protection, whitening, and anti-wrinkle function, this cream helps to improve skin. Some Korean makeup lovers mix this bb cream with the foundation to make flawless face makeup.

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Everyone has pores. It's natural. However, enlarged and clogged facial pores are a major skin problem that tons of people are suffering from.

If you are worried about it, attention please. Here are top 4 korean items to minimize pores!

The 4 best Korean items to shrink your pores

SKINFOOD Egg White Pore Mask

Skinfood’s Egg White Pore Mask is made with albumin rich in amino acids that’s great for reducing excess sebum and oil production while eliminating impurities that clog up your pores. This smooth formula penetrates deeply into the pores to effectively clean them out, making this great for oilier complexions feel clean and fresh throughout the day. Here’s to eggs-tra good skin days!

COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid

An essence to exfoliate, brighten, and whiten the skin. It provides a deep cleanse to care the pores within, and clear the skin with whitening effects for a more even skin tone.  4% natural BHA component gently eliminates blackheads and dead skin cells. It effectively penetrates into the skin and cleans up clogged pores. Also it helps skin to rebuild its moisture shield.

K-SECRET Calamine 30 Days Secret Toner

Calamine secret toner which contains real Calamine powder 30,000ppm is effective for tightening enlarged pores, removing blackheads and calming acne. Calamine, an ingredient used to treat an inflammation, helps to calm acne with its anti-inflammatory properties. Some reports say that calamine can keep oily T-zone in check for at least 9 hours a day.

INNISFREE Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask 2X

It provides triple exfoliation from encapsulated Jeju volcanic scoria, walnut shell powder, and AHA; enhanced deep cleansing formula removes away fine dust particles, pore-clogging dirt, and dead skin cells; provides powerful sebum-absorbing capacity as it washes away impurities while moisturizing and brightening skin; leaves a cooling sensation when applied that refreshes pores.

Caffeine wakes your skin up

I start my day with a cup of coffee since caffeine contained in coffee helps me awake and gives the energy to start my work. After lunch, I drink coffee again to prevent daytime sleepiness. I'm sure that coffee is must-have for not only me but also today people who study or work.

Do you know caffeine works on reducing puffiness? Many people enjoy drinking it however, they don’t know it’s good for skin as an active ingredient for skincare. Nowadays the effect of caffeine is attracting lots of skincare-lovers' attention. If you want to know about the caffeine effect more deeply, read below right now! 

Caffeine Benefits for skin

If you check several famous eye care products now, you'll find caffeine as an active ingredient easily because caffeine is one of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties helping keep our skin looking young and healthy. In one study is it found that caffeine helps to prevent oxidative stress.

Caffeine helps to get rid of body waste inner skin, leading to reduce puffiness around eyes. In addition to this, caffeine is effective for soothing sensitized skin and skin breakouts. Lastly, caffeine is also helpful to reduce dark circles by promoting constricting blood vessels around eyes. 

Maskne is a combination of the words “Mask” and “Acne”. This is a new skin breakout by COVID-19.

Why does Maskne occur on your skin? One of the main reasons is the friction between face and mask and eventually, it leads your skin to be irritated and stressed out. If you reuse a dirty mask for several days, your skin can get breakouts by the contaminated mask. As well, the damp and hot environment under the mask creates a perfect place for multiplying bacteria, causing Maskne.

How to prevent MASKNE

1 Cleanse skin perfectly with a mild cleanser

My Recommendation: NEOGEN Dermalogy A-Clear Soothing Foam Cleanser

The Neogen Dermalogy A-Clear Soothing Foam Cleanser helps people who have sensitive skin with their fine bubbles that can clean all the impurities inside your pores. It also helps with balancing the sebum discharge and slightly exfoliates your skin.  This gentle cleanser clarifies clogged pores and helps remove excess oil, which is one of main factors for acne skin, while controlling excess sebum. it helps soothe irritated and sensitive skin, while protecting the skin from outer environment for smooth and healthy skin.

2.  Calm irritated skin with a soothing toner

My Recommendation: DEAR KLAIRS Supple Preparation Unscented Toner

No alcohol, No artificial flavorings, No harmful ingredients. 

Unscented Toner fills moisture with your skin well and makes your skin texture much softer. This is Essential Oil-Free Toner, We recommend it to people are sensitive about perfume, essential oil. 

3. Moisturize skin keeping the water and oil balance

My Recommendation: INNISFREE Green Tea Seed Serum

A moisturizing serum with organic Jeju green tea and green tea seeds that hydrate your skin from deep within! Rich in amino acids and minerals, green tea from Jeju's own green tea leaves hydrates your skin. The fresh green tea deeply hydrates your skin and the green tea seed oil creates a strong moisture barrier to keep your skin moisturized longer.