Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I started using Korean Products last year after reading a great book called The Little Book of Skin Care: Korean Beauty Secrets for Healthy, Glowing Skin. Although a lot of the book is about part of the culture of Korea, and makes you want to travel there!, I also got inspired to try something new in terms of skincare. And the fun, effective products inspired me to keep trying more and more new things! For reference: (This is my skin, so if you have similar skin you can intuit that you may experience similar results from these products. I hope this helps!) I am 36 years old, but I still have quite oily skin. It's good on one hand as it has meant I look younger with my fewer wrinkles, but it's a pain to deal with oil, pores and pimples as an adult. Recently my aunt complained of a pimple and she is in her 60s... so I know this isn't a teen thing for me and there are others like me out there, too. With aging I've found I am less prone to breakouts. The ones I get are usually hormonal or have a very specific reason, like I did a cleanse that gave me three big cysts. Yuck! But though fewer pimple concerns is nice I have found that I now have more sensitive skin than when I was younger. So, I can't use harsh acne or oily skin products. It seems like salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide or anything strongly alcohol based will almost instantly dry me out to the point of pain, irritation, redness along with more breakouts and more oil than when I started. It's just not worth it. Yet, while I can't use harsh products, I still have oily skin with large pores that can easily be congested and need *constant* *daily maintenance* or they clog. A day of not exfoliating/treating and I can see all my pores fill back in with oil and debris. It's gross. It's annoying. It's something I've had to deal with all my life but never been able to find the right balance of keeping the skin clean and healthy, not stripped or yo-yo'ing between dry/oily or stripped+irritated/clogged. On top of it all, I just moved from a place that is humid to an arid/desert climate (the South West) and now my face is oily and sweaty but also super dry in some patches, too! I want to say, "It's not fair!", but that won't get me anywhere, so instead I started adding more moisture to my program which you can add if you need it and avoid if you don't. So, if you have similar skin: oily! maybe a bit sensitive! clogged pores! can get dry in weird patches in arrid climates, read on... So here is my basic evening routine. In the morning I skip Mizon products as they often leave a residue that sloughs off when I try to put makeup on top of it which leads to a yucky, patchy look that is not attractive. I start with Banila co Clean It Zero Radiance, 100 ml, 1.2 Ounce. Previously I had used The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Light Oil, but I wanted to try something different, and I had heard good things about Banila Clean It Zero. I love it! It's heavier, but I haven't had any breakout problems, and paired with the rest of my routine, Banila melts gunk in my clogged pores and leaves my skin super-duper soft! To use it, I scoop out a teeny-tiny blop - a little goes a long way - and pat it over my skin, then I gently massage in little circles. If I have time, I will leave the Banila on for awhile and it really melts all the goo in my pores. This is great if I take a bath and the heat opens my pores up further. When I am ready to remove it I just wet my hands with warm water, pat my face and massage a little more. I may do this a few times before I splash-rinse most of the residue from my face, or at least until the water is clear instead of cloudy. I follow the Banila cleanser with a foaming cleanser called TONYMOLY Eggpore Shiny Skin Soap. First I wet my Clarisonic Mia 2 Facial Sonic Cleansing System, Lavender and rub the brush head across the soap in the carton, then I use the 2 minute cycle and rinse my skin with warm and then cool water, and then pat dry. After cleansing I immediately apply Mizon Collagen Power Lifting Toner to my damp skin and pat it in all over. This stuff is a super light gel, rather than a liquid like most toners. It helps to moisturize my skin but it doesn't leave me oily or greasy, just plump with hydration. Next, I use the provided spatula to scoop out a bit of [MIZON] All in One Snail Repair Cream (75ml) on my hand and pat it into my slightly toner-damp skin. If there is extra, I dab it on my neck. Then I let it dry. With another spatula I pull out a tiny bit of KOREAN COSMETICS, MIZON_ Snail Repair Eye Cream 25ml (skin elasticity, whitening, anti-wrinkle, hydrating, long lasting)[001KR] and very gently tap under my eyes. Extra-- goes on the neck. :-) I pull out 1 dropper full of [MIZON] Snail Repair Intensive Ampoule 30ml (1.01 fl.oz.) on the palm of my hand and pat it onto my skin, particularly on forehead, nose and chin. Sometimes it seems hard to get enough in the dropper, so just make sure to extract enough to cover your face, or trouble spots, with the ampoule treatment. I let this dry. Since the desert has been making me dry, I've been following the Snail Ampoule with the Collagen version: MIZON Collagen, 30ml, and apply it the same way. Like the toner, this adds moisture and support without being oily, greasy, pore-clogging, irritating, etc. Then when that is dry, I squirt a tiny bit of Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream and smooth it over my skin. If there is extra, it goes on the neck, as usual! I let this dry along with everything else as best as it can. Likewise with the Collagen Ampoule, I have added another moistuizer to keep my skin from getting parched in places, but this hasn't caused problems when applied to my WHOLE face, including my oily T Zone. That moisturizer is: [MIZON] Collagen Power Lifting Cream 50ml (1.69 fl.oz.). Like all the other potions, a tiny bit will do, and I just pat-pat-pat it on. As a last "always do it" step I have been adding in this guy: L'Oreal Paris RevitaLift Triple Power Eye Treatment, 0.5 Fluid Ounce. Yes, it's L'Oreal. Yes, I hope to find something else to replace it, but it WORKS for my super puffy eyes (I work graveyard shift and sometimes that is brutal on your body!). If you know of something you like for YOUR puffy eyes I would love to hear your opinion! Please leave me a comment if you have a moment. Now, I don't always use them, but at least a couple times a week - and usually more than that - I will apply one of the following sleeping packs: [MIZON] Snail Wrinkle Care Sleeping Pack 80ml (2.70 fl.oz.), Holika Holika Wine Therapy Sleeping Mask #Red wine, or Innisfree Wine Jelly Sleeping Pack. The Mizon is the most theraputic! It is super sticky though, and so sometimes I am not in the mood for that, and I will apply the jelly-like Holika Holika mask or the body buttery Innisfree wine packs. All of them have worked with my skin type when it is craving different things. The Mizon just makes the rest of the regimin work 200x better. I use it and wake up soft, smooth and nearly poreless as I can be! The Holika Holika is the least moisturizing and I use it if I am feeling acne-ish. The Innisfree is really moisturizing, so I use it when I am feeling dry. And one final thing that I might do after cleansing but before all my other routine is to apply a sheet mask. Again, I don't do this all the time, but when I do I like to leave them on forEVer. Like take a bath and leave it on the whole time. Or read a book in bed, or watch a movie... you get the idea! These two are my favorite packs. They both come with an assortment that you can try and see what you like best. Personally, I've found that like the sleeping packs it is nice to have variety for when your skin tells you it NEEDS something in particular that day. Check out the mildly effective, but skin plumping and ULTRA affordable: TONYMOLY I'm real mask sheet 11 kinds. If you need something more effective try: Hey! Pinkgo Girl Sheet Mask All in One Extra Skin Care Combo Gift Set - Includes 8 Moisturizing, Brightening, Firming and Repairing Sheet Masks. For TonyMoly I have reordered the set, and Aloe and Tea Tree. For Pinkgo I reordered HA and Papaya, but plan to order more of the lace ones and the Rose, too. Over the past months I have been refining my routine and changing things up whenever I want to try something new, or when my skin says "Hey, I need more moisture!" I can't be more pleased with the results, the experience and the fun of trying all these new, affordable and fun products. They have mostly really worked for me and I've only encountered a couple products that didn't work out for me (i.e. Face Shop Chia products were not a good moisture choice for me. They aren't greasy but for some reason they kept breaking me out.) If you have any questions, please let me know. I hope this review has been helpful, because it was reviewers like you talking up Ms. Cho's book, and then on each lovely product I have tried so far, that have gotten me my favorite skin since childhood. So, thank you and best of luck! Please note: I added some photos of the tub, the lid with the scoop-spatula, the product inside, the product on my finger and melted in on my finger so you can see what this *should* look like. Hope this helps! :-) UPDATE: 03/19/2017: Hey there! I wanted to note that these tubs do last pretty much forever, but on my latest purchase I decided to try Resveratrol this time around. I have to say that I like it even better than Radiance. It seems to be a very little bit lighter in consistency. It is a tiny bit easier to rinse. It leaves my skin feeling even more clean, but still soft, and I like the light fruity fragrance this Resveratrol has compared to Radiance just smelling like "plain basic light floral lotion" fragrance. Oily skinned folks, I think I recommend this one even more than the other but all the basic pluses remain the same. Love this stuff! And I recommend it to anyone who asks. :-)