One of the cherished products in every Asian woman’s routine is sunscreen. What are some other essentials you’d recommend to keep the skin glowing and slow down signs of ageing?

Christine Chang (CC): “There are some amazing ingredients to utilise in your routine for plump, youthful skin. We believe the goal for every person is not to have ‘perfect’ skin, but healthy skin. And that means different things for everybody.

Retinol is a gold-standard ingredient that helps with firming skin and reducing fine lines and wrinkles. Our Avocado Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask and Avocado Melt Retinol Sleeping Mask both harness encapsulated retinol. It gently releases into the skin for gentle absorption while balancing the formula with nourishing ingredients like avocado.

We believe that Hyaluronic Acid is a holy grail ingredient for hydration and plumping skin. We can’t wait to bring our new Plum Plump Hyaluronic Serum to Singapore in 2021. We really challenged ourselves with this innovative formula so that it harnesses a unique formula of three types of Plum and four types of Hyaluronic Acid at five different molecular weights. It’s our modern approach to youthful skin by plumping every skin layer with hydration from the inside out.”

What’s your go-to product or hack for fixing a skin disaster?

Sarah Lee (SL): “Your skin changes on a day by day basis due to so many external factors like sleep, pollution, stress, diet and more. When a ‘skin disaster’ happens, it’s so important to go back to the basics of your routine. That includes a cleanser, eye cream, moisturiser, and SPF.

The Blueberry Bounce Cleanser deep cleans pores while still hydrating the skin with hyaluronic acid so that your skin won’t feel tight or dry. Eye cream is so important because your under-eye area is the thinnest skin on your face, so you want to make sure that it’s treated properly. The ophthalmologist-tested Avocado Retinol Eye Cream is specially formulated for the eye area. It helps provide nourishment, hydration and gentle encapsulated retinol for firming and de-puffing.

With the moisturiser step, I use either the Pink Juice Moisturiser or the Banana Cream. It depends on what my skin needs that day. If I’m more on the oilier side, I will use Pink Juice Moisturizer because it’s oil-free, lightweight and instantly cooling. If my skin is feeling dry and dehydrated, I enjoy going with the Banana Souffle Moisture Cream. It helps provide calming nourishment, while still being lightweight. During the daytime, be sure to finish your routine off with the SPF of your choice. Skincare is all about what works for you!”

What are some of your favourite underrated K-beauty secrets or tips?

CC: “The main Korean skincare tip we can give is patting your skincare in to aid absorption. It goes back to the skincare philosophy of Korean women being as gentle as possible. Fast movements cause friction and over time it can cause micro-tears in your skin. We support patting toners, serums, and moisturisers all the way. This also minimises downtime between steps to avoid waiting for the product to dry.

To take the patting philosophy to the next level, we created a fun video that ended up going viral. It explains the ‘7 Skin Method’ where you pat in a toner or mist seven times in a row. It may sound excessive but your skin drinks up all the moisture. Patting helps drive the product deeper into skin’s layers and skin is plumped with hydration from within.

Another beauty hack is to ditch the towel after cleansing. Typically after cleansing, you would reach for a towel automatically, but that can cause rubbing and friction on your skin. It’s also impossibly hard to keep your towel clean in the bathroom, so instead of using a towel or constantly changing it out, just pat the moisture in after cleansing! It’s super easy and skin is plumped and slightly damp to adsorb the next steps of your skincare.”

Beauty advice you’d share with your younger self?

CC: “Don’t box yourself into a routine but understand that your skin is more fluid than a predetermined skin type.

If you’re new to the brand and don’t know where to start, we asked Sarah to share her go-to recommendations. Take a look at her three picks below.”

This skin-smoothing sleeping mask is formulated with watermelon, hyaluronic acid, and AHAs that gently exfoliate and refine the pores while you sleep. Bouncy and pillow-proof, it helps to brighten the skin and give it an extra hydrating boost as you rest.

Lee shares: “Our Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask is definitely one of our most popular products from the inception of Glow Recipe, and we were humbled to see it sell out multiple times and garner a long waitlist after launch. Our customers love that it packs hydrating and gentle exfoliating benefits into one treatment for a post-facial result, as well as the sensorial, gel texture that makes application fun and enjoyable.”

Another overnighter for the skin, this sleeping mask helps to brighten and depuff the appearance of dark circles as you sleep. Using potent encapsulated ingredients like retinol, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide, it helps to keep the skin nourished and brighten the area by morning.

“Our Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask was really exciting because we introduced a powerful ingredient like retinol, in an approachable, gentle way with the encapsulated form,” Lee notes. “It has become one of our core products due to the amazing reviews and feedback on how it has helped customers treat their milia while brightening and firming the eye area.”

For those who are concerned with the appearance of their pores, this gentle toner helps to hydrate the skin and unclog pores at the same time with PHA and willow bark.

Lee says: “A recent launch from 2020 that has quickly become a cult favourite is our Watermelon Glow PHA+BHA Pore-Tight Toner. Inspired by the K-Beauty Aqua Peel Facial, we created a treatment that both refines pores while hydrating the skin so that customers could enjoy multiple skin benefits from the start of the routine, instead of using toners as an astringent cleansing step. As our most recent addition to the Watermelon Glow family, it has definitely become a favourite in our portfolio.”

This article first appeared in Singapore Women’s Weekly