Seoul Skincare Journey: Part 3, The Peel
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
The Green Peel Diaries, Day 1 I went back for my third facial on Tuesday night, and Ms. Oh said she thought I was ready for the intensive peel. I was a little surprised since I had thought I had to wait a bit longer. But I'm anxious for my new face, so I was down. She did the usual double clease and facial massage, then started to do the Schrammek Green Peel. It's an herbal mixture but basically felt like a thousand needles getting massaged into my skin. Imagine a face scrub with tiny beads that feels like sharp rocks, and someone vigorously massages it into your face for 8-10 minutes. Like, w ..read more
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Seoul Skincare Journey: Part 2
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
I was so excited to go back for my second facial last week, especially after already seeing progress after the first one. Ms. Oh spent about two hours on my face: the same double cleansing ritual with a light massage, then she applied aroma oils with the next serum and did a really intense face massage: forehead, cheekbones, jawline, collarbone, and even the scalp. She applied another mask and then left it on me for a little bit, then placed a gauze sheet over the mask to help it absorb more. She gave me a hand massage while the last mask set in, then began a cleansing ritual. Afterwards, even ..read more
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Seoul Skincare Journey: Part 1
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
I had a few beauty-related priorities when I moved here: 1. getting my hair done (check), 2. getting my brows done (check) , and 3. finding a good facialist. The first two I managed to get done in the first six weeks, but the last one took six months. It's damn hard finding a decent esthetician in Seoul, especially one who will do facial massage and anything beyond just a bunch of sheet masks. I went to one spa in my neighborhood in February, hoping for extractions or at least some sort of deep cleansing, and I was so disappointed. The entire hour was spent doing a very light facial "massage ..read more
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Eyebrow Microblading in Seoul
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
The two priorities on my beauty checklist for when I came to Korea were brow microblading and getting a perm. More on the latter later. In any case, with my limited resources and abundance of places I could go here, I just ended up going to the same place that Charlotte Cho of SokoGlam went to in her review, Long Time Liner. The tricky part here was that they moved, and it took me awhile to check and re-check the address to make sure I was going to the right place. They're now located inside Bright Charm Skin Clinic in Gangnam (Apro Square Building). Just walk past the skin clinic's reception ..read more
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Review: belif The True Cream Moisturizing Bomb
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
Happy holidays, y’all! It’s been awhile, so let’s get down to it. It’s been a strange, strange winter so far: it’s been cold, then warm, then cold, then absolutely freezing. And in between all that, the heat in my apartment won’t turn on randomly so I’ve been going to sleep wearing Uniqlo Heat-Tech long johns. Even as early as October, my skin was feeling so dehydrated upon waking. I used my silk pillowcase, slathered on snail cream and oil, yet when I woke up, it was like I had done nothing to my face except for hold it over the heater. And obviously that hadn’t happened since the heat hadn’t ..read more
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Guest Post: Amy Cao Smith & Asians Going Blonde
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
I've been dying to go blonde for years now, ever since I saw model Soo Joo Park take the plunge. But I'm too chicken and my hairstylist also refused to do it for me because she's seen my decade-long hair journey and said I've been through too much for her to do it now. When my friend Amy went blonde, I was so curious about her hair transformation and asked her to share her story for anyone else who: is Asian and wants to take the plunge. Here's her super-honest hair confession and the pros & cons of being blasian (aka Blonde Asian). Four months ago I decided to dye my naturally dark Asian ..read more
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Review: Age 20s Essence Cover Pact Foundation
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
It’s been officially fall for awhile, but the weather is finally starting to turn to that cooler, crisper temp that just signals “FALL IS HERE”. You know what that means? Time to cold-proof my skincare and makeup routines! I was reading SokoGlam’s The KLOG and came across this post about how a Korean Air flight attendant keeps her skin looking fresh and dewy despite how dry those high altitudes can get. She mentioned this Age 20s Essence Cover Pact, so… of course I had to try it! I’ve been saving it for cooler temps for a few reasons: I was a little tanner than usual this summer so the C23 s ..read more
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Green Tea Seed Serums: Innisfree vs Nature Republic
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
I’ve been thinking a lot about serums lately, which is weird. The past few years I’ve been pretty steady to a specific serum in the colder months and another in the warmer months, so I haven’t had to think about it too much. But I found myself not replenishing my supposedly tried and true for some reason, and have been a serum drifter the past few months. I had to find one though; I was traveling to France and Italy for over a week and needed a serum that would travel well. I happened to be in the Nature Republic store in NYC’s Koreatown a few days before I left, and I tried this Ginseng Royal ..read more
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Summer Skincare SPF Rules
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
It might technically still be spring, but Memorial Day weekend always means that summer is on its way. I love everything about summer—the heat, sunshine, bathing suits, drinking rosé outside with my girlfriends and even the humidity (I know that sounds crazy, but after spending 9+ hours in a freezing office building, walking outside into humidity feels like the weather is giving me a hug).  So let's just establish some ground rules for summer skincare, for me and for you: Find your face sunscreen BFF. I know every excuse you probably will have for not wearing a daily sunscreen: smells ba ..read more
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Review: IOPE Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning
E5THESTORIES | Beauty
by esther kim
3y ago
If you're a skincare junkie like me, you already know that an essence or toner is an essential first (post-cleansing, of course) step to your entire routine. Essence or toner helps rebalance your skin's pH level after cleansing and it preps your skin to better drink in serum and moisturizer. And let's be serious, when you have about 5 steps in your routine (or 7... or 9), you want to make sure your skin is taking in everything it can. I’ve tried a lot of different toners but the one that I always seem to go back to is this IOPE Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning. I tried this one for the first ..read more
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