Korean Skincare vs Western Skincare: What Are the Differences?

Taking care of my skin has always been an important part of my daily life routine, but to be honest shopping for the new anti-acne lotion or the best moisturizer cream was hell so boring for me!

Skincare sectors used to look like pharmacies with all these white tubes and pots arranged in tedious way on dull shelves. I am not discussing their quality nor effectiveness here but this is how I felt myself about skincare products. That happened till the day I visited Innisfree store in Malaysia and was like, Wow, this is a whole new world! Since then I started to involve more Asian skincare products in my daily regimen and I can surely say that both the East and the West are approaching beauty differently and to make it easier for you guys, I tried to summarize them in the following points:

1. Philosophy

Korean skincare routine focuses on preventing skin impurities and perfecting the skin not just doing spot treatments to hide flaws. While I found that western skincare routine tends to solve skin problems and use more coverage, correction and concealing makeup products.

2. ” million-step” Korean skincare regimen?!

Have you ever heard of the notorious 10-steps Korean skincare routine?! Yeah, you heard it correctly! It is 8 steps daily and can reach 10 sometimes!

Koreans believe in double cleansing, exfoliating, treating intensely, moisturizing and applying plenty of SPF during the day. While Europeans cut it shortly to 3 steps of cleansing, hydrating and applying SPF.

3. Natural vs. Medical

After years of using both Japanese and Korean skincare products, I noticed that Asians favor natural ingredients and botanical-based products. There is a culture of honoring the timeless ingredients that are indigenous to Asia, like indigenous mushrooms or ginseng.

While for Westerns quality comes first, medical and pharmaceutical tested ingredients and products are the hit there.

4. Korean products are wallet-friendly?!

Many would say that Korean skincare products are cheaper than Westerns ones. This is true and false! I used to have the same belief too till I moved to Singapore and found out that Asian beauty brands are just like Westerns, meaning that there are drugstore brands as well as high-end ones. And the fancy ones like Sulwhasoo and Shiseido are almost equal in price to the Westerns. But still, can not deny that there are a lot of affordable Korean brands due to high market competition.

5. Where to get your favorite sheet mask?

Western skincare brands like Kiehl’s and Bioderma can be found in most countries all around the world, while many Korean brands are still physically limited to few countries such as South East Asia or Australia. Korean brands are sadly not available in Europe and the Middle East.

6. Would be sad to throw away these cute packaging

As I mentioned before, skincare regime and products were so boring for me. They are either medical-looking tubes or pots, or fancy packaging when it comes to high-end products. While no one would dare to touch my Korean skincare products. they are so cute, colorful and have my favorite cartoon characters on their covers!

7. Innovative and awfully cute

Coconut gel mask with tomato ?! Peeling Foot mask?! Cherry lip gel patch?!

We must admit it .. Asia especially South Korea is ahead of the curve when it comes to innovative. Asia has developed many formulas that we never heard of like pudding, mist, jelly and mochi. While in Western products things are still more traditional like cream, lotion and serum.

8. Beauty is not only for you ladies!

In Asia, both men and women are obsessed with their skin and taking care of it. It is very common to see men looking for the best BB cream in South Korea or the most effective whitening cream in India.

And there you have it – do you use more Asian or Western skincare products in your routine?! What are your thoughts? Sound off below!