Skin care tips from 13 gorgeous Korean stars

The ex-M.I.L.K singer and actress has always been known for her supple, clear skin. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar Korea a couple of years ago, she mentioned that moisturisers and facial oils are a must in every skincare routine. Plus, it’s important that you choose the right products that work well on your skin type.

So, for instance, if you’ve got parched, dry skin, grab a moisturiser and a facial oil that help retain moisture and ensure that the products used are packed with extra hydrating and nourishing benefits.

Glowing skin that looks poreless – Jessica Jung achieves her skin perfection by “heating” up her skincare products after application to encourage absorption. Just rub your palms together to generate a little heat and hold over your face without touching your skin. How this works is that your body heat opens up your pores slightly and makes your skin cells more receptive and responsive to your beauty products.

As a singer, Song Ji-Eun understands the importance of drinking water in order to keep her vocal cords hydrated, but she also emphasizes hydration in her skincare regime. She drinks up to four litres a day and cites it as the secret behind her glistening, radiant skin. Water helps to flush away the toxins in your body, and as your body is made of about 60% water, it is crucial in maintaining healthy skin function and oil-to-water balance.

Literally. The Descendant of the Sun actor owes his enviably smooth and fair complexion to his nightly routine of washing his face with milk. While it might sound a little strange, think about the last time you had a milk bath at the spa – didn’t your skin feel luxuriously smooth after?

Some dermatologists even recommend it, as milk reportedly helps to remove oil-soluble impurities with the help of the fat-soluble enzyme lipase and protein-based impurities and dead skin cells with lactic acid. It also great for soothing sunburns and calming skin, but be sure to use raw or unpasteurized milk.

Pimples are just the worst, but this is especially so for models. Irene Kim shares this helpful hack for those annoying zits that appear right before an important event: blast hot water to steam up your shower, and soak a cotton pad with some toner and apply directly onto your breakouts. The steam opens up your pores and allows the properties of your toner to absorb better. For this tip, look for toners that contain ingredients like witch hazel or tea tree oil as they are known to help reduce inflammation.

For popular actress Ha Ji-won, nothing is more important that moisturizing. She values it above all other skincare tips, and ensures her skin does not stay dry for more than 3 seconds. After washing her face, she immediately applies a jelly pack (from her skincare line J-One) to restore moisture lost during cleansing. She is so strict about this that she recommends always having a facial mist within reach if your skincare products are away from your shower.

Actress Song Hye-Kyo is all about DIY masks, despite endorsing one of the biggest K-beauty brands. Her favourite recipe is a simple blend of egg whites and honey (ideally an active honey), applied fortnightly.

Simply massage onto your skin until dry, and rinse off with warm water. Honey is a natural antibacterial agent and is great for acne treatment and prevention, and is also chock-full of antioxidants and moisturising properties which help to slow down signs of aging and visibly plump your skin.

Meanwhile, egg whites help to shrink your pores by tightening the skin – the perfect mask, in our opinion.

Member of popular boy band group BTS is no stranger to skin complaints (who says men don’t take care of their skin), and is particularly concerned about the elasticity of his skin. A frequent traveler, he recommends dampening cotton pads with toner and double moisturizing to avoid losing too much moisture and arriving at your destination with beautiful, glowing skin.

She is one of Korea’s most famous beauty gurus, with over a whopping 3 million subscribers on Youtube, so you can be sure any tips from Pony are 100% legit. She swears by washing her face with green tea water, made by soaking bags of green tea in warm water. Green tea has an anti-inflammatory effect on the skin that can help to reduce redness and puffiness. Pony recommends doing this twice a week for best results.

Actress, singer and all-round idol Bae Suzy owes her glowing skin to what she dubs as the “424” method, which entails 4 minutes of rubbing a cleansing oil over her face to remove make up, followed by 2 minutes with a foaming cleanser and a final 4 minutes of with water.

Also known as ‘double cleansing’, this method ensures you’ve truly removed all traces of makeup and dirt that have accumulated over the course of a day, which provides the foundation for flawless skin and drastically reduces the chances of breakouts.

Are you cleansing your skin the smart way? According to actress Go Hyun-Jung (whose skin looks positively radiant despite her hectic schedule), she recommends cleansing the T-zone area first, followed by your cheeks. This is because the former area tends to be oilier than the latter, and by cleansing your cheeks last, you ensure the drier areas are not exposed to cleanser for too long.

Over-cleansing = drier skin = more sensitive skin that has been stripped of its moisture, which makes your skin compensate by producing more oil. You do the math.

Krystal tells us in a previous interview, “The most important thing for me is to remove all the makeup completely before I go to sleep. I put on a lot of moisturising cream before I go to bed. That’s how I take care of my skin – nothing special. I never skip removing my makeup. Never! It’s really important. [And] I always ensure I drink a lot of water and work out as much as I can.”

Everyone has different skin types on different days, and Son Ye Jin understands this very well. The Korean actress told us, “I believe there’s no one product that fits everyone or serves their skin concerns and purposes, so I try to allocate which products to use for when my skin is sensitive or dry, etc.”

Additional reporting from Cleo (Cheryl Lim). 

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