A Korean skincare routine is built in thin layers, lightest first: cleanse, tone, an essence, a serum, a cream and, in the morning, sunscreen. The number of steps matters less than the order and the texture. You do not need ten products. Five, chosen for your skin and applied from the most watery to the richest, make a complete routine, and that is the version we set out here.
What Makes a Routine Korean?
The idea behind it is layering. Instead of one heavy cream asked to do everything, each step adds a little hydration or comfort, and each layer is light enough to sit comfortably under the next. The textures move from water to gel to cream. Every house in this piece is South Korean, and many of them build their ranges in exactly this way, with a toner, a serum and a cream from one line made to be used together. Torriden's DIVE-IN line and Barr's Centella Calming line are two examples.
Step One: Cleansing, Often Twice
In the evening, a Korean routine usually cleanses twice. The first cleanse is an oil, massaged onto dry skin to loosen make-up and sunscreen. The second is a water-based facial cleanser, a gel or a foam, which washes the skin itself. In the morning, one gentle cleanse is enough.
Klairs Gentle Black Deep Cleansing Oil is a first cleanse: it goes onto dry skin and turns milky when water is added, and its formula names black currant seed oil and black soybean oil. For the second, Hyggee's pH Hyaluron Gel Cleanser is a daily gel in a pump bottle with a mildly acidic pH, and The Potions Cica Gentle Facial Cleanser is a lightweight gel built around centella asiatica, presented as pH balanced. Rinse with lukewarm water and pat the face dry rather than rubbing it.
Step Two: Toner
A Korean toner is not the tight, astringent splash of older routines. It is a watery layer of hydration that follows cleansing and prepares skin for what comes next. Press it in with your hands, or sweep it over the face with a cotton pad.
Klairs Supple Preparation Facial Toner is a light moisturising step, with centella asiatica extract and liquorice root extract on its list. Torriden's DIVE IN Toner is built around low molecular hyaluronic acid and is meant to be patted in over the face and neck until absorbed.
Step Three: What Is an Essence?
The essence is the step most people outside Korea have not met. It sits between toner and serum: a little richer than a toner, lighter than a serum, and spread in a fine layer over the whole face. If the toner prepares the skin, the essence is the first layer of care, there to leave skin feeling hydrated and comfortable. Most are watery; some are soft gels. Pour a little into your palms and press it in.
Benton Fermentation Essence is what the house calls a first essence: a watery texture with fermented ingredients, peptides and ceramides, its list opening with galactomyces ferment filtrate. Barr Centella Calming Gel Essence is a lightweight gel built on centella asiatica leaf water and extract, with panthenol for comfort.
- Supple Preparation Facial Toner
- DIVE IN Low Molecular Hyaluronic Acid Toner
- Fermentation Essence
- Centella Calming Gel Essence
Step Four: Face Serum
A serum is more concentrated than an essence, and it is the step you choose for one particular concern: dryness, dullness, the look of redness or uneven texture. A few drops are enough. Keep to one serum at a time until you know how your skin responds.
Torriden's DIVE IN Serum centres on low molecular hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is a humectant: it draws water to the skin and helps hold it there, which is why skin tends to feel more supple after it. Its directions are morning and evening, followed by moisturiser, and by sunscreen in the day.
Step Five: Face Cream
The cream closes the routine. Its role is to seal in the watery layers beneath it, so that the hydration stays with the skin. In Korean ranges you will find two textures: gel-creams, which feel fresh and suit oilier skin and warm weather, and richer creams for skin that feels dry.
Village 11 Hydro Boost Gel Cream is a weightless gel-cream for morning and evening that layers easily under make-up. Mizon Cicaluronic Moisturizer pairs centella asiatica with hyaluronic acid for dry, sensitive skin, with cocoa seed butter and shea butter among its ingredients. Klairs Rich Moist Soothing Cream is a soothing cream in a small tube, with shea butter and jojoba seed oil on its list.
- DIVE IN Serum Low Molecular Hyaluronic Acid
- Hydro Boost Gel Cream Face Moisturiser
- Cicaluronic Moisturizer
- Rich Moist Soothing Cream Face Moisturizer
Step Six: Sunscreen
Every morning routine ends with sunscreen, and Korean skincare treats it as the step you never skip. Apply it last, after your cream, and reapply through the day when you are in the sun. On Korean sunscreens you will see two ratings. SPF describes protection from UVB. PA is a grading for UVA, and PA++++ is the highest grade on that scale.
Benton Air Fit UV Defense Sun Cream is SPF 50 PA++++, a light cream with centella and niacinamide and a non-sticky finish. Hyggee Relief Sun Moisturiser SPF50+ PA++++ is a moisturising daily sunscreen with niacinamide, in a slim tube. Suntique I'm Aqua Sun Essence is a water-based SPF50+ sunscreen that absorbs quickly and is made to leave no white cast.
How Do You Build a Short Routine?
Begin with the three steps that do the most: cleanse, cream and, in the morning, sunscreen. Then add one layer at a time, in this order: a toner, then an essence, then a serum. Five steps in the morning and six in the evening is the full routine, and most days it takes only a few minutes.
In the morning:
- Cleanse once, gently.
- Toner, pressed in.
- Essence, or a serum if you have one concern to address.
- Face cream.
- Sunscreen, generously.
In the evening:
- Cleansing oil on dry skin, then rinse.
- Gel or foam cleanser.
- Toner.
- Essence.
- Serum.
- Face cream.
The rule that holds it together is thinnest to thickest. Give each layer a moment to settle before the next goes on.
Introducing New Steps
Add one new product at a time and give it a week or two before adding the next, so that if something does not suit you, you know which one it was. Patch test anything new on a small area first. If your skin is sensitive, fewer steps used consistently will serve it better than many used occasionally.
If you add only one step to the routine you already have, make it the essence. It is the step that most defines the Korean way of caring for skin, and the easiest to keep.
