Essences are known as “the heart” of the Korean skin care routine. Find the best formula for you below!
Essences are lightweight, hydrating concentrates that enhance your complexion. They fall after toning but before moisturizing in your skin care routine, helping you to better absorb treatments, serums, and moisturizers applied afterward.
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While their primary function is to nourish skin, they can have secondary benefits such as fighting breakouts, boosting cell turnover, and soothing skin sensitivities. Read on to discover the essence that can best benefit your skin type.
Combination: Dewytree Ultra Vitalizing Snail Essence Water
Combination skin types need an essence that will gently hydrate dry areas of their skin while simultaneously balancing their oils. This lightweight yet effective essence hydrates, softens, and plumps combination skin, while tackling concerns like redness and acne with ingredients like snail secretion filtrate, adenosine, and aloe leaf extract. And with a mild 6.5 pH and no potential irritants, it’s gentle enough for sensitive and damaged combination skin, too.
Oily: Sioris My First Essener
This essence uses ingredients like green tea and mugwort to effectively hydrate, prevent breakouts, control sebum levels, and create a smooth, flawless canvas for your moisturizer and makeup. Moreover, it serves as a 2-in-1 essence AND toner!
Sensitive: Rovectin Skin Essentials Activating Treatment Lotion
Rovectin is a K-beauty brand that was originally created for cancer patients, so all of its products are clean and safe for sensitive skin types. This essence reinforces the natural skin barrier with a barrier repair complex, gently exfoliates with natural enzymes, and plumps and hydrates with seven types of hyaluronic acid.
Normal skin: Chasin’ Rabbits Magic Beauty Shroom
Going into the colder seasons of the year, normal skin types will want to ensure that they are as glowy and bright as ever, and that they’re cleansing their skin deeply enough to get rid of the oil, sweat, and grime brought on by the heat. The Chasin’ Rabbits Magic Beauty Shroom Elixir contains 100% tremella mushroom extract to plump and hydrate skin.
Dry: Isntree Clear Skin 8% AHA Essence
The Isntree Clear Skin 8% AHA Essence uniquely combines glycolic acid and lactic acid to brighten your complexion by clearing dead skin cells and gently exfoliating your skin.
Glycolic acid is a powerful AHA which targets cells efficiently and thoroughly, while lactic acid is gentle and works to improve your skin’s natural moisture levels, leaving your dry skin feeling and looking refreshed and bright. This essence also contains hyaluronic acid, which helps your skin look more supple and smooth, and reduces wrinkles and redness.