Soko Glam asked Korea-based YouTube star Joan Kim to curate her top skin care product picks for the holiday season. Here, she details how she uses five of them to keep her dry, acne-prone skin clear.
Joan Kim is the definition of #skingoals but we love that she’s not shy about speaking candidly of the work and trial and error it’s taken to get her complexion to the clear, glowing state it’s in now.
The vlogger has a tricky combination of dry and acne-prone skin and has dealt with acne scars and a case of the shingles. While she’s never not testing new products from the world of K-beauty and beyond, there are a handful of formulas that she talks about on her channel time and time again.
She’s chosen some of these products as part of her 2019 holiday gift guide featured on Sokoglam.com and then shared some anecdotes with us about how she uses each of them. Below, we’re specifically focusing on her acne-fighting, spot-treating game changers. Stock up on them for yourself, or to help a loved one in your life on their own skin care journey.
Acropass Trouble Cure
“Using these pimple patches is like giving your acne acupuncture. They’re especially great to use on hard-to-treat pimples like hormonal acne,” Joan told us.
She’s also featured the patches, which are dotted with thin microneedles (made of crystallized serum) to get deep into pimples, in her Korean Skincare I’ve Been Loving video from earlier this year, in which she called them a step above regular pimple patches.
Acwell Licorice pH Balancing Cleansing Toner
“This is a great product for layering,” she says. “Licorice helps with anti-aging and it helps brighten the skin tone so for people with acne scars and color discoloration, this is a great product for that.” Joan also likes that the toner is moisturizing enough to use year round.
COSRX Advanced Snail Mucin 96 Power Essence
“This essence is one of my favorites because it helped fade my acne scars without drying out my skin,” she says. “I can’t live without it, it’s my favorite pore product.” On her channel, she’s also mentioned that after use, she notices improvements in how glowing and healthy her complexion looks over night.
And that’s not all it’s good for. In her 2018 TRASH TALK: Korean Skincare I Finished Using Last Year! video she shared of the product: “I had shingles a couple years back and I still have scars all over my legs. This helped so much.”
Troiareuke Acsen Pore Control Mask
“This clay mask is always in my travel pouch. It’s great for cleaning out the pores and treating acne and is safe for dry and sensitive skin,” Joan says.
RELATED: How Troiareuke Saved Joan Kim’s Sensitive Acne-Prone Skin
She shared a great tip on how to use the mask as a spot treatment in the video Korean Face Masks: DIY, Hacks, & Favorites. “Every time you have a breakout, instead of using a super drying product, I recommend using this. It’s formulated with natural plant extracts so it really hydrates the skin instead of drying it out and it really does treat [spots].”
Neogen Vita Duo Cream Joan Day Joan Night
This is the two-in-one product Joan collaborated on with Neogen so she may be a little biased, but as she’s shared on her channel, she labored over making sure the formulas are perfect for all skin types and concerns, including her own.
The day cream contains green tea to reduce redness and treat acne, as well as vitamin C. “It’s one of my favorite ingredients that helped fade my acne scars and hyperpigmentation,” she told us shortly after the release.
