Everyone I Know With Glass Skin Uses This Type of Skincare—I Tried It for a Month, and I Have Thoughts

Out of everything I tried, this SPF was a firm favourite that I'll continue using in my routine. The beauty of Korean skincare formulas is that they are so lightweight, and this SPF is no exception. It has a cream-gel texture that melts into a water-like texture when you apply it. It comes in a mineral SPF formula (pictured here) and also a chemical SPF version, depending on your preferences. It absorbs so quickly and feels undetectable on the skin, making it a great sunscreen to wear underneath makeup, too.

Acting affiliate editor Florrie Alexander tells me that she and her friends are totally obsessed with this jelly-like moisturiser, which gives you immediate glass-like skin on application. It also helps to make dull skin more glowy long-term, thanks to the addition of brightening niacinamide and cherry blossom.

This is another hero product from Innisfree which is a big bestseller. It's a brightening serum powerhouse with vitamin C and green tea, which helps to fade dark spots, pigmentation and post-acne scarring while leaving your skin glowing. You'll also find hydrating squalane and hyaluronic acid to leave your skin feeling plumped and juicy.

We can't talk about Korean skincare without mentioning Laneige. You'll probably best know the brand for its viral Lip Sleeping Masks, but it also offers some brilliant skincare too. I'd say that the Lip Sleeping Masks are genuinely worthy of the hype. They are thick and balmy (you only need to scoop out the tiniest amount with the included spatula—my last pot lasted me well over 6 months) and coat lips with long-lasting hydration. They also come in a variety of delicious-smelling flavours.

This one was a new discovery for me, and apparently it's one of Laneige's bestsellers. It's a hydrating toner with a milky texture that hydrates and tones at the same time. It's a watery texture that you can pat onto the skin after cleansing and before applying other serums or SPF. It does a great job at hydrating the skin without making it feel greasy, and my sensitive skin liked the ceramide formula that helps to repair an impaired skin barrier. It left my skin looking glassy and hydrated almost immediately.

Copy editor Georgia Seago put me onto Laneige's incredible masks ("I rate the Cica Sleeping Hydrating Face Mask," she tells me), and now I don't know how I lived without them. I tried the Bouncy and Firm Sleeping Mask a couple of nights a week, which has a delightfully thick, almost sorbet-like texture to it that instantly plumps and forms a hydrating barrier on the skin overnight. On the nights I slathered this on my skin, I woke up to hydrated and bouncier skin—it truly lives up to its name.

This product is truly great, so I'm not surprised that it is one of Dr Jart+'s bestselling products. This is a moisturiser with a green tint that magically transforms into a beige tone on contact with the skin, which helps to neutralise redness. I have some mild rosacea around my nose, and this does a great job at concealing it. The main (and big) downside is that this only suits those with fair or light skin tones, as it can leave a white cast on medium to deep skin colours. But if you experience redness and don't necessarily want to wear a lot of makeup, this is a great alternative if you have fair skin.

If you have very dry or sensitive skin, you might want to consider this one, especially for the colder months of the year. It's a buttery moisturiser that is packed with ceramides to help restore a compromised skin barrier (read: irritated or sensitised skin) and helps to leave skin feeling calm and comfortable. It's like the thick winter coat of your skincare routine to lock everything in and shield your skin from the elements. Those with oily or breakout-prone skin might find it too heavy, however.

This is genuinely one of the best BB creams I've tried—and a real favourite amongst the WWW team too. No joke, everyone who tries this is instantly converted. What makes it special is that it makes your skin look like your own, just better. It has a balmy texture that gives a plumping effect (by some sorcery, it seems to make my enlarged pores look smaller too) as it glides onto the skin. There are only four shades available, but each is designed to flex across a spectrum of tones from deep to fair. It leaves the skin with a radiant finish that isn't overly dewy, but makes you look like you've had ten hours of sleep.

Glow Recipe is one of the most popular Korean skincare brands around. You'll probably have heard of the Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops, which are designed to provide both an instant glass-like glow to your skin while enhancing skin clarity over time with niacinamide, which helps to brighten hyperpigmentation. This really helps to hydrate the skin while giving you a dewy finish (you can even mix these in with your foundation for extra glow), and they also come in a tinted version with a sheer bronzed tint that adds another level of radiance to lacklustre or dull skin.

I personally think this one doesn't get the airtime it deserves—it's been a game-changer introducing it into my routine. I have oily skin around my T-zone, and I'm prone to getting shiny throughout the day when wearing makeup. These lightweight serum drops are like a serum-primer hybrid, leaving a velvety matte finish that helps reduce excess oil throughout the day while making my makeup both apply flawlessly and stay put throughout the day. I usually concentrate a couple of drops just on my chin, nose and forehead, and it's made all the difference in mattifying my skin without drying it out either. Plus, it contains salicylic acid and strawberry enzymes, which help to leave pores looking less noticeable and clear of build-up.

Inspired by a popular pore treatment in Korean facials, this toner is another of Glow Recipe's bestsellers. It's designed to both hydrate the skin and exfoliate, while unclogging skin congestion and leaving pores looking minimised. Both the PHAs and BHAs (poly-hydroxy acids and beta-hydroxy acids) work by gently exfoliating the skin without causing irritation, while watermelon extract and cactus water help to flood the skin with hydration, leaving it looking dewy, radiant and bouncy.

I'm cheating here slightly as this isn't strictly skincare, but Erborian's skincare-makeup hybrids are too good not to include in this list. I've been using this for years, and it's one of the few BB creams I've actually finished down to the very last drop. It's infused with ginger and liquorice extracts that help to soothe the skin as you wear it (I genuinely see my skin looking calmer after taking this off at the end of the day), and it provides your skin with a plumping tint that is perfect if you don't want anything heavy. It lightly conceals, smooths and blurs the skin with a radiant, filtered finish. The brand says it leaves a mattifying finish, but I'd say it leans on the side of dewy. That being said, it doesn't separate on the oily areas of my skin either. Like other Korean makeup brands, I'm hoping we'll see a more extensive shade range, but otherwise I can't fault it.

The CC cream is another of Erborian's bestsellers and is lighter in texture and coverage than the BB cream. I recently introduced this to a friend, and they now use it religiously. It's a white cream with encapsulated pigment particles that burst on contact with the skin to adjust to your natural skin tone. It also contains centella asiatica to help calm and soothe the skin as you wear it.

If you're someone who has rosacea or skin redness, I'd highly recommend this version of the CC cream. It has a green tint which helps to neutralise redness and blemishes, and like the CC cream, it transforms as you blend it into the skin. This also contains centella asiatica to help leave your skin looking and feeling calmer, too.

This product went crazy-viral on TikTok and is a big bestseller. According to the Who What Wear team, this is a nice hydrating product but perhaps a little overhyped. That's not to say it's not good, just that beyond adding a lot of hydration to the skin, this won't do too much more. It contains 96% snail mucin, which works wonders for plumping and hydrating the skin without leaving it greasy or oily.

If you have oily or breakout-prone skin, this serum is definitely worth a try. It contains a high percentage of niacinamide and zinc to help reduce sebum production while leaving pores looking less noticeable over time. It's lightweight and sinks in instantly, making it a great safeguarding product to wear underneath makeup if you're prone to shine throughout the day.

I know so many people who swear by Cosrx's spot stickers, and I love them too. They're made from hydrocolloid, which works by absorbing the gunk inside the spot while forming a protective layer over the blemish as you wear it (great if, like me, you're a picker). When a big spot strikes, I pop on one of these to wear overnight, and by the morning, the spot has either completely disappeared or has flattened out considerably.

I bought a mini-sized bottle of this one on a friend's recommendation, and now I'll 100% be buying a full-size bottle. It's incredibly gentle and only has six ingredients, one of which is centella asiatica, which is known for calming and soothing the skin. The watery serum texture is so lightweight and sinks in immediately, making it great for layering underneath other serums or moisturisers as an extra line of defence without being overly heavy if you have oily skin.

If you want an extra layer of moisture, this serum is like a tall glass of water for the skin. It contains five different types of hyaluronic acid, as well as centella asiatica to calm and soothe reactive skin.

The brand also has a great toner with its hero ingredient, centella asiatica, as well as gently exfoliating PHAs that help to softly slough away dead skin cells to reveal glowing skin underneath. You'll also find hydrating hyaluronic acid in this one, too, making it a great step to include in your routine if you have sensitive skin that is prone to breakouts or looking dull.

I'd been seeing this one all over my social feeds, and news writer Natalie Munroe confirmed to me that it's genuinely worth the hype after buying a tube herself. Naturally, I had to secure one to try myself, and I've loved using it. Unlike some SPFs, this one isn't heavy or clogging. It has a gel-cream texture that melts into the skin into an almost watery fluid that is truly undetectable on the skin and dries into a velvety finish while leaving the skin feeling hydrated. It's a dream to wear alone or underneath makeup.

This cleansing oil is so beautiful and rivals some of the luxury ones I've tried that are four times the price. It makes light work of melting away even the most stubborn of makeup with the lightest of pressure, from foundation to waterproof mascara. It leaves the skin feeling hydrated and comfortable after cleansing, and my complexion felt noticeably more supple after using it. Just be sure to remove it thoroughly, as it could break out acne-prone skin types.

When Beauty of Joseon said glow, they meant it. This gel-serum contains 60% propolis, which hydrates, softens and soothes the skin, while the addition of niacinamide helps to reduce the appearance of enlarged pores and control oil production too. I've noticed that my skin looks more dewy and glassy since using it.

Think of Hero as your one-stop shop for all things spot patches. These hydrocolloid patches are some of the more affordable around (this pack contains 72 stickers), and they absorb the gunk inside spots to help them deflate. They're great if you're prone to picking your skin, as they form a protective barrier too.

These ones are even more undetectable, so they're ideal for wearing during the day if you want to heal a spot without them being noticeable.

If you're prone to multiple blemishes in certain areas, these extra-large patches are great for treating several spots in one go, thanks to their rectangular size.

Affiliate manager Jerrylyn Sagquiped told me she's obsessed with Torriden's face masks and influenced me to try one myself. Korean sheet masks are elite, but this one is one of the most hydrating that I've tried. The mask is drenched in the brand's Dive-In Low Molecular Hyaluronic Acid Serum, and instantly plumps and hydrates the skin, leaving it bouncy and with a dewy gleam. I'll definitely be stocking up on a couple to add into my routine once a week.

The formula also comes in a serum, which deeply hydrates the skin and leaves your complexion looking glass-like. The gel-to-water texture floods skin with moisture, while malachite (which gives the formula it's blue hue), allantoin and panthenol help to calm and soothe. This is a great hydrating product for everyone to have in their routine for extra hydration year-round, whether it be day or night.

These hydrating toner pads are infused with the same hydrating products as the mask and serum, but with the addition of BHAs to gently exfoliate and unclog pores. But what's genius is that they can be used in multiple ways. You can swipe them over the skin as a toning step in your routine before your serum and moisturiser, or apply them as mini sheet masks on the skin, which Koreans call 'toner packs' for a more intensive treatment.

Gel collagen supplements are bubbling in the UK market right now, but they're huge news in South Korea. Taking inspiration from the pioneering concept, Australian brand Vida Glow delivers genuinely efficacious liquid collagen that works to brighten, plump and tone skin from the inside out. (And they taste pretty good too.)

Milky toners are a huge staple of Korean skincare rituals, and this new one from By Terry takes further inspiration from the region by infusing this energising mist with a refreshing matcha complex and soothing centella asiatica for calm, hydrated skin.

Sheet masks are one of the skincare products that caused an initial boom in K-beauty skincare over in the UK and this one from No7 is infused with collagen and niacinamide to deeply boost hydration.

Essences are huge in Korea, and are used to inject an extra layer of moisture into the skin while improving the absorbency of other products that you layer on top. Ole Henriksen's brightening formula uses fermented orange peel to brighten and balance uneven skin tone.

CeraVe is a master of hydration, but this water gel moisturiser is something that wouldn't look out of place in a K-beauty skincare routine. It uses a blend of three essential ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide to quench dehydrated skin without weighing it down.