How my journey into Korean skincare began...

It all started with my parents' trip to Korea in early 2011 when they brought home some Skinfood samples for me to try.  Before that, I paid little attention to skincare and the only thing I used on my face was the eye cream which I found necessary as I saw signs of aging as I grow older.  I also used pore peels for my nose, but that's about it.  I didn't use moisturizers even when my husband was using them.  Then one day, I told myself that I need to start being nice to my skin.  Fed up with how ineffective over the counter skincare products work, I decided to search for the Skinfood brand in Toronto.  Luckily, through the help of Yelp, I discovered that I can get Skinfood at www.momomango.com (they started with just the Skinfood brand, and has now grown to 3 more Korean brands ~ The FACEShop, Innisfree, and Etude House ~ and I'm sure they are still expanding).

My first order from Momomango.

For my first order at Momomango, I had little clue what I should order; all I knew back then was that I have to get myself a tube of BB cream.  At that time, the Peach Sake Pore BB Cream #2 received a 5 star review, and so that was the first tube of BB cream I owned (later, I found out that the lighter #1 shade works better for me).

I also bought the Grape Seed Oil Wrinkle Neck Cream, as my mom always thought that no matter how youthful one can make her skin looks, the wrinkles on the neck will give her age away...  (The neck cream smells really nice, but you may notice a slight tingling feeling when applied to the neck.  Who knows, maybe it is supposed to do that, as I recently came across a mask by Tony Moly that also has the same effect.)  I don't use this product enough as I mainly focus on the face, but I will try to use it more so it doesn't go to waste.  For me, this is more for the fragrance than the actual anti-wrinkle purpose.  I think I am not at that age yet where I have visible wrinkles on my neck.  Hee hee.

For toner, I chose the Tomato Whitening Toner, because frankly, Asians are really obsessed with whitening.  (Throughout history, it was passed down from generations to generations that fairer skin will hide other physical imperfections.)

I also chose a mask, namely the Ginseng Mask, because I really had no idea which one to choose at that time; and as Korea is mostly known for its Ginseng, I thought that was a wise choice.  And I love how it reminds me of my trip to Korea before I had the girls, of the ginseng chicken soup we had at the restaurants.  When I put on that mask, I feel like I am feeding my skin one of the most prestigious ingredients there is.

In a way, Skinfood does have this effect on people.  They find inspirations from nature and their products appear to be more gentle on the skin that most European brands.  When you use Skinfood, you may ask if the products are really working or not because they seem so gentle and mild.  But in the long term, you will notice an improved difference.  For me, Skinfood, and many new Korean brands work to improve the physical well-being of my skin, as well as the psychological.  At the end of the day, when the girls are in bed, I will sit down with my mask sheets on, then continue with my daily skincare regime.  In the past, I would think that is a waste of time and I may not have the perseverance to do so everyday (I've wasted jars and tubes of Neutrogena products that way).  But with Korean skincare products, you easily get hooked and you feel so great to be able to spend a portion of your evening (for me, it's about 1 hour, but I sit in front of the TV while doing so) to pamper yourself.

But most importantly, the greatest satisfaction comes from compliments I receive from friends who also noticed the improvements.

* You may notice that I also purchased a pack of Carrot Collagen Eye Sheet and some Chlorella Nose Clear Patch.  I wish I can say more about them, but the former, I find it more on the pricey side (at Cdn$4 a pack; I do mask sheets daily, so that will come to a total of Cdn$28 a week); I am hoping that the Etude House eye masks, if they become available here in Toronto, will be more economical (I was able to get those at a great discount of HK$12/set, which at an exchange rate of Cdn$1 = HK$7.8, is really not a bad deal).

As for the Chlorella Nose Clear Patch (which has the unpleasant scent of grass ~ okay, not exactly unpleasant if you ask the right person; my husband actually likes the smell of freshly cut grass, just not me), I found other products at Momomango that worked better.  For instance the FACEShop Blackhead EX Mud Nose Clay Mask, which can even clear up the tiny hairs in the most difficult to reach places on the nose (namely the tip of the nose).  But I've moved onto using wash off masks to clear blackheads now, upon the suggestion of my facial lady.  I now use Innisfree's Jeju Volcanic Pore Clay Mask and Etude House's Black Head Final Kit.  The former is a great product, but also very mild, so you will need to be patient and use it regularly if you want to see results.  The latter is a really strong product that really loosen up the blackheads making it much easier to extract using a blackhead needle.  (However, the cream that comes with the set is not effective enough as a pore reduce ~ in my opinion, and I would use a separate pore reducing mask after applying the toner.)