First Impressions: 5 K-Beauty Sunscreens for Summer

I get asked "what makes Korean beauty products better?" all the time, and the answer is always the same: they're not somehow magically better, because you can find good, bad, and mediocre products anywhere. They are quite innovative however, and where Asian cosmetics (including Korean beauty) really shine (in my eyes) is sunscreen.

If I could send a message to myself 10 years ago, before I moved to the US and into the desert, I'd tell myself about Asian sunscreens. I used to think I couldn't wear sunscreen, period! It gave me terrible skin reactions and felt unbearable. I got away with skipping sunscreen due to the relative weak sunlight in my region of Canada, but when I moved far south to an area of Texas that gets sandstorms, premature aging from epic sun damage happened fast.

I've rudely plunked my tray in the middle of the local wild bunny buffet

If I'd known there existed cosmetically elegant sunscreens that wouldn't cause my skin to erupt in painful breakouts within hours, I'd still be enjoying the same wrinkle-free smoothness the women in my family normally have until their 40's. Not to mention a lowered risk of, y'know, skin cancer.

In this post

• First impressions of 5 sunscreens from Goodal, Innisfree, & Make P:rem

I have reviewed one of these already, and I'm currently testing some of the others. Full reviews will come in the future, but after people on my Instagram expressed interest in a first impressions post, here they are!

Goodal Mild Protect Natural Filter Sun Fluid SPF50+ PA++++ Review: When You Need to Express Your Inner Mime

Sunscreen: like a seat belt, it's something we endure because the alternative possibly leads to death or disfigurement. Wearing it isn't optional, so the best one can hope for is that it's as unobtrusive as possible, but at minimum the seat belt doesn't mash your bosom when you wear it. This sunscreen isn't it. Sunscreens should be cosmetically elegant, meaning light and comfortable on the skin, and they should have full-spectrum high sun protection (SPF 50+, PA+++ or higher), with minimal white cast.

I was definitely feeling the hanbang-inspired packaging this came in

This is pretty easy if you use chemical (also known as 'organic') UV filters, but as they cause skin irritation and reactions for many people (including yours truly), many people with sensitive skin can only use physical (also known as 'inorganic') UV filters. Some of which are white. Literally white pigment. Nanoparticle forms of physical filters are supposed to have less white cast, but there's some debate about their safety. The point of this dry paragraph is that physical sunscreens with minimal white cast are very rare. People like me hunt them in murky corners of the internet and have underground swap networks for decants.

In this post:

• Product details
• Ingredients
• Swatches on NC10 and NC30 skin
• What I'll repurchase instead
• Final thoughts & why I'll use it up

I had high hopes for this one, because I loved the Goodal Mild Protect Natural Filter Sun Cream SPF50+ PA+++, so surely this almost-the-same-name-but-one-more-PA-rating sunscreen should also be good? Are you looking for the perfect undead base makeup-and-sunscreen combo for your daytime Hallowe'en beach party or possibly playing Marley's Ghost in an afternoon matinée of A Christmas Carol at an outdoor theatre?

No? Then the Goodal Mild Protect Natural Filter Sun Fluid ain't what you're looking for. I'm a Mac NC10 and it looks white as hell on me. I had to double check that it wasn't meant to be a brightening cream. Re-reading the marketing copy while writing this review, I'm beginning to suspect that "light finish" isn't a reference to the texture, it's an invitation to a vampire cosplay. You'll see what I mean. *cue ominous organ music and the flapping of bats*

Beginner Friendly: Simple K-Beauty Starter Kit #3 - Sensitive, Dehydrated & Aging Skin Type

Today's post is the third kit in my Beginner Friendly: Simple K-Beauty Starter Kits for 4 Skin Types series, which is a 4-part set of ultra-simple, 5-product 'starter kits' I've put together for the K-Beauty fans-to-be in my life-- by that I mean my hapless friends and family members who I am attempting to convert to The Way of the Snail.

This week's kit is especially near and dear to my heart, because it's the kit I put together for my mom, who is the apple (of wisdom) of my eye, and who I've sadly been unable to see much in the last almost-decade, seeing as I hied off to a foreign country thousands of miles away.  If I cannot shower her with love and affection in person, then by golly I'm going to shower love (and beauty products) on her from afar, with care packages selected with love and padded with wistful longing.

Left: simple. Right: eeeeek!  Both are examples of the daily routines I post on Instagram.

 As a quick reminder, the care packages from this series are actual care packages that I've put together for real people, based off their skin type.  I am not recommending any of these items as a 'treatment' for any skin type or condition; this is just me sharing the personal mini routines I've put together for friends and family.

In this series:

All starter kits will feature 5 items or less, what they're for, and how to use them.  All lovingly selected with thought and care, because when I make kits for my friends and family, it's a box o' love.  Obviously not everything works for everyone, patch testing is necessary, etc etc.  These are just my personal picks.

• Starter Kit # 1: My college-age friend with oily, acne-prone skin (link here)
• Starter Kit # 2: My college-age friend with dry, stressed skin (link here)
• Starter Kit # 3: My mother's sensitive, dehydrated, aging skin kit (you are here!)
• Starter Kit # 4: My mother-in-law's normal, hyperpigmented, aging kit (link here)

• Bonus Kit if I haven't thrown myself off a cliff from creating all these visual (yes, visual) kits:  My personal kit if my house burned down and I had to start over with nothing but Amazon gift cards, which won't be simple, less than 5 items, or anything else straightforward.  No promises. Done! K-Beauty on Amazon: Rebuilding a 15+ Step Routine if My Stash Caught on Fire

Once these posts are live, I will link them here.  Done!  As I mentioned in the original post, these items will be from Amazon for accessibility reasons as a counterpoint to the more internationally-focused From Beginner to Expert Mode: Where I Buy K-Beauty & Asian Cosmetics post.  Accessibility is an ongoing theme in discussions with the podcasters of The Snailcast and my decision to create this series was kicked off by by the straightforward & complete K-Beauty routine that Tracy of Fanserviced-b posted for normal skin types, which you can check out here: Easy Starter K-Beauty Skincare Routine for $100 on Amazon.

This routine was made for my mother's aging, dehydrated, sensitive skin and as it's made for my mom, it's heavily Hanbang (aka traditional Korean herbal medicine) focused, because that's what I am the most excited for her to try.

K-Beauty & Portion Control: Why Sometimes Good Value Can Be a Bad Idea

I know, it sounds a bit crazy.  Good value is good value, right?  Who doesn't love value?  As it turns out, me-- at least some of the time.  This is an idea that has been floating around in my head for a few months, peeking out in posts here and there, and finally I decided I was going to push aside a lackluster review that was too boring to write and explore this idea in earnest.

Many tiny things; full-size sheet mask, cushion, toner, and lip balm for scale.

This is not a traditional or "authentic" Korean beauty concept (after all, I'm not Korean; I do believe that K-Beauty is accessible to everyone), it's just something that's been percolating around my head for a while, with roots in both Korean beauty and the international K-Beauty community.  The evolution of ideas that take root and then flourish into countless branches of inspiration and personal discovery is pretty fascinating, after all!

I've been really captivated by the concepts that have evolved naturally from the international K-Beauty community in the last year.  For better or ill, the international K-Beauty scene is as much of a force as the trends that are coming out of Korea itself, in no small part due to deliberate and official incentive from the Korean government for brands and shops to market only overseas instead of within Korea.  But back to the point, which is that the international K-Beauty community generates some very interesting ideas and concepts, as well as endless variations in approach and personal skincare philosophy.

I think it's important to give oneself room to evolve; ideas can stagnate and then become be perceived as the only "right" way to do something; skincare is so complex and there's just so many factors involved that there's no truism more apt than YMMV aka "your mileage my vary" and there's so much room for figuring out what works for your unique skin.

A lot of these concepts also work synergistically; for example, one can be a proponent of both the Skincare Wardrobe concept and also the Hauling Responsibly concept, by practicing mindfulness when making purchases.  The one I'm going to talk about today works well with both, even if it's going to sound a little crazy at first.

In this post:

• The seed: Go Hyun Jung's skincare tips
• Seasonal Skincare: not just capitalism at work
• Portion control: in your hauls and on your face
• Putting it together: Good value is not necessarily a good thing

So what's today's concept?  The idea that getting a great value on your purchases may not actually be a good idea, or sustainable.  I know, nuts, but hear me out.

The weekend I broke up with 75% of my sheet masks

This weekend is going to be a light-hearted progress report and not an in-depth review, guide, or discussion, so if you're not particularly interested in how I attacked the contents of my sheet mask stash and culled the weak from the herd, check in next weekend when we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming!

I poured myself a coffee, hauled my sheet masks out of every nook and cranny of the house, & prepared to be savage.

I know, last weekend when I posted my massive two-part megapost (2015 in Review, Part I: My Favourite K-Beauty Products of 2015, & Part II: My Favourite K-Beauty Tips, Concepts, & Trends of 2015) I said that I was taking this weekend off due to the double-post.  I was exhausted from a hectic season at work, family events, and writing a megapost that required me giving up sleep 4 nights in a row to finish in time.  I was determined to give myself a break this weekend, and maybe I'd finally tackle the giant, sprawling, terrifying catastrophe that is my office.

I had no intention of blogging this weekend; every once of mental fortitude was already spoken for this arduous task ahead of me.  So how did I end up breaking up with the majority of my sheet masks, and then staying up late posting about it?!

In this post:

• What possessed me to do this in the first place
• What I'm excited to use
• What I'm excited to try
• What I'm keeping, but not using, & what I'll be using up
• What's being given the boot- gifted, given away, and destashed
• What my mask collection looks like in the aftermath

There may be a few expired masks in the 'destined for destash' pile, so I'll be sorting through when I decide what to do with them, but it's such a relief to have culled so much from my stash.  Life is too short to be wasted on masks I don't want to use!

Goodal Mild Protect Natural Filter Sun Cream SPF50+ PA+++ Review

In my post A Haul Before the Storm: Eye candy, Details, First Impressions, & some Mini Reviews I mentioned there was a small snafu on my part when I ordered the Goodal Mild Protect Natural Filter Sun Cream in my Club Clio USA haul, and that I would be going into more detail about it later.  And here we are!

It's a long and slightly boring story, so here's the short version: I messed up my order, I received two sunscreens instead of one, and when I contacted Clio to let them know, they very graciously offered to refund me, exchange it, or whatever I wanted to do.  That's pretty spiffy considering that I was the one who made the mistake.  I suggested an alternative: what about a giveaway?

Image from original haul post

So is this sponsored?  Er, maybe?  They let me keep it, so I guess so?  I'm not into sponsored posts but I was willing to make an exception because this was something I had purchased myself, it was not something that was offered to me, I couldn't see blazing through two sunscreens when I live in an at-home vampire cave, and it didn't seem fair for me to make Clio pay for a refund when it wasn't their mistake.  They sent me a different product (the Clio Vf21 Volume Brightener) instead of a refund for the extra sunscreen, and all was well.  A++ on the customer service; I love that they were willing to make it right despite the miscommunication that was really technically my fault.

So, I decided that once I was finished with testing and using the product, if I liked it I would give away the second tube, and if I didn't, I'd send it back to Clio.  I've been using this since mid-June and it's the end of September, so I've used for two seasons and am confident in saying it's been thoroughly tested and is ready for review.

In this post:

• Product details
• Ingredients & what's the deal with all-physical sunscreens?
• Review & white cast demo on NC30 skin
• Giveaway details (also includes sheet masks!)