Inspired by South Korean beauty trends and traditions, Glow Recipe quickly rose to fame with their watermelon-focused skincare products. Founders Christine Chang and Sarah Lee decided to start their own Korean beauty inspired skincare brand after a self-care session over sheet masks and wine one night. With Glow Recipe, they wanted to combine the latest technologies from Korea and superfruit ingredients with an easy, sensorial, results-driven approach. Their philosophy stands on the notion that skincare should be effective, easy and fun — even one of the most enjoyable self-care moments of your day.
While some may say the provenance of Glow Recipe goes back to when they met, Christine and Sarah would attribute it to the beauty rituals with their mothers and grandmothers. Their grandmothers would rub cold watermelon rinds on their backs to soothe heat rash during hot summers in Korea. And this inspired them to bring watermelon to the forefront of a product, and show the beauty community how powerful watermelon is as an ingredient and expand the range using this superfruit.
In our latest series Skin Deep, we’re talking to women about their favourite beauty secrets, tips, and techniques. What they put on their faces, hair, and bodies and why. Skin Deep goes beyond the surface and explores the relationship women have with beauty and wellness — and what that means to them today.
One of the cherished products in every Asian woman’s routine is sunscreen. What are some other essentials you’d recommend to keep the skin glowing and slow down signs of ageing?
Christine: There are some amazing ingredients to utilise in your routine for plump, youthful skin. We believe the goal for every person is not to have ‘perfect’ skin, but healthy skin. And that means different things for everybody.
Retinol is a gold-standard ingredient that helps with firming skin and reducing fine lines and wrinkles. Our Avocado Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask and Avocado Melt Retinol Sleeping Mask both harness encapsulated retinol. It gently releases into the skin for gentle absorption while balancing the formula with nourishing ingredients like avocado.
We believe that Hyaluronic Acid is a holy grail ingredient for hydration and plumping skin. We can’t wait to bring our new Plum Plump Hyaluronic Serum to Singapore in 2021. We really challenged ourselves with this innovative formula so that it harnesses a unique formula of three types of Plum and four types of Hyaluronic Acid at five different molecular weights. It’s our modern approach to youthful skin by plumping every skin layer with hydration from the inside out.
What’s your go-to product or hack for fixing a skin disaster?
Sarah: Your skin changes on a day by day basis due to so many external factors like sleep, pollution, stress, diet and more. When a ‘skin disaster’ happens, it’s so important to go back to the basics of your routine. That includes a cleanser, eye cream, moisturiser, and SPF.
The Blueberry Bounce Cleanser deep cleans pores while still hydrating the skin with hyaluronic acid so that your skin won’t feel tight or dry. Eye cream is so important because your under-eye area is the thinnest skin on your face, so you want to make sure that it’s treated properly. The ophthalmologist-tested Avocado Retinol Eye Cream is specially formulated for the eye area. It helps provide nourishment, hydration and gentle encapsulated retinol for firming and de-puffing.
With the moisturiser step, I use either the Pink Juice Moisturiser or the Banana Cream. It depends on what my skin needs that day. If I’m more on the oilier side, I will use Pink Juice Moisturizer because it’s oil-free, lightweight and instantly cooling. If my skin is feeling dry and dehydrated, I enjoy going with the Banana Souffle Moisture Cream. It helps provide calming nourishment, while still being lightweight. During the daytime, be sure to finish your routine off with the SPF of your choice. Skincare is all about what works for you!
What are some of your favourite underrated K-beauty secrets or tips?
Christine: The main Korean skincare tip we can give is patting your skincare in to aid absorption. It goes back to the skincare philosophy of Korean women being as gentle as possible. Fast movements cause friction and over time it can cause micro-tears in your skin. We support patting toners, serums, and moisturisers all the way. This also minimises downtime between steps to avoid waiting for the product to dry.
To take the patting philosophy to the next level, we created a fun video that ended up going viral. It explains the ‘7 Skin Method’ where you pat in a toner or mist seven times in a row. It may sound excessive but your skin drinks up all the moisture. Patting helps drive the product deeper into skin’s layers and skin is plumped with hydration from within.
Another beauty hack is to ditch the towel after cleansing. Typically after cleansing, you would reach for a towel automatically, but that can cause rubbing and friction on your skin. It’s also impossibly hard to keep your towel clean in the bathroom, so instead of using a towel or constantly changing it out, just pat the moisture in after cleansing! It’s super easy and skin is plumped and slightly damp to adsorb the next steps of your skincare.
Beauty advice you’d share with your younger self?
Christine: Don’t box yourself into a routine but understand that your skin is more fluid than a predetermined skin type.
If you’re new to the brand and don’t know where to start, we asked Sarah to share her go-to recommendations. Take a look at her three picks below.