A basic tenet of K-beauty is double cleansing. Start by removing oil-based makeup, sunscreen, and excess sebum with an oil cleanser. (Don’t be afraid — remember, oil balances oil!) Just massage the oil onto dry skin, then wet your hands and massage some more to emulsify the oil and cleanse away the day!

For anti-aging, keeping your skin cleansed but not stripped is vital. A low pH cleanser will help you do that, and K-beauty has some great ones that are super affordable.

For anti-aging, we think vitamin C is an indispensable part of your daily routine to help delay the visible signs of aging. Look for a well-formulated treatment with ascorbic acid, the best studied vitamin C on the market.

In K-beauty, toner is a hydrating, prepping, balancing step. Alcohol is a no-no since we are not looking to strip but to prep skin to better absorb the following treatments. In fact, some K-beauty toners are so nourishing, they can double as your essence/serum step, especially when used in a 7-skin method.

In K-beauty, an essence, serum, or ampoule is where you typically get the highest concentration of skin treating ingredients, and it’s considered an indispensable step for really effecting change in your skin. For anti-aging, we like antioxidants and snail mucin to really fight skin-damaging free radicals and wrinkles.

A good sheet mask can go a long way in helping to boost skin’s hydration levels and soften fine lines. We swear by sheet masks with honey, hyaluronic acid, and a more creamy essence. Try it once a week (or more!) or any time your skin needs a boost and see what a difference it can make!

A dedicated eye cream will go a long way to help stave off fine lines and puffiness. Look for ingredients that smooth fine lines and fight free radical damage like ginseng and peptides. For puffiness, we love refrigerating an eye cream for a cooling treat.

For anti-aging, you may find that you need a lightweight moisturizer in addition to a face cream to seal in all the benefits of your previous treatments, fortifying your skin barrier, and preventing skin dehydration.

As we age, skin tends to get drier, so try adding a face cream in addition to a lotion/emulsion. For some, a lotion is all you need to moisturize your skin, so listen to your skin and see if a face cream right for you or if you can skip a lotion and just do a face cream. We love rich, luxurious feeling face creams with ceramides and liposomes.

No skincare routine is complete without a good sunscreen with at least an SPF of 30 (but preferably higher) that also protects from UVA and UVB rays. (In K-beauty, that means look for the PA+++ sign!) This goes double if you’re focused on anti-aging! Thankfully, Korean sunscreens are some of the best in the world — they offer light textures and no white cast, so you’ll actually want to wear sunscreen!