Two weeks ago, I had an incredible experience meeting up with Christine and Sarah, the power beauties behind Glow Recipe, in New York.
Glow Recipe is a newly established beauty site with a unique approach in introducing Korean beauty products to the rest of the world. (yep, they now ship internationally!)
Sarah and Christine, former executives from a global beauty company, with a combined 19 years of experience in marketing and product development in both Korea and the US, are bringing us handpicked natural Korean beauty products on their website.
Sarah & Christine with their popular LeeJiHam Tea Tree Essence 90.
It was inspiring and exciting to hear all the beauty tips and tricks from the industry vets. Moreover, I was surrounded by Korean beauty products jam packed with wonderful organic and natural ingredients that guarantee the gwang* effect.
*gwang means glow (or dewy effect if you like) and the inspiration behind the name Glow Recipe.
With information just a click away nowadays, we’ve all become more ingredient-conscious on what we put on our skin.
Sarah and Christine are bridging the gap in the market through Glow Recipe by introducing the perfect concoction for radiant and healthy-looking skin.
I’m currently testing multi-tasker products such as Dr. Oracles’s Powder Cleanser with pineapple and papaya enzymes, Shara Shara’s Honey Bomb, which I’ve shared on Instagram – that cute and adorable jar of goodness.
Here’s a little Q&A we’ve prepared to help you understand the concept behind Glow Recipe and why I think you’ll absolutely love them!
Why did you start Glow Recipe?
Our goal was to cut through the clutter. We’d constantly hear from friends and even people within the beauty industry that Korean beauty was fascinating but the sheer amount of products were overwhelming. We’ve lived and breathed beauty in both countries for such a big part of our personal and professional lives so we thought we could really help to translate this complexity. Another reason was that we ourselves are ingredient-obsessed, and we really wanted to curate great Korean brands and products that prioritized natural ingredients.
Why natural beauty products?
Your skin is the largest organ in the body and we think it’s important to know what goes on it and is absorbed into it. Korea also has a rich heritage in using natural ingredients for skincare – this use dates back to ancient palace literature, where women would use rice water as a toner and red bean powder in creams, for example. Many brands reflect this holistic approach to beauty today and our passion is working with smaller companies that have done incredible research on unique natural ingredients.
How can I start incorporating natural beauty into my regimen?
We think the first step is being an informed consumer. The FDA doesn’t control what products are called ‘natural’ or ‘organic’. It’s entirely possible for a product to use the tiniest amount of organic or natural ingredients and call itself organic or natural. Also, it’s irresponsible to say that all things natural are great for the skin and all chemicals are bad – but we know that when customers look for ‘natural’, they are essentially looking for ingredients that are good and gentle on skin.
So we know that when we curate products, the onus is on us to make sure that we’re giving our customers enough information to make an informed decision. For example, we don’t accept products that have any type of parabens, certain petrochemicals, triclosan, hydroquinone, BPAs, talcs, sodium lauryl/ laureth sulfates, PVC, phthalates– ingredients that are known to cause irritation or are suspected to have a long-term impact accumulated in the body. When we call a product organic, it’s because at least 90% or more of the ingredients used are from organic sources. The full ingredient list is readily available and we call out what the product’s main ingredients are as well as what it’s free of.
If you are new to natural products, try starting off with an SLS-free cleanser (SLSs can throw off skin ph balance) and one skincare product (ie. a serum or a moisturizer) that’s paraben and petrochemical free.
Glow Recipe* is not just your one-stop shop for natural Korean beauty products, it’s also a site that shares vast knowledge on what products to look out for that best suits your skin to achieve the sought after youthful glow.
It was lovely to finally put a face to a name and getting to know what inspired both of these ladies to launch Glow Recipe. Some of the things we talked about were fermentation, which is widely becoming a trend in Korea, double cleansing (which I incorporate in my routine), and hydrogel masks. The latter is now ‘it’ and sheet masks in Korea were so yesterday.
Feel like shopping? You absolutely need to check out Whamisa’s Hydrogel Masks!
*This is a referral link where you can get your $5 coupon to use on your first order on their site.