First published: 2 September 2015; updated 16 March 2017.

My goal for this post is very modest: I want to turn words into pictures. I see lots of confusion and questions about the kbeauty skincare routine order. And for good reason: it’s confusing!

I think that simplifying things drastically by removing most words for a moment could be useful. Think of this post as a cheat sheet for constructing and following a routine. Eventually I hope to expand it and make it interactive.^^

2017 update: The guide is now interactive*. You can click on the images of the bottles below to see all the reviews I’ve written on that product type (the image that shows every step in one photo isn’t clickable like that btw — if you click on it, it opens into a new tab for easy printing).

*hopefully. Tell me in the comments what sort of device, operating system, and browser you’re using if it’s not working for you. Desktop works better than mobile, but it should work on mobile. Hopefully.

Visual Guide to the Korean Skincare Routine: overview

All-In-One Version

This is also available as a PDF for easy printing.

A few notes

• This post provides a recommended order for layering skincare products–you don’t need to use all of these products in the same routine!! And you probably don’t even need to use all of these products ever. Do what’s right for your skin and your skin goals.
• I’m messy and busy and distracted, so I like to put eye cream and spot treatments over creams and sleeping packs. I think that it helps them stay in place better. Other bloggers and kbeauty fans recommend doing things differently, so feel free to experiment and see what works best for your skin.

Where to find more information on the Korean skincare routine philosophy and product order

This post is a visual adaptation of info that already exists; I’m not inventing anything new here.

For word-based explanations of the kbeauty skincare routine (from shortest post to longest):

• Start with Asian Skincare 101: A Beginner’s Guide & FAQ on the Asian Beauty subreddit by Jude of Fifty Shades of Snail. Jude also wrote a post on How to Build an Asian Skincare Routine (without breaking your face or your wallet) for Fifty Shades.
• For a longer post on how to organize your routine, including how to order the pH-dependent parts of your routine see Skincare Discovery: Putting your products in order, including pH dependent acids by Cat at Snow White and the Asian Pear.
• For a comprehensive post on differences between Korean and Western skincare philosophies, routine order, shopping recommendations, and recommended kbeauty blogs check out Kerry of Skin & Tonics’ Asian Skincare Guide: The Korean Skincare Routine.

Where to find sample routines (from oiliest/most troubled to driest)

• My routine for hormonal acne and oily skin can be found here on fan-b.
• Cat has skin very similar to mine, but we use some different products and live (or lived–she has since moved out of the desert!) in very different environments, which results in her current [summer] routine having some fun twists like more sheet masks–find it at Snow White and the Asian Pear.
• Sheryll wrote about her morning routine and evening routine for banishing post-blemish hyperpigmentation in super polluted Ho Chi Minh City at The Wanderlust Project.
• Kerry has hormonal acne and dry skin (or did until her routine ended it!). Find her morning routine, evening routine, and special care routine at Skin & Tonics.
• Jude’s skincare goals are combating signs of aging and hydrating her naturally dry skin. Find her current [midsummer] routine at Fifty Shades of Snail.

How to get routine feedback and advice

So, heh, true story: my hair is falling out. Well, not all of it, but two patches have fallen out and the doctor said it’s stress-related but not serious. Apparently this is just a thing that happens to stressed bunnies, so I will work on, like, doing things less stressed people do (I dunno? watch tv? get…massages?).

I’m already not the best (to put it mildly) at responding to email and comments, but there are resources for getting routine feedback even while I’m off trying to get my hair to grow again lol. You could attempt to do routine construction teamwork in the comments here, but the best place for routine help is the Asian Beauty subreddit’s daily routine help and troubleshooting thread.

This is phase one of a vastly more complicated project–look for an interactive version (with text!) on fan-b in the future. But first…uhh…my hair needs to revive itself! ahahaha