5 Beauty Hacks For Flawless Skin

Give your face a steam massage in the shower. Skin clinics are down every block in South Korea, where you can get a facial massage as easy as a budget manicure. I recommend not only using circular motions with your fingers, but also tapping in rotating motions—starting on the forehead, then the cheekbones, cheeks, and working down to the jawbone. Massaging increases circulation and creates a dewy complexion. For added benefit use an oil cleanser to maximize hydration.

Use a charcoal sheet face mask. Buying sheet masks are as common as getting Kleenex in South Korea. And all the rage ingredient? Charcoal. It detoxes and exfoliates your skin, and all you have to do is let the sheet sit on your face for 15-20 minutes while you relax.

use a nubby washcloth to massage your face every day, using upward moving, circular strokes.

Apply a facial essence between two layers of moisturizer. Many modern Korean women feel that essences are the key to sealing in all the goodies of your daily cleansing. Essences are mild, skin nutrient filled solutions (not toners) that hydrate your skin and are applied after cleansing (here's one of my new favorite ones by Mizon). The next step is to add a serum, and then you can add your moisturizer for maximum skin elasticity and hydration.

Try Blurring to create HD perfect skin. You know when roll out of bed and think OMG, how do I just hide all of this? You actually can. Try the Korean blurring trick, which basically means using one or several smart coverage products (my go-to is Iope's Air Cushion foundation) with a makeup brush to wipe out and "blur" unwanted imperfections. If you use an air-cushion foundation, a signature Korean cosmetic, you can blur like a pro, because the formula flexes from ultra sheer to total-coverage with each application without every looking heavy.