As someone who has struggled with an acne-ridden face all my life, to the point that I tried Accutane when I was younger, good skincare has always been important to me but also a constant struggle. For years, bottles of anything from Proactiv, St. Ives, Neutrogena to Cetaphil were in my bathroom cabinets. Even as a full-grown adult, I sit scrolling through beauty influencers touting many options, promising I could have skin just like them. Mostly, my skin had terrible reactions to most of what I tried. The worst offender? Glow Recipe, which was all over my Tiktok, yet burned my skin and left it blotchy. So much money was wasted, and the sad realization you really can’t trust anyone online.

I became curious about Korean skincare, mainly after seeing that it didn’t have a laundry list of chemicals and additives, but it wasn’t something I could trust to buy online. I went to one shop, and after looking at the items and trying to use Google Translate on the products, I left overwhelmed and disappointed.

Fast forward to posting about an excellent Korean restaurant off Edgewater in Orlando; someone mentioned the K-Beauty shop in the market next to it. A few days later, I went to check it out. It’s located inside Woo Sung, and it’s called Glow K-Beauty.

A woman was tending to another customer, so I did my best to try and identify some options, but thankfully, she did come up to me and was such a great help. We talked about my skin, age, regimen, and what I wanted. She was adamant about not pushing me to purchase anything she hadn’t tried herself, and after closely inspecting my skin, she made some recommendations but, more importantly, tested them on me.

Sunscreen is already in my daily regimen, but she suggested reapplying throughout the day, which I confessed I had never done because I didn’t understand how I could do that with a face full of makeup. She quickly understood but grabbed a sunscreen stick and started applying it all over my face (she asked first). I was shocked at how light it was; I could barely feel a thing, and my makeup looked untouched. I was sold!

She also warned me about buying products on Amazon because K-Beauty is so popular now that it’s normal to sell fraudulent dupes.

I visited the shop on January 10th and have been using the products below every day. I can see and feel a difference, and others have also noticed and commented.

• The first two are sunscreen. One I use in the morning before I do my makeup, and the stick is what I use to reapply throughout the day. They are both very light, not greasy and have no fragrance. The stick was $19, as was the squeeze bottle.

• Black Rice Hyaluronic Toner For Sensitive Skin is a hypoallergenic toner for sensitive skin. It helps condition the skin and prepare for optimal absorption of products along with instant moisturization. Fermented 100% Korean-produced black rice extracts (2,000 ppm) restore elasticity to the skin.
  It boosts hydration and alleviates tightness in the inner layer. The cost was $14.95, which was cheaper than Amazon.

• I'm Rice Active Enzyme Exfoliating Cleanser - it’s interesting because it’s a rice powder that you add a small amount of water to, and it foams up and feels really gentle on the face. It’s also anti-inflammatory.

• The last two are makeup - the Blurry Pot for lips and cheeks and a blur tint for lips ($16.99). Both go on silky, smooth, and light and stay intact pretty well.

This is my first time diving into Korean Beauty and skincare. I’ve been pleased thus far with the results, and if you are interested in dipping your face into some new products, I would go visit Glow K-Beauty. I don’t recall the price of every item, but I got eight items (2 not shown here), and my total was $138. I was also given a handful of free samples to try. Considering what I spend on a Sephora run for items I don’t think are the same quality, I was happy.

Glow K-Beauty - 5079 Edgewater Dr, Orlando, FL 32810

I paid for everything, the shop owner didn’t ask me to post (nor was she there when I visited).