I Tried the #1 beauty treatment in Korea

Hey hi hello, Lauryn’s little sister Mimi here today to share a little about how I tried the #1 skincare treatment in Korea….

Sometimes when I meet people who have seen me on Instagram, they’re confused by my choice to travel to Korea. There is various reasons: the people I’ve met there (my friends- I miss everything about you), the transportation (the subway is life changing), the food (Italian food in Korea >>), and of course, the reason you clicked this post THE BEAUTY.

Ok ok I’ve been meaning to make this post for 4 months. I have had it written for months, but have been a bit busy with Shop Skinny Confidential & also I wanted to make sure I really thought this through for you! When I first came home from Korea, I was so sad (& jet-lagged) missing Korea to focus on anything else. Sometimes I think of how I had a whole different life there. Then I packed up everything I own once again, and moved to Austin Texas. Once again I had to travel back to California for a funeral, now I’m sitting in the spare bedroom at my parents house organizing my notes on all the beauty tips & tricks I learned in South Korea this time around. 

My days in Korea were spent working, eating, and searching for the best of beauty that Seoul has to offer. I had to buy a 2nd suitcase for all the skincare / beauty goodies I bought lol. 

Also if you have ever been to Korea you know the pain of needing an ARC card for literally everything, including making appointments for skincare treatments. Although I maybe could have bribed a friend of mind to let me steal their identity and make the appointment for me, I opted for the much more legitimate way that I found through YouTube. A la Eunogo aka my savor aka the key for foreigners in Asia. From the moment I first went to Japan in 2018 I discovered the allure of K beauty, and I’ve been chasing perfect skin ever since. Another challenge of being a foreigner in Korea, is that finding a good reputable clinic can be hard. Even if you spend all day searching Naver, there is a lot of clinics that simply don’t work with foreigners, so enter Eunogo who already has done the research, and is there to help you every step of the way. 

Eunogo, and is a beauty concierge service that promises to provide a streamlined, hassle-free experience to help you book premium beauty treatments in Korea. I was pretty excited at the idea because there is so many services in Korea I want to try & will definitely benefit from this service.

Basically Eunogo is the middle man between you and the clinic, they can help you with anything involving your treatment, from car service, translation, to skincare advice from trusted practitioners. Considering how beautiful Joy’s skin is, I can’t imagine she or the Eunogo team would ever lead someone in the wrong direction. Eunogo has all sorts of services too, not just the treatments I got, you could get: Botox surgery, massages, product, body treatments, anything the beauty industry in Asia has to offer, they could probably arrange for you. You can easily book treatment directly on their website, or you can message them for advice on what to book / planning.

Eunogo connects you to 60 of their vetted Korean beauty clinics, after they suggest treatments that will fit your preferences. And it’s not just limited to pampering facials, but all treatments from lasers to even full on plastic surgery (there’s a reason why Korea is known for their medical tourism).

I had the pleasure of working with Joy, she helped me every step of the way. Including helping me to find a dermatologist in an emergency situation- when I first landed in Korea and had a bad reaction to a super popular extremely expensive, Goop approved oil/ serum that I won’t say the name of but I will say that I hate it and it’s way too harsh for my skin. 

ANYWAY- after I got out of quarantine and my skin calmed from the terrible reaction. Then I got on a Skype with Joy and the Nana team to talk about my skin goals. My skin texture is dry / sensitive, also I have some hyper-pigmentation from years of living by the beach and not using sunscreen (sometimes I look at Zaza’s skin and it’s so perfect I just want to shield her from the sun for her whole life). 

Before my trip, of course I had been heavily looking into all the hottest beauty trends in Korea. So I was happy when Joy suggested getting a treatment I had already researched toning laser and NCTF Filorga injection (a.k.a Chanel Injection) “combines approximately 53 different kinds of minerals, antioxidants, and nutrients such as amino acids. NCTF Filorga will be injected directly on the derma using nano-size needling technique which minimizes the pain and treats every little pore to maximize the effect. You will experience skin rejuvenation from deep underneath the skin and onto outer skin layers. It is recommended for those who are concerned about dry skin, loss of elasticity, expanded pores, wrinkles, and tired skin condition.”

So the plans were in place, Joy sent me the information to get Nana clinic. I actually was able to walk from my apartment in 역삼, it was a nice chilly day and the rain stopped just in time for my 10am appointment. 

I got to Nana, and Joy was there to meet me. She has the most beautiful skin I’ve ever seen, (stay tuned for more on Joy’s skincare favorites coming soon) I immediately trusted this person with my life. The Nana Clinic was so beautiful, picture marble from floor to ceiling, with light blue toned furniture. If I was wearing makeup & a cute outfit I would have asked for an Instagram picture int here. Anyway I had a quick consultation with the Nana Clinic team, my Korean language skill are mediocre at best, so it was necessary to have Joy there to translate & advise on my behalf. The Nana team went over that my treatment would look something like this:

Aqua peel-

Aqua Peel is a deep cleansing treatment that uses a skin vacuum in which a rotating nozzle tip pushes an AHA/BHA solution into the skin and pushes the impurities up, removing dead skin, blackheads, whiteheads and other pore particles. It effectively removes those impurities without skin irritation or damages but hydrating your skin with AHA/BHA solution. “blitz pores with an exfoliating water-based gel and a suction device that literally pulls out gunk from the skin and removes blackheads, while skin is flooded with moisture” via Netaporter

Numbing cream (because the treatment can be painful)

Toning laser “Laser Toning is an effective laser treatment for deep and dark pigmentation as well as treating blemishes and black spots. Laser Toning uniformly irradiates the skin, selectively destroying only the melanin pigment in the area that needs treatment without leaving any damage or scarring on the surrounding skin tissues.”

Chanel injection aka Rejuran Healer-

” is one of the skin booster procedures, made of polynucleotides (PN) extracted from salmon DNA. PN is a chain of nucleotides which are the basic structural units which make up DNA. PN helps by stimulating the fibroblasts in our skin to regenerate key components that are lost with age, such as collagen, glycosaminoglycans, and glycoproteins. Rejuran Healer is strongly recommended by dermatologists because it improves skin health from its base. It improves skin elasticity, thickness, and overall skin health and restores damaged skin.”

not going to lie, it was painful. But worth it. My skin has never looked better (even my friends in Korea were asking for my skin tips after this treatment) 

Ultrasound-

IU Radiance care is a hydro-lifting treatment using high-density ultrasound energy. It delivers the energy deep into your skin using various frequency (1~10MHz) to make the skin hydrated from deeper layer and to activate collagen production. It is effective on hydrating, skin elasticity, soothing, whitening, and skin rejuvenation. It is also recommended to get after laser treatment for skin soothing and calming.

soothing rubber mask-

to calm my skin down after the injections, my skin was a bit bumpy after the injections 

Then of course sunscreen !! 

Joy stayed with me throughout every step of my treatment ensuring I was comfortable and translating my 1 million questions for the doctor (these questions / answers coming in another post soon!). So I said thank you and goodbyes, put my mask on, grabbed a chai latte and enjoyed my walk home. 

The day of my treatment, my skin was bumpy and I didn’t want to irritate it further by putting on makeup or exposing it to the elements. So I sat on the heated floors and ordered chicken for the rest of my day. 

3 days after the treatment, my skin was glowingggg. More so than I have ever experienced, not only was it glowing, but it looks so plump. I kept poking my cheek to check the elasticity because I thought it was too good to be true. It’s been 3 months since I had the treatment, I can still tell that my skin absorbs product better, and overall my skin is whiter & brighter. Also my pores look noticeably smaller. Nana suggests having 3-5 treatments, but I only made time for one treatment. I guess I’ll have to head back to Seoul and get more treatments soon! 

*left is 3 weeks after treatment, right is 3 hours after treatment*

Eunogo offers their bff / concierge services in Seoul & Singapore, along with offering products on their website. If you have any plans to travel to Seoul or Singapore, contact Eunogo before to set up a treatment of your choice! 

THANK YOU EUNOGO / NANA!

Let me know if you want to hear more about my experience in Korea .

xx,

Mimi

+ you can find Eunogo on Instagram, YouTube & through their website

++ you can find Nana Hospital on Instagram and through Eunogo website

& you can find me Mimi Evarts on Instagram & on TSC Podcast sometimes