Sulwhasoo first care activating serum is a multipurpose pre-serum. Some of you might just start to frown here, pre-serum? Yes, it is meant to be used before your actual serum. Asian beauty routine is all about layering with different products to achieve all rounded result.

What serum does is that it feeds your skin with concentrated ingredients, targeting different concerns; such as anti ageing, whitening, tightening, lifting, etc. But this Sulwhasoo first care activating serum is a little bit different, it is there to boost the effectiveness of whatever products you layer on after. Made with many different kinds of Chinese herbs, namely 4 year Ginseng, Solomonseal,  Rehmannia, White Lily, Chinese Peony and East Indian Lotus. These herbs helps to promote blood circulation and dullness, refines your skin and helps with hydration.

On to the texture, the serum is very lightweight and watery. Therefore it is quickly absorbed into skin. It is transparent with a very faint yellow colour to it, which again resembles ginseng. I normally applied it after my toner, and before my usual serum, but I also use it in many other ways.

You know when you don’t have enough rest, or your blood circulation is not good. You have a pale face, it looks dull and a little grey in colour? This product helps with just that.

You can also use this serum in many other way. Below are a few of my favorite.

1. To moisturize your lips before you apply bright lip colour. (I LOVE RED LIPS!) You always want to moisturize your lips before you apply any lip colors. But when you apply bright lip colours you don’t really want to use lipbalm before hand, because that might be too greasy or leaves a layer on your lips. Also, with lipbalm, your intense lip color won’t show up as vibrant and pigmented. The color might slip outside of your lip line easily when lip balm is applied. The solution is to apply a tiny bit of this serum on your lips, massage it in and then blot the excess with tissue before you apply your lip color. That way, you can have pigmented lip color applied without the dryness.
2. If you made a mistake with your eyeliner flick or you have got some mascara smudged under your eyes. You can dab a little of this serum with a Q-tip and remove the mess.
3. For a natural look, you can mix the serum and your favorite foundation (ratio 1:2) to create a natural radiant look. Just mix the 2 products on the back of your hand and apply it with your fingers. Using fingers to gently pat the mixture onto your skin allows it to create a barely there, #iwokeuplikethis look because the warmth of your fingers helps it to blend with your skin flawlessly.
4. To make your eyeshadow last all day, but you don’t have an eyeshadow primer at home, you can use this trick instead. Dab a little of this serum with your eyeshadow brush before you go for the eyeshadow powder. That way the brush will pick up more shadow and when you apply it to your eyes, the colour will appear more intense and the shadow will also last longer because of the texture.
5. Sometimes when you are having dryness and flakes in some particular area. You can put 5 pumps of the First Care Activating Serum on a cotton pad and fold it in half to spread it evenly across and then put it on the concerned areas for 5 mins before you apply your makeup. That way you can prep your skin and make sure it is hydrated before you apply your base make up.
6. If you want to give your face an intensive treatment / to give your night cream a little kick, you can also mix 2 pumps of this serum with your night cream to give it an extra boost!

 

Have you tried this Korea serum? And is there any other ways you use it? Please share with us!

Photo source – My own photo & Sulwhasoo.com