Beauty Founders: Glow Recipe On Their Viral Watermelon Mask, Korean Skincare Tips And More
A sell-out item, a waitlist generating over 8,000 people, and one of the most ‘hearted’ product on Sephora.com… This is none other than Glow Recipe’s cult beauty product, the Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask, which launched earllier in 2017.
Since then, Glow Recipe has developed their range of K-beauty inspired skincare line to include a range of easy-to-use skincare essentials, formulated without all nasties such as parabens, sulphates or phthalates, and a focus on ingredients derived from superfruits such as watermelon, papaya, blueberry, and more.
But behind the highly raved, instagrammable brightly coloured, millennial pink packaging, and “skintertainment” line lies an ethos deeply rooted in Korean skincare tradition. “Our OG Watermelon Mask comes directly from our Korean heritage. During hot summers in Korea, our mothers and grandmothers would rub cold watermelon rinds on our back to soothe heat rash… It was an amazing moment for us to see our heritage and cultural background supported in that way,” says Christine Chang, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Glow Recipe.
Glow Recipe carries K-beauty’s holistic approach to skincare and selfcare through products and education, and was even originally conceived over a selfcare session over sheet masks and wine one night.
“Glow Recipe Skincare was born three years ago as we wanted to combine the latest technologies from Korea with an easy, sensorial, results-driven approach. We’ve been beyond humbled by the response and with the growth and momentum of Glow Recipe Skincare since its inception,” says Lee.
Ahead, we speak to cofounders Christine Chang and Sarah Lee, on their skincare routines, tips, favourite products, and more.
One beauty hack they wished more people knew about...
Christine: The main Korean skincare tip we can give is patting your skincare in to aid absorption. It goes back to the skincare philosophy of Korean women being as gentle as possible. Fast movements cause friction and over time it can cause micro-tears in your skin. Tugging and pulling at the skin can contribute to wrinkles, so we always advocate patting in skincare in all of our content. We support patting toners, serums, and moisturizers all the way as it also minimizes downtime between steps to avoid waiting for the product to dry.
To take the patting philosophy to the next level, we created a fun video that ended up going viral, which explained the ‘7 Skin Method’ where you pat in a toner or mist seven times in a row. It may sound excessive but your skin drinks up all the moisture. Patting helps drive the product deeper into skin’s layers and skin is plumped with hydration from within.
On a korean beauty step they follow religiously...
Sarah: Growing up in Korea, my friends and I were so obsessed that after school, they would come over to my house for “Sarah Salon” treatments! We would share fun DIY at-home hacks, try new products and simply enjoy all that beauty had to offer. It really shaped my passion and excitement for the industry. My mother was instrumental in this as she would instill strict skin care protocols growing up. Every time I came home from school, I would need to cleanse my face right away to get rid of the dirt from the day. When it came to her skin care, she was a no-nonsense woman, and now cleansing (for a full minute!) is my absolute favorite part of my routine.
On their current beauty routines...
Sarah: Especially during Covid-19, it’s really important to carve out time to do our skin care every day and find ways to elevate your daily routine into a selfcare moment. One of our favorite ways to do this is with a cleansing balm. Our Papaya Sorbet Enzyme Cleansing Balm (coming soon to Singapore!) harnesses papaya enzyme, extract, and seed oil with additional nourishing ingredients to melt away makeup, as well as smooth skin gently over time. The plush, sorbet-like texture melts down to a milky oil quickly to break down makeup and SPF from the day. Since oils are so emollient, doing a gentle facial massage during the cleansing step, or even using a guasha jade tool is a great way to combine at-home care with a critical step in your skincare routine. Another at-home skin care hack we love are DIY facials! Our Watermelon Glow Toner was inspired by the duality of a hydrating and exfoliating Korean Aqua Peel facial. To achieve this at home, simply soak cotton rounds with the toner and place them on your cheeks and forehead. Keep them on for up to 15 minutes for a super glowy, hydrated finish.
Why watermelon is such a great skincare ingredient...
Sarah: Watermelon is an antioxidant and vitamin-rich fruit that provides amazing skincare benefits. The vitamins A, C, and B6 in watermelon all work together to intensely hydrate, soothe inflamed skin, and fight free radical damage to ward off fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots. It has lycopene which helps protect the skin from UV and prevent signs of aging. It’s especially helpful for those with combination, dull, skin types or acne-prone skin. In Korea, our grandmothers used to rub watermelon rind on our skin in the summer to calm heat rash and irritation - and it would work like magic.
If they had to pick a favourite product from Glow Recipe...
Christine: It’s so difficult to pick a favorite product because we work extremely hard on each and every new innovation to bring first-in-class products to our customers. But the product we’re most proud of has to be our Watermelon Sleeping Mask.
The formulation process for this was difficult as we went through over a thousand iterations with our chemist to achieve the perfect balance between hydration and gentle exfoliation for glowing, post-facial skin in a jar. Watermelon was also a fruit that was not commonly used in skincare at the time and we wanted to make sure the experience and texture was as evocative of the childhood memories we had of our grandmothers rubbing cold watermelon rind on our skin to soothe heat rash and irritation. We also created unique, custom glass mold inspired by a slightly melted ice cube that was made of 20% recycled glass and 100% recyclable and sustainable.
On what else is in store for Glow Recipe...
Sarah: New innovations, new categories, unexpected releases, virtual activations, and many more are on the pipeline. We will continue having open and transparent dialogues with our community, Glow Gang. We are also excited to focus on sharing our skincare philosophy of listening to your skin and feeding it what it needs, and ultimately empowering our community to make the best choices for the skin. 2021 will be a year for our brand to speak about our core values, ethos and our mission even more than our products.
Glow Recipe is available exclusively in Sephora in Singapore.
