January Birchbox Review - On Trend: Korean Beauty

I've only chosen the guest editor boxes from Birchbox a few times, but when they announced that January's would be a Korean beauty box I chose it right away!

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

I'm Korean and I'm really glad that Korean beauty products have become popular here in the States. I'll admit that I didn't know a ton about them until they started getting trendy over here, but it's a lot of fun to learn about what's popular over there. Also, I figure products created mainly for a Korean audience can't hurt my Korean skin, right?

The box was curated by Charlotte Cho, a K-Beauty expert and co-founder of Soko Glam. It had five samples and two bonus foil packet samples. The contents of the guest boxes are always announced during sample selection, so I already knew I would like everything (otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen the box).

• Manefit Beauty Planner Cucumber Soothing + Moisturizing Mask - Sheet masks are huge in Korea but I'm not the biggest fan of them. I prefer to do other things while I have a mask on, and you can't really move around too much with these. Maybe you can, but I prefer not to. Anyway, this has cucumber to sooth, tone, and restore moisture to dry skin.
• RE:P Bio Fresh Mask with Real Calming Herb - This mask is the main reason I picked this box and I was glad that it came in a pretty generous sample size. It has organic herbs and kaolin clay to reduce redness and deeply cleanse pores. I have oily, red skin so this is perfect! I've used it once and it left my skin feeling smooth and refreshed.
• Goodal Yerba Mate Bubble Peeling and Yerba Mate Cleansing Foam - These are bonus samples so I don't mind that they're foil packets, but I do wish they were deluxe sized! I've used the Bubble Peeling cleanser and it's wonderful. It's already sold out in the Birchbox store and I can see why. It smells great and it bubbles up on your skin to leave it feeling fresh and smooth. I am definitely going to buy a full-sized bottle of this if it comes back in stock!

• Goodal Waterest First Essence - I wasn't really sure what an essence was, and to be honest I'm still not entirely sure, but I think it's basically a serum. This one has hyaluronic acid and fermented lotus flower to help skin retain moisture. Fermented products are also pretty popular in Korea. This has a nice, silky texture and feels soothing on my skin.
• IPKN New York Flash Cream Radiant Primer - I haven't tried this yet but I'm always up for trying a new primer. My skin gets way too oily during the day to not use one under my makeup. This has SPF 15 and creates a smooth canvas for makeup.
• TONYMOLY Delight Tony Tint in Red - I think TONYMOLY is one of the more well-known Korean brands, and I do tend to like their products. This is a lightweight lip color that dries for a matte look. I posted it for swap because I'm inundated with lip colors right now.

The box also contained a coupon code for 50% off of Charlotte Cho's book, The Little Book of Skincare. I looked through the preview on HarperCollins.com and it looks really cute and I think I might pick up a copy! The coupon is BEAUTY50 if you want to use it, too.

Bottom Line: I really liked the products Charlotte chose and I think most of them will fit well into my skincare regimen. I like the Goodal Yerba Mate Bubble Peeling cleanser the most and I'm hoping that the RE:P mask will help reduce the redness on my skin.