ABOUT APPEARANCES & COSMETICS

Compared to Finland, Korea is a more appearance-centered country. People put a lot of effort into their looks. It's also acceptable for boys to wear makeup without their sexuality or preferences being questioned. Commenting on other people's appearance is also quite common here. For example in class during the introductions I have heard a couple of times a student calling the professor 'cute' :D That would never happen in Finland but here it's totally normal. I have also heard comments about my blonde hair and blue eyes, of course, since they are quite distinctive features here. My roommate, who is also from Finland, has gotten many comments about her pale skin. The comments can also be very straightforward, for example about gaining weight, which can be mistaken as rude but are not considered that way here.
 

Before coming to Korea, I knew a bit about the good reputation of the cosmetics here. After exploring Seoul for a few weeks now, I can totally agree with that. The range of different cosmetic shops and products is huge here and you can literally find them around every corner. One of my favorite products is the sheet skin masks. They are relatively cheap here, and usually every brand has their own with different ingredients, like plants and fruits. So far the brands I have tried are Skinfood and It's skin, which are both really good. here are also sheets and patches for eyes, lips, nose, feet, hands.. Almost everything you can think of.
I also love the cute packages of the cosmetics here. For example, Tonymoly has a collection of different creams and cleansers with Pokémon characters in the packages. I bought the hand cream package from them. Marketing-wise I would say it's pretty clever and also a fast reaction to the ongoing Pókemon trend. As a Finnish person I also have to mention how the Moomin characters are a big hit here. In addition to the packages of cosmetics products, the Moomin can, for example, be seen in pens, notebooks, bags and as stuffed animals. One Korean girl in my class joked that she's coming back to Finland with me because of the Moomin :D
I don't count myself as a cosmetic freak, but if even I am super excited about the products here, I can imagine how for someone generally more interested in them, this is a cosmetics heaven :)