If I had a euro for every time a client showed me their 10-step K-beauty routine or told me that they “that machine Kim Kardashian uses,” I could probably retire early. So I want to give you my honest, unfiltered opinion on both — because that’s what you come to me for, not what’s trending on TikTok.
Korean skincare: brilliant science, wrong prescription for your skin
I’m not going to tell you K-beauty is bad science — some of it genuinely isn’t. Ingredients like niacinamide and Centella asiatica have real clinical backing, and Korean sunscreen formulation is, frankly, ahead of what we have here. But “well-studied” and “right for your skin” aren’t the same thing, and that’s where I see clients running into trouble.
Most K-beauty routines are formulated for a different climate, a different skin biology, and often a different goal (many best-selling formulas are built around brightening/lightening actives that have nothing to do with what our skin needs). Layer seven or eight actives a night onto skin that isn’t used to it, in our cooler, drier, centrally-heated climate, and I regularly see the result in my treatment room: a compromised barrier, reactivity, breakouts that weren’t there before. The science behind individual Korean ingredients can be excellent. A 10-step routine copied off Instagram, applied to your specific skin, is a guess — and I’d rather build you a routine of 3 or 4 products that actually earns its place.
XERF: impressive marketing, not the breakthrough it’s sold as
I’ve had several of you ask about XERF, the Korean radiofrequency device Kim Kardashian has been photographed with. Here’s what I tell every client who asks: radiofrequency skin tightening isn’t new — it’s been in professional use for over two decades. We use it in out T Shape treatments!
XERF’s contribution is refining it (it delivers two RF frequencies at different depths in one pass), which is a genuine engineering improvement, not a new category of treatment. The clinical study behind the marketing numbers wasn’t independently blinded, and the research sites received funding from the manufacturer — which doesn’t mean the device does nothing, but it does mean I’d take the “92% improvement” headline with a large pinch of salt. At roughly €2,500 a session for results that are gradual, subtle, and nowhere near surgical, I’d want you to know exactly what you’re paying for before you book it anywhere.
What I’d rather do for you
Trends move fast; good skin therapy doesn’t chase them. If you’re curious whether any of this is actually relevant to your skin — or you just want a routine and a treatment plan built around what your skin needs rather than what’s viral this month — book a consultation with me. That’s always been the ASPA approach: your skin, examined properly, not a routine copied from someone else’s bathroom shelf.
