Ingredient focus

A definitive A-Z guide to Glow Recipe

Advocating natural, gentle {skin care} products, Glow Recipe’s goal is to make South Korea’s latest skin care trends accessible to beauty-forward women across the globe.

Founded by two skin care fanatics who share over 20 years of experience in the global beauty industry, this is a brand founded on passion and commitment to demystifying the wonderful world of Korean beauty and sharing the secret recipe to the SoKo glow it’s impossible not to covet. Here’s a comprehensive guide to what does what…

{A is for…}

Avocado Ceramide Recovery Serum: Soothing and comforting compromised skin, this serum is ultra-lightweight and intensely replenishing – quickly absorbed to protect and repair while diminishing redness and helping to calm where there’s chaos.

When ceramides are compromised, skin becomes dry, dehydrated, inflamed… but the Ceramide-5 in this light, milky serum addresses the multiple sources of redness while strengthening skin’s moisture barrier – making it great if you’re sensitive-skinned, or you’ve overdone sun, acids (anything that leaves your face inflamed). The blend of avocado oils and extracts bolster skin’s resilience, while barrier-boosting pre-, pro- and post-biotics help to ‘feed’ the flora that defend against aggressors.

Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask: A must-have for all skin care buffs looking to brighten, moisturise, smooth fine lines and de-puff their eye area without the harsh side effects often associated with retinol.

Intensely nourishing, this luxurious overnight eye mask is crammed with moisturising, age-defying and brightening ingredients to leave you looking bright eyed and bushy tailed come morning. Rich in antioxidants including conditioning vitamins E and C, avocado oil and extract soothes and nourishes the delicate under-eye area while protecting it against harmful environmental aggressors like free radicals. Other hard-working ingredients include niacinamide, along with caffeine-laced coffeeberry and star of the show, ncapsulated retinol, which helps to firm, smooth and plump fine lines and wrinkles without the harsher side effects often associated with retinol.

Avocado Melt Retinol Sleeping Mask: This ultra-creamy mask is here to plump and illuminate your skin as you sleep.

It’s powered by the most gentle form of the hero ingredient – encapsulated retinol – to help stimulate collagen production and increases skin cell turnover to ease the appearance of fine lines, hyperpigmentation, congested pores and uneven texture. Working overnight to deeply moisturise, illuminate and soften dry skin, this formula is enriched with avocado to ensure you get a rich supply of oleic and linoleic acids for a wonderfully nourished finish. Lending brightening effects is the gentle giant of skin care acids, poly hydroxy acid (PHA) – which works by very carefully buffing away dead skin cells to reveal fresh and glowy ones underneath. Rise and shine, beauties!

{B is for…}

Banana Soufflé Moisture Cream: This lightweight, non-comedogenic and soothing moisturiser resets, replenishes, and seals in lasting hydration.

Boasting a special bouncy soufflé texture that comforts like a cream but has the lightness of a gel, Glow Recipe’s Banana Soufflé Moisture Cream is uniquely formulated with banana, a rich source of magnesium, potassium, cica and turmeric to hydrate, soothe, and rescue skin from everyday stress – that means less redness, sensitivity or excessive dryness. Plus, the formula is silicone-free, dye-free, and synthetic fragrance-free! Want a pro tip? Stick Banana Soufflé in the fridge for 10 minutes before applying for a cooling sensation that helps reduce inflammation.

Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser: This mildly lathering cleanser thoroughly cleans and deeply hydrates skin simultaneously, so that it’s refreshed and moisturised in one simple step.

A quenching cleanser and deep-cleaning mask in one, the formula features blueberry extract and gentle alpha hydroxy acids to exfoliate, clarify and strengthen cells, leaving skin soft, dewy and beautifully bouncy.

Blueberry Bounce Lip Pop: This scrub-to-balm lip treatment gently exfoliates your kisses for a smooth and beautifully plush finish – take that dead and dull skin cells.

The luscious lip balm also instantly refreshes and hydrates parched lips thanks to a medley of blueberry, cranberry and raspberry extracts, as well as a conditioning blend of botanical extracts and waxes. As if we couldn’t love it any more, it also delivers a flattering pop of purple that’s unique to your pH, meaning your lip flush will be as one-of-a-kind as you are.

{P is for…}

Papaya Sorbet Enzyme Cleansing Balm: This luscious make up-melting and deep-cleansing formula is brimming with brightening, soothing and pore-purifying oils, extracts and actives to leave your face spotless, soft and irresistibly smooth.

This lightweight, skin-nourishing balm-to-foam texture grips any stubborn oils, dirt and debris to sweep away every last trace of the day. Fruity and refreshing, the star is papaya – a rich source of dark spot-diminishing vitamin C and cell-stimulating vitamin A – which refines as it helps to restore uniformity. The mix of exfoliating and calming papaya seed oil, papaya enzymes, papaya extract, and antioxidant-packed blueberry, leaves skin clean and bouncy. Radiance is the name of the game here, as skin is left positively glowing without so much as a sting to the eyes or a stripped, tight-feeling surface in sight.

Pineapple-C Bright Serum: This bouncy and lightweight serum (that also boasts a delicious pineapple scent) imparts a gorgeous glow as well as boosting radiance, smoothness and overall even tone and texture.

Thanks to a potent cocktail of three forms of antioxidant-rich vitamin C including 22% pineapple juice (one of the most powerful forms of natural vitamin C), pure ascorbic acid, and stable 3-O-Ethyl ascorbic acid, this powerful serum combats acne scars, dark spots, and hyper-pigmentation leaving skin glossy and even. Meanwhile, the natural AHAs and bromelain enzymes from pineapple gently exfoliate while the built-in skin soothers (chamomile and aloe) ensure that skin stays happy and refreshed.

Plum Plump Hyaluronic Serum: This bouncy and lightweight serum (that also boasts a delicious plum scent) is your go-to for plump, bouncy, instantly-radiant skin.

Thanks to a potent cocktail of pure next-gen, pure hyaluronic acid (this formula boasts five different weights of the iconic ingredient for maximum absorption) that absorbs in a flash and leaves skin feeling totally quenched. But it doesn’t stop there, it’s also bursting with vegan collagen and silk protein, which help support the skin’s barrier and guard against free radicals. Finally, the addition of juicy Kakadu, Illawarra, and Burdekin plum boast high concentrations of anti-inflammatory vitamin C and contains minerals like magnesium, calcium, zinc, & potassium to fight against free radicals.

{W is for…}

Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops: The first skin care highlighter that uses skin-friendly ingredients only to give you an ultimate glow (inspired by Korean makeup artists).

It instantly highlights skin for a magical, wet glow using only good-for-you skin care ingredients, sans mica, glitter, or pearls! While strobing skin, Watermelon Dew Drops delivers vitamins and hydration to make skin truly glow from the inside, out. This make up and skin care staple works under or over make up, all without tack or grease, for an undeniable, maximum, Instagram-ready glow.

Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask: A luxuriously ‘bouncy’, lightweight, gel-like sleeping mask (that can also be used as a ten-minute mask in daylight hours) this pillow-proof formula stars watermelon extract, acclaimed by Korean beauty buffs for its ability to soothe irritated and inflamed skin with luscious, skin-restoring vitamins, antioxidants and amino acids.

As well as flooding thirsty cells with watermelon extract, this miraculous mask features hydrating hyaluronic acid and exfoliating, pore-refining alpha-hydroxy acids that get to work while you slumber, clarifying and boosting skin so that you can wake up to a baby-soft visage that exudes unrivalled radiance. Layer it on, get some beauty sleep and prepare for compliments.

Watermelon Glow Pink Dream Body Cream: Brimming with refreshing watermelon extract, this body cream helps effortlessly smooth and hydrate skin from head-to-toe.

Effortlessly smooth and hydrate skin all-at-once with refreshing watermelon thanks to Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Pink Dream Body Cream. This creamy lotion is a smoothie of liquified vitamin-rich watermelon seed butter, naturally smoothing hibiscus AHA, soothing watermelon, and multi-weight hyaluronic acid for deep moisture to act as a tall, cool drink of water to parched skin. Never leaving a messy, sticky, or greasy after-feel, Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Pink Dream Body Cream absorbs in a flash, wrapping skin in the cult-fave watermelon scent, anytime, anywhere.

Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturizer: Offering instant radiance, the weightless, cooling, gel-like formula won’t clog pores, making it ideal for oily or combination skin.

It stars watermelon extract, acclaimed by Korean beauty buffs for its ability to soothe irritated and inflamed skin with luscious, skin-restoring vitamins, free radical-fighting antioxidants and amino acids. As well as flooding thirsty cells with watermelon extract, this miraculous moisturiser features hydrating hyaluronic acid and soothing botanicals including peony and jasmine extracts, sealing in hydration to prep skin perfectly for the day ahead.

Watermelon Glow Ultra-Fine Mist: Inspired by the K-beauty fog mist trend, it has a super delicate, lightweight spray that refreshes and enhances skin and make up.

It’s also a bi-phase formula packed with hydrating oils and power actives. Just shake it and spray throughout the day whenever you need a glow boost. Jam-packed with watermelon extracts, hydrating hyaluronic acid and hibiscus flower AHAs this super-fine mist packs a hydrating punch. Essential for dry or dehydrated skin types as well as those wanting a dewy, healthy glow, we guarantee this will become one of your go-to favourites.

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Emmie Thornhill

Emmie Thornhill

Deputy Content Editor

Emmie is Cult Beauty’s Deputy Content Editor. Her love of skin care began in primary school when she first learned the term “hormonal acne” and has been in a love-hate relationship with tea tree oil ever since. She lives in East London – where you can normally find her baking, tending to her plant jungle or planning her next tattoo or hair cut/colour appointment – and is known to start DMCs with you about your birth chart placements, the importance of wearing SPF every day and the difference between a vagina and vulva.