Clinically, sensitive skin is a type when you tend to have a ‘reaction’ to skincare ingredients or items at a significant rate. This can range from drying, itching, redness, irritation, swelling to more dramatic and damaging reactions (such as widespread body reactions). This can also lead to ‘acne’ outbreaks, where irritation leads to build-up that blocks pores and forms acne-like spots.

Thus, even chronic acne can be due to using products that are irritating the skin barrier. So if you’re struggling with lots of redness, general dryness or chronic acne – chances are you might have sensitive skin and need to be more considerate of what’s being added to your routine. 

It’s important to try pick natural, simple formulas to clean, hydrate and soothe irritated or dry skin. Even in acne-prone sensitive skin, you’ll find just using a good cleanser and matching it with a refreshing moisturizer will improve skin texture and health by a good margin.  

Avoid common irritants, such as fragrances, alcohol and sulfates or harsh scrubs and strong chemical exfoliants. Another common culprit is essential oils and parabens, which commonly lead to spots and outbreaks.  

But, most importantly, sensitive skin is unique. Chances are you are uniquely sensitive to specific ingredients and it can be a difficult journey to find out what these are. Start with a small routine and try picking products with an uncomplicated ingredients list. This will help guide you to good pics to start, maintain and improve your skin health. 

Refresh skin with a creamy, light cleanser that is balanced with green tea, licorice and centella to hydrate and soothe the skin. This formula is incredibly gentle, and provides a delightful, light cleanse to any skin type. With soft coconut-derived cleansers, this formula is perfect for all skin types and sensitive-skin safe. It’s a favourite for gentle, but effective cleansing that should not trigger any irritation. 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, oily, acne-prone

If you are after gentle and nourishing skincare, Haruharu has you covered. Almost all their products are hydrating, light and perfect for sensitive skin – but this gel cleanser is the perfect start to your routine (AM or PM). It doesn’t remove make-up well on its own (you need a good cleansing oil or make-up remover) but for a daily, soothing cleanse its ingredient list is simple, free of common irritants and infused with black rice extract to brighten and soften skin. To master sensitive skin, check out the Haruharu range! 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, dry

If you are after a toner to balance oily or acne-prone skin (whilst being sensitive to potential irritation), this is a great design to refresh and strengthen the skin barrier. Being lusciously light and soft, it absorbs quickly and gives skin the moisture and calm of centella, balanced with healing probiotics. It provides moisture, balance, cools redness and helps strengthen the skin barrier over time for a healthy glow. 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, oily, acne-prone

For deep and gentle hydration, this simple (and effective) formula is infused with 85% Anastatica extract, which helps boost the skin barrier’s natural ability to hold onto moisture and creates a dewy, plump finish which restores skin cell function. Perfect to reduce redness, inflammation and cool appearance. 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, dry

For cooling and calming redness and inflammation, green tea is one of my favourite ingredients. It’s deep, rich in antioxidants to restore cell function and health and has very little irritation. This soothing serum by Isntree contains 77% green tea from Jeju Island, balanced with niacinamide and panthenol to brighten and hydrate the skin barrier. Balanced with a dash of probiotics, pine extract and other soothing botanicals – this serum is perfect to refresh and calm irritated skin. 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, oily, acne-prone

For calming, deep hydration and a soothing formula – TIRTIR has developed the SOS serum to help salvage and protect a damaged skin barrier. Infused with a base of hydrating centella, this serum is infused with witch-hazel (cools redness and inflammation), brightening sophora root and plumping polyglutamic acid (which pulls moisture into the skin barrier for longer-lasting hydration). It has a dewy, light finish which is perfect for irritated and dry skin. It has led to breakouts in some, however, so use with care. 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, dry, dehydrated

If you are in need of glassy hydration and to soften pores, while boosting skin health – this essence is a must-have. With 97% snail mucin filtrate (rich in peptides and plumping hyaluronic acid), this essence helps wrap skin in a protective layer and infuse deep moisture to immediately smooth pores, calm redness and refresh the skin biome. If you are a fan of snail mucins, this light and delicate essence is a perfect addition to help restore deep shine and radiance (whilst protecting sensitive skin). 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, oily, dehydrated.

This lightweight and deeply hydrating moisturizer comes in a powder-blue jelly form which is icy-cold and soothes irritated skin so fast. It’s built with skin MLE which mimics the natural skin barrier, to rebuild layers and help insulate and protect skin. This light and refreshing jelly cream is perfect for all skin types and restorative to irritated or damaged skin. It’s really nourishing, gentle and a signature product from Atopalm (who specializes in gentle, strengthening skincare). 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, oily, dehydrated

This lightweight and deeply hydrating moisturizer comes in a powder-blue jelly form which is icy-cold and soothes irritated skin so fast. It’s built with skin MLE which mimics the natural skin barrier, to rebuild layers and help insulate and protect skin. This light and refreshing jelly cream is perfect for all skin types and restorative to irritated or damaged skin. It’s really nourishing, gentle and a signature product from Atopalm (who specializes in gentle, strengthening skincare). 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, oily, dehydrated

A cult favourite in K-beauty, this thick cream forms a protective barrier for dry skin and infuses deep ceramide capsules to repair and restore the skin barrier. Producing results in just three days, it helps reduce skin irritation by 41% and provides up to 100 hours of noticeable and refreshing hydration. If you are after thick, healing and restorative moisturizer – this is a classic, healing formula for sensitive and irritated skin. 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, dry, dehydrated/damaged

This one might be driven by favouritism, but after trying there is nothing lighter and more refreshing than Korean Damyang bamboo infused with healing panthenol. With a vegan formula designed to be fragrance-free, hypoallergenic; this cream seals in moisture, gives a natural glow and dries for a perfect skin texture and finish. It's formula is simple, effective and it has a creamy consistency that melts into the skin with a single touch. 
Ideal skin type: sensitive, oily, acne-prone, dry, dehydrated 

These are our personal favourites that we’ve come across, tested and seen great results with (as well as empirically positive reviews from worldwide users). It's important to always check your ingredient list with sensitive skin and try to pick gentle and nourishing formulas. 

Korean beauty can be amazing for sensitive skin, due to its use of natural botanical extracts and few harsh preservatives or active agents. 

Yet, it can be a trap as products are more likely to have aggressive actives in them (sometimes not always mentioned on the front of the bottle, yikes) and complicated routines risk more reactions. My advice is to stick to a handful of products, screen them well, spot test and stop any product that causes irritation straight away (continuing to use them can risk more long-lasting damage). 

Looking for more sensitive skincare advice? Check out our ultimate guide to sensitive skincare, including recommendations for products, routine tips and more! Or, check out our product reviews to see what worked for us and what didn’t. 

Ultimate Guide to K-Beauty Sensitive Skincare 
Korean Beauty Product Reviews