Glass skin was never going to happen for me. On my skin it translates to shiny redness with every pore visible. But a lot of the K-beauty that didn't give me glass skin turned out to be brilliant for my 40s skin in a different way.
Which K-beauty ingredients are worth it for mature skin?
Peptides and ceramides. They pull their weight on skin over 40, and they're in nearly everything Korean at a sensible price.
My ceramide example is the Innisfree Green Tea Ceramide Milk, and I'll be straight about how I use it. It only comes out on makeup days. It's sold as a glass skin prep product, which on me, no. What it does is make my Dior stick foundation glide on and blend with a bit of glow underneath. Not the job it's sold for, but a better one for me. You'll find it at Sephora UK for £18 (sold as the Green Tea Ceramide Milk Barrier Essence).
For peptides, I swap in the COSRX 6 Peptide Skin Booster Serum when my skin needs it. The texture is light and slightly silky and it sinks in easily.
The one active I'd fight for
Azelaic acid. I use the SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Azelaic Acid 10 Ampoule. It's 10%, the strongest you can buy without a prescription in the UK, and it goes on like water. There isn't a single ceramide in it though, so when my barrier is wrecked rather than just grumpy, I reach for something else as well.
And the sunscreen is the anti-ageing step. I'm sorry, it just is.
My whole routine, every product side by side, is in my K-beauty for mature skin post. The sunscreen side is in my best Korean sunscreen post.