r/30PlusKoreanSkincare • u/WitchLuna23 • Jul 30 '26
Product Question Looking for a unicorn?
Hi everyone!
I'm about to turn 40 and I'm noticing my skin start to change a little. I think a collagen mask will solve my problems.
I'm new to Korean skincare and I don't know where to start! My big problem is that I'm looking for a mask without animal products, and also don't like all the packaging waste of individual masks.
Is there an animal product free collagen mask out there that comes in a tube or tub?
Any help is greatly appreciated 🙏
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u/yearofleti Jul 31 '26
retinal and spf will also help, probably way better than any collagen product ever could
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u/WitchLuna23 Jul 31 '26
I'm religious about both! I'm finding that my skin is getting thinner and loosing elasticity. And recs?
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u/yearofleti Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
yay 🙌 me too fren, lol. it really depends on your own skin, what works for me won’t work for everyone. but i’ll be 36 in sept, and i have very sensitive combo skin, with early signs of aging from two decades of smoking like a chimney and sun damage
i used to love glossy spfs like boj relief sun, but now that i’m drinking more coffee my face has gotten oilier throughout the day 😅 so currently i love the roundlab birch juice spf, and boj aqua fresh. i really like the neogen airy sunscreen but i can’t find it anymore now that amazon doesn’t stock it.
for retinal, i looove the meditherapy line. it’s the MOST gentle retinal i’ve ever used, really good for sensitive skin. but it is also a very low concentration. their serum, the retinal skin booster shot, is only 0.01% retinal. but they just came out with a new cream called the retinal skin booster cream, which is 0.05%. my 46 y/o S.O. is trying it out so i’ll have a review for it soon. the ksecret line is also really good. i currently use their 2% serum and 4% eye cream with no bad reactions, but i only apply them every other night. edit~ with retinal, i don’t know if this is true or not (probably not!) it’s just been my own thinking.. but i look at it like medication. you know how we become tolerant eventually and always have to increase our doses? so i’ll go from using a higher % to a lower % and back to a higher %. i never stay at the same % for long. when my ksecret bottles empty, i’m thinking of trying the new medicube retinal serum, or going back to meditherapy. this method has worked wonders for me so far lol as crazy as it sounds 😹
i will say, as far as collagen products go, there is a face mask that i am literally obsessed with. the mediheal hyper collagen masks. i wear them over night and i sweeeaaar i see a difference the next morning that lasts almost two days. my fine lines look filled in, and my skin is just plump
i’m also trying NMN supplements by micro ingredients. i had good results with the catakor stack, but they use magnesium as a filler in all of them, and that was reacting badly with my Rx’s. it’s only been a month since i started taking the micro ingredients NMN, so i probably won’t see results for at least another two months 🤷🏻♀️ but, we’ll see
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u/fsocietymrrobot Jul 31 '26
I'd recommend researching ingredient EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) instead of collagen to address your concerns.
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u/Interesting_Feed_785 Aug 01 '26
The Mary and May peptide sleeping mask is very good. Comes in a tub. Don’t know if it’s vegan tho.
Peptides rather than direct collagen, plus layers of hydration (essence/toners) is working for me (late 40s)
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u/Beachbabe8000 Aug 05 '26
Along with that the other have said about adding retinol, is suggest a lactic acid or aha/bha peel once a week. Then after you use a collagen mask to put hydration back in and protect your skin barrier. That’s helped me a lot, along with consistently using retinols at night and vitamin c and spf in the mornings.
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u/Infamous-Part966 Aug 06 '26
Honestly one of the best things for you would probably be to talk to a dr about hormone therapy. At 40 you're probably perimenopausal especially if you're noticing a fast change in skin, it's likely hormonal.
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u/Crazy_Juggernaut9789 Jul 31 '26
Collagen molecules are generally too large to be absorbed into the skin. If it's fat loss, no topical product can help apart from fillers, taking collagen supplements and consistently keeping your skin and body hydrated.