Your Best Year Ever continues! All throughout December, Charlotte Cho, the creative force behind Soko Glam and author of ‘The Little Book of Skincare,’ will help you eradicate dull December skin.

I’ve lived a good chunk of my life wandering between three cities: Los Angeles, Seoul, and New York. And despite the combating cultural and climate changes, one major constant punctuates each experience: No matter where I live, my mother never ceases to provide me with her worldly advice. One week she might recommend that I eat more carrots because they’re good for my eyesight; the next she’ll gently suggest I drink less ice water because, apparently, cold water isn’t good for the soon-to-be-gestated womb. Yikes.

 

I’m not entirely sure where she gets this information, and why she treats it like her life (or my reproductive system) depends on it, but I can’t blame her. I’ve also been guilty of falling victim to “old wives’ tales”; I’ve even changed my lifestyle based on information that was, looking back, simply the product of clever advertising.

In my early foray into Korean skin care, I realized that though there’s no dearth of information about keeping a healthy complexion, much of the intel is misinterpreted or misinformed. While getting hands-on esthetician training in New York, I consulted many people who religiously used products targeted to their age group, turned up their noses at products that weren’t “chemical-free,” or were exasperated that no matter how much water they downed, their skin was still a dry, flakey mess. That’s when I realized how confused people were about skin care, and how important it is to clear your head of the marketing info-overload we’ve been consuming (consciously and subconsciously) for years.