New K-Beauty for Spring: What Just Landed at Kiss & Makeup

The light has finally changed. Mornings are brighter, the afternoons hang on a bit longer, and skin that has been under a scarf since June starts asking for something different. Lighter textures. Something that sinks in rather than sits. And sunscreen again, properly, not just on the days you remember.

So we have brought in a handful of new Korean skincare pieces for exactly that moment, plus a few things worth pointing at that have been quietly on the shelf. Here is what landed, what each one actually does, and how to put them together without buying all twelve.

Just landed

medicube Deep Lifting Peptide Eye Cream 30ml

The eye area is usually where winter shows up first, and it is also where most people give up, because heavy eye creams migrate and sting and end up in your lashes.

This one is built differently. It is a light gel-cream with a cooling metal applicator on the tip, so you are massaging as much as you are moisturising. The peptides are the active part, working on firmness over weeks rather than overnight, but the immediate effect is de-puffing, which is the bit you notice on a Monday morning.

Use it morning and night, a small amount, patted rather than rubbed. The metal tip is genuinely nice straight out of the fridge if you are someone who wakes up puffy.

$44.90 · See medicube

Beauty of Joseon Glow Deep Serum Rice + Arbutin, Jumbo 60ml

If you have been anywhere near Korean skincare in the last few years you already know this serum. Rice water for general glow and comfort, arbutin for tone and the flat, uneven patches that linger after summer or after a breakout.

The reason we brought in the jumbo is simple. Nobody has ever made the 30ml bottle last. It is the one people come back for, and the bigger bottle works out better per millilitre, which matters on something you use every day.

It sits under sunscreen without pilling, which is not a given with glow serums.

$46.90 · See Beauty

MISSHA All Around Safe Block Aqua Sun Gel SPF50+ PA++++

Here is the truth about sunscreen: the best one is the one you will actually put on. Most people in New Zealand own a good SPF and wear it about a third of the days they should, because it feels like wearing a raincoat on your face.

This is a water-gel. It goes on wet, disappears in about twenty seconds, and leaves no cast, which makes it one of the few SPF50+ formulas that works on deeper skin tones without that grey film. It sits under makeup properly.

Spring is exactly when this matters. The UV index climbs well before the weather turns warm enough for anyone to think about it.

$25.90 · See MISSHA

Isntree Hyper Vitamin C 23 Serum 20ml

Twenty-three percent is a serious concentration. This is not a gentle brightening essence, it is a proper vitamin C for dullness, dark spots and the general flatness skin has by the end of winter.

Start slowly. Two or three mornings a week, on dry skin, before moisturiser, and build up if your skin is happy. If you go straight to daily you will probably regret it, and that is true of any vitamin C at this strength, not just this one.

Always follow it with sunscreen. Vitamin C and SPF work well together, and the whole point is undone without the second half.

$31.90 · See Isntree

Purito SEOUL Oat In Gentle Exfoliating Face Cleanser 150ml

Exfoliation has a bad reputation in New Zealand, mostly earned by the apricot scrubs we all used as teenagers. This is the opposite approach: oat and gentle enzymes that loosen dead skin rather than sanding it off.

It is a good option if your skin is flaky after winter but reacts badly to acids, or if you are already using a retinol or a strong vitamin C and cannot add another active without everything going sideways.

Two or three times a week is plenty. It is a cleanser, so it does not sit on the skin.

$28.90 · See Purito

A simple spring routine, if you want one

You do not need all of these. If you are starting from nothing, this is the order that makes sense and the smallest number of steps that actually does something.

Morning. Cleanse, vitamin C serum if you are using one, moisturiser, then sunscreen. The sunscreen is the step that matters most and it is the one people skip. If you only change one thing this spring, make it that.

Evening. Cleanse, then your treatment step, whether that is the retinol cream or the exfoliating cleanser, then moisturiser and eye cream. Do not use retinol and a strong vitamin C in the same session when you are starting out. Split them, vitamin C in the morning and retinol at night.

Two or three times a week. The exfoliating cleanser, and the eye patches when you have fifteen minutes. That is it. Consistency beats complexity every time, and a four step routine you do daily will always beat a ten step routine you manage twice a month.

Also worth knowing about

These are not new, but they are in stock and they are the ones we get asked about.

Anua Collagen Retinol Refining Gua Sha Cream 80ml · $49.90
A retinol cream with a gua sha tool built into the lid, so the massage is part of the routine rather than another step you skip. Good for firmness, start twice a week.

COSRX The Peptide Collagen Hydrogel Eye Patch, 60s · $39.90
Sixty patches in the jar, so about a month of daily use. Fifteen minutes while you have your coffee, and they sit better than most because the hydrogel actually grips.

Beauty of Joseon Stay Fresh Tone-Up Sunscreen Purple SPF50+ · $34.90
A sunscreen with a slight colour-correcting tint. The purple counters sallowness, which is most of us in September. Doubles as a light base if you are not wearing foundation.

medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum · $38.90
PDRN is the ingredient people keep asking us about. This is the sensible entry point: a light serum for barrier repair and general resilience rather than a single dramatic fix.

THE SAEM Cover Perfection Tip Concealer SPF28 · $14.90
Consistently one of the best value concealers we sell, and one of the few with a real SPF in it. Full coverage, blends easily, does not sit in fine lines.

MISSHA M Perfect Cover BB Cream SPF42 · $22.90
The original K-beauty BB cream and still the benchmark. More coverage than a tinted moisturiser, lighter than a foundation, with SPF42 built in.

heimish Dailism Smudge Stop Volume Mascara · $22.90
Holds a curl and does not print onto your lids by lunchtime, which is the entire job.

A note on stock

The new arrivals are small first orders. We buy a few, see how they go, then order properly. It is how we keep the range interesting without sitting on stock nobody wants. The practical upshot is that if one of these is the thing you have been looking for, it is worth not sitting on it too long.

Come and see us

We are at 7 Camp Street, Trentham in Upper Hutt, open Monday to Friday 9 to 2:30 and Saturday 9 to 1. If you are not sure where to start, come in and ask. Working out what someone actually needs is the best part of the job, and there is no pressure to buy anything.

You can also browse the full Korean beauty range online.