[Acne] My skin can't seem to tolerate Korean skincare

Over the past 5 months, I've bought around 7 different K-beauty moisturizers that are popular in South Korea.

For context, I used Nivea Soft since I was 15 and it always made my skin glow. But they recently changed it into a vegan formula, and my skin didn’t react well at all.

Since K-beauty is so hyped, I thought maybe it was time to try some Korean skincare. But honestly, those months were the worst for my skin. I kept getting acne breakouts, which I never experienced with my old Nivea Soft. I became so self-conscious because it felt like every time I switched to a Korean product, my skin got worse.

I tried several moisturizers (Skin1004 Probio Cica Cream, Pyunkang Yul Moisture Cream, Physiogel Cream, Isntree Yam Root Cream, S-Nature, and a couple of others) hoping I’d find something that could replicate the glow and smoothness that Nivea Soft always gave me. But none of them came close, and instead, they caused breakouts or irritation.

After analyzing, I realized my skin seems to prefer products with mineral oil, lanolin, dimethicone, and generally more occlusive or silicone-heavy formulas, instead of the trendy K-beauty creams that my skin kept reacting badly to.

Has anyone experienced something similar?