“My face immediately turned red and itchy after I put on the snail mask that my friend bought me from South Korea,” recalled Amy Mak.

Mak, 45, used to rely considerably on skin products to keep her skin “young”. “I noticed that they (Korean skin products) were popular recently, so I just tried it!” said Mak. This idea brought her a nightmare.

Many people are like Mak, who are easily influenced by friends or the media, blindly following the trend. Korean skin products are so in vogue that more and more people go after them. A considerable number of local cosmetics retailers follow the trend and import Korean products. Even some leading health and beauty groups in Asia like Sa Sa International Holdings Limited, Watson’s and Manning’s do so as well.

Most of you may think that those Korean skin products must be safe as they must have gone through the Macao government’s quality inspection and regulation. However, you will be surprised to know the real situation.

According to the website of Macao Customs, “The imported clearance procedure for skin products is to fill out a form and submit it together with all supporting documents on the day of picking up the goods.” In fact the government is only responsible to make sure that the imported goods are not prohibited substances, and conducts no check on the products themselves.

“The producer is the one who is responsible to check every product of theirs and pass the local safety system before the goods are ready for sale,” said the Macao Health Bureau.

Kary Leong, a local cosmetics retailer said, “South Korea is famous for its skin products because of its strict quality monitoring system and the regulation.” With this safeguard, we can at least ensure the quality.

Regarding the case of Mak, Dr. Andy Choi suggested that itchy and stinging effects are the symptoms of sensitive skin. Patients should immediately wash the face with cold water. If the symptoms continue after two days, they should seek a doctor’s consultation.

“Since everyone’s body constitution is not the same, two cases out of 100 like Mak usually would not be considered a quality problem, this is just an unanticipated exception case,” Choi said.

Let’s be the safeguard of ourselves, the following are some helpful tips for consumers before you select and purchase a skin product.

Before making a decision, a consumer should gather all the information of the product and see if it suits you. If you have sensitive skin, make sure you check the ingredients, see if there is any forbidden substance. Go to several retailers and ask for more information, you may also compare the price at the same time.

Every skin product has a barcode printed on the package, under the barcode is a 13 digit numbers, the first 3 digits are the country codes that can tell the location of the production company. But keep in mind that, though the barcode labels do indicate the country or economic region of the producer, the product may still be manufactured in other places. In that case, you should look for “Made in [country name]”.

Instead of taking a risk applying a product on your face, it is always better to apply it on your hand first. To test, put a small amount on the hand for 15-30 minutes, to make sure your skin develops no symptoms like being itchy, heated, stinging or red.