I still remember the first time I heard about AmorePacific. I was at Sephora with my sister, and a store representative was gushing about a new brand that was centered on natural ingredients, particularly bamboo sap. I remember making a joke in my head about pandas, but I never actually tried anything from the brand because it was pretty expensive. I don’t normally buy premium skincare products because I can’t seem to justify the expense on something that may or may not work. But I…

I don’t really like to return things—probably the result of a mixture of laziness and fear of being shamed at the store. My dad, on the other hand, has no qualms about standing in line at Costco to return a bunch of things every week. He has also mastered the art of reattaching price tags to clothing items with Scotch tape. I’d rather live with a disappointing product than bring it back to the store to ask for a refund, unless the product was inaccurately advertised, defective, or…

I splurged a bit on a higher-end moisturizer about a week ago: Laneige Water Bank Moisture Cream. I have to admit that the beautiful packaging was 90 percent of the reason I reached for this moisturizer over any of the other options at Sephora. I’d say that this is a step above my normal drug store brands like CeraVe and Cetaphil, but still a tier below more premium options like Sunday Riley and Drunk Elephant. Laneige is the sister company of AmorePacific, which is a luxe Korean beauty…