There are influencers you follow and then there is Charleen Murphy, the kind of presence where every era feels like the right one to be paying attention to. Hold My Drink listeners have known this for years. The food content, the lifestyle content, the beauty and skincare and fashion, all of it lands because Charleen genuinely cannot put a foot wrong.

 The Coachella trip with Lucinda Strafford was already considered iconic before she'd even landed in the villa. Now, as one of this year's most talked about Casa Amor bombshells, she has been crowned by the internet as the nation's own Molly Mae. The chokehold is entirely real.

What is quietly doing just as much work as the personality is the skin underneath it. Every rewatch, every screenshot, every zoomed in TikTok comment section circles back to the same question. What is she actually doing to look like that, on camera, under Love Island lighting, at whatever hour of the morning those confessional pieces get filmed.

The answer, more often than not with a glow like hers, traces back to Korean skincare.

Korean skincare built its reputation on a single, quietly radical idea, that skin should be treated as something to nurture over years rather than fix in a weekend. Where western skincare has historically leaned on active ingredients working hard and fast, the Korean skincare approach favours layering lightweight, hydrating formulas that build the skin's own resilience over time. Hyaluronic acid, centella asiatica and fermented rice water are treated less as trend ingredients and more as daily essentials, the skincare equivalent of good posture.

The result, when done properly, is a complexion that looks luminous rather than simply shiny. Editors have taken to calling it complexion clarity, that particular translucence where the skin looks healthy from the inside rather than dressed up from the outside. It is, frankly, the kind of skin a villa full of cameras is designed to expose the absence of. It is exactly the kind Charleen keeps turning up with.

The Korean skincare routine most people picture, the ten step marathon of essences and ampoules, is largely a myth built by western media rather than a rule Korean women actually follow. What genuinely matters is the sequencing: thinnest textures first, richest last, everything working in service of hydration rather than stripping the skin back to start again each morning.

Centella asiatica, sometimes listed as cica, is one of the most trusted names in Korean skincare formulation, prized for calming and strengthening compromised skin. Snail mucin, despite the reputation, is simply a humectant and repair ingredient that draws moisture in while supporting the skin barrier, the protective layer that keeps hydration locked where it belongs. Fermented ingredients, a hallmark of Korean beauty science, are broken down into smaller molecules that the skin absorbs more readily, which is part of why the results tend to look immediate rather than gradual.

One honourable exception worth folding into an otherwise Korean skincare routine is vitamin C, an area where a single western formula remains difficult to improve on. SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic, built on L ascorbic acid alongside ferulic acid and vitamin E, is still considered the benchmark for morning antioxidant protection. It pairs naturally with a Korean hydration base rather than competing with it.

The biggest misconception about Korean skincare is that more steps automatically mean more glow. They do not. A considered five step routine will always outperform a rushed ten step one. The second myth worth retiring is that this approach only suits dry or dull skin. It does not. Formulations now exist for every texture and concern, from oil control to sensitivity, all built on the same hydration first foundation. And the last myth, that any of this requires a suitcase from Seoul or a haul from duty free, is simply out of date. K beauty has arrived properly on Irish shelves, clinically formulated and easy to build a routine around, and SkinShop.ie has been Ireland's home of Korean skincare since long before the rest of the internet caught up.

• A gentle, low pH cleanser that removes the day without disturbing the skin barrier, the essential first step in any Korean skincare Ireland routine. The Dr Althea Amino Acid Gentle Bubble Cleanser fits this brief well, built on amino acid surfactants that clear away the day without the tightness a stronger foam can leave behind.
• A centella or heartleaf based toner to calm and rebalance the skin immediately after cleansing. The Anua Heartleaf 77% Soothing Toner remains the category benchmark here, using a high concentration of heartleaf extract to settle redness and prep the skin for everything layered afterwards.
• A vitamin C serum such as C E Ferulic, worn in the morning underneath the Korean hydration steps for antioxidant protection. SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic remains the reference formula in this category, combining L ascorbic acid with ferulic acid and vitamin E for daily environmental defence.
• A hydrating serum built on fermented ingredients or hyaluronic acid, layered while skin is still slightly damp to lock in moisture. The SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Ampoule is a strong pick here, a centella led formula that hydrates while calming any redness or sensitivity underneath.
• A rich, barrier supporting moisturiser, the step responsible for that plump, lit from within finish by morning. The Medicube PDRN Pink Hyaluronic Moisturizing Cream leans on PDRN alongside hyaluronic acid, a combination increasingly associated with visible skin repair and long term resilience.
• A lightweight Korean SPF, formulated to sit invisibly under makeup rather than leaving the chalky cast older formulas were known for. The Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun Rice + Probiotics SPF50 is the one most associated with this category, worn daily under makeup without disrupting it.
• A weekly treatment mask to reset the skin when it needs more than the daily steps can offer. The Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask is the one everyone already knows from social media, a hydrogel mask that leaves skin visibly plumper within the hour, ideal before a big night or an early call time.

No matter what skin type walks into that villa, factor 50 should be non negotiable before a single frame is filmed. The Korean sun care category makes that far easier to stick to than the thick, white cast formulas of years past.

For oilier or breakout prone skin, the SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Water-Fit Sun Serum SPF50 is the standout. Genuinely weightless and serum textured, it calms as it protects rather than sitting on top of makeup.

For more reactive or sensitive skin, the AXIS-Y Complete No-Stress Physical Sunscreen SPF50+ is the better fit. A mineral formula, built to protect without the irritation chemical filters can sometimes trigger under prolonged sun exposure.

For the dewiest, most lit from within finish, the kind that reads beautifully under villa lighting, the Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun Rice + Probiotics SPF50 remains the category favourite. Stock on that one is down to four units, so worth moving quickly.

The common thread across all three is the same principle that runs through the rest of a proper Korean skincare routine, protection that supports the skin rather than working against it. That matters just as much poolside in Mallorca as it does at home in Ireland.

Whatever happens for Charleen Murphy in the Love Island Villa, the skin she is doing it in tells its own story, one built on patience, hydration and formulas that have been refined for decades rather than invented for a trend cycle. Korean skincare has always understood that the most striking glow is the one that looks like it was never trying, which might be the most Charleen Murphy sentence in this entire piece. korean skincare routine.