I first saw the Torriden Dive-In Serum on a quiet night, scrolling aimlessly. It wasn’t an ad that grabbed me at least not at first. It was a photo of Han Ye-ri. Bare face, no filters, just looking at the camera like she wasn’t trying to convince anyone. I recognized her from Minari and a few Korean dramas I’d watched half-awake during pandemic nights. Her face had always struck me as gentle but grounded. The kind of skin that feels like memory. Familiar, not flawless.

The caption under the post was something about her skincare routine. Just a few lines. One of the things she uses to keep her skin calm when life gets loud. That stuck with me. Not the product itself. Just the idea. Skin that is calm. Not glowing, not filtered, not glass. Just quiet.

I added the serum to my cart without thinking too much. Maybe because I wanted a little quiet too.

When it arrived, I didn’t rush to use it. I left it on my desk for a few days, unopened. The bottle is a soft blue, translucent. Minimal branding. It almost looks medical, but not in an intimidating way. Like it was made to belong, not to stand out. And that alone felt like a kind of promise.

My skin has always been a little difficult. It’s not full-blown sensitive, but I get flare-ups. My cheeks flush easily. I get small breakouts around my mouth when I’m stressed. Sometimes my face feels dry even after moisturizing, and layering too many things just makes it worse. I’ve used hyaluronic acid before, but many of them leave a tacky film or irritate if I use them after exfoliating. I wasn’t expecting a miracle just hoping for something that would slip in quietly like a second thought.

The first night I used it, I applied it right after cleansing while my skin was still slightly damp. The dropper gave just enough. It felt like water but smoother. It spread without resistance. No scent. No tingling. No sticky residue. It just vanished. Not in a disappointing way. In a reassuring one. Like it was never trying to be more than it is.

I followed it with a light cream and went to bed.

When I woke up, I didn’t notice a glow. There wasn’t anything dramatic. But my face didn’t feel tight. That was the first change. Usually by morning, my skin feels like it’s asking for something. That day, it was quiet.

Over the next week, I used it morning and night. I never had to think about it. It didn’t compete with other products. It didn’t pill under sunscreen. It didn’t fight back when I used retinol the night before. It became background music to my routine. And in the quiet, my skin felt more sure of itself.

It’s not just the hyaluronic acid. I looked up the ingredients later. There’s panthenol which I love especially when my skin’s irritated. There’s allantoin betaine madecassoside. All the good calming things that do their job without putting on a show. No alcohols no fragrance nothing in there to provoke or distract.

I think what I appreciated most was how unbothered it felt. Like it wasn’t trying to make me fall in love with it. It just did its part.

By week three the texture around my jawline was gone. The dry spots around my nose stopped flaking. Even the redness on my cheeks looked less angry. It’s the kind of product that doesn’t make you gasp when you look in the mirror. It just makes you pause a little less. And that felt like enough.

One morning I caught myself looking at my reflection longer than usual. My skin still had its little imperfections. But it looked like mine. Less reactive. More rested. And I thought again about that photo of Han Ye-ri. The stillness in it. The honesty. Maybe I wanted to look like that not in the superficial sense but in the way her skin looked like it belonged to someone who listens rather than shouts.

There’s a gentleness in this serum that’s hard to describe. Not because of what it does dramatically but because of what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t promise transformation. It doesn’t pretend to be a fix. It just gives your skin room to be soft.

And in a world where skincare is often about pushing brightening tightening resurfacing I think that’s something worth noticing.

I’ve since repurchased the 100ml. It sits on my shelf quietly. No fancy packaging. No attention seeking bottle. But every time I use it I feel a little more grounded. Like I’m taking care of something instead of fixing it.

So no it didn’t change my skin overnight. It didn’t erase my pores. But it did remind me what my skin can feel like when it’s not at war with itself.

And sometimes that’s all I want.