WHY KOREAN BEAUTY?
We have all heard about Korean skin care, but what about it makes it so special?
If there is one thing that the Koreans are proud of, it is their beautiful skin. Korean women are very demanding customers when it comes to their looks and invest a great deal of time to making sure that their skin looks flawless.
South Korea is a country with one of the most interesting and fastest growing beauty industries in the world, introducing leading innovations in this industry and setting global trends.
Mintel, a leading global market research agency, reveals in their survey that South Korea is among the top 10 beauty industry markets and their market value for 2017 is estimated at just over 13 billion US dollars.
“In the past, France was considered the global leader in beauty, but now all eyes are on Korea,” says Peter Thomas Roth, a skin-care expert who spoke to The Cut.
IN FACT, YOU ARE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH KOREAN COSMETICS
Most fans of cosmetics products have by now already heard of BB creams, but may not know that they are of Korean origin. That’s right, BB creams come from South Korea.
The BB cream (the name stands for ‘blemish balm’ or ‘beauty balm’) was in fact one of the first Korean products to achieve worldwide success. The reason for its success is primarily due to the fact that this was the first skin-care and make-up product combined in one. Here, they managed to combine the Korean beauty industry, which is more focused on skin care with European and American trends, where the emphasis is more on make-up.
KOREAN SKIN CARE
As already mentioned, Korean cosmetics places strong importance on skin care and efficient natural ingredients, working together in the common goal of combining health and beauty.
Korean customers are demanding customers, since they grow up with an awareness of beauty and culture on skin care and ingredients beneficial for it. Every consumer is good at evaluating any new product, they exactly know what works and what doesn’t. Another thing typical of Korean cosmetics is that they are not loyal to one brand, but to the common principle of Korean cosmetics, which leads to much greater competition among the manufacturers and as a result, their commitment to research and development.
TREND OR THE NEW STANDARD
Korean cosmetics or in short K-beauty is a trend becoming part of the dominant beauty industry and one that cannot be neglected.
Where Korean cosmetics and skin care were once considered a niche, Korean cosmetic brands have now obtained a permanent place on store shelves, such as the internationally acclaimed beauty mecca - Sephora, and K-beauty products are now appearing also in smaller beauty shops and galleries across Europe and the US.
The overwhelming international response was largely the result of the accompanying trends in beauty ‘rituals’, such as the Korean 10-step skin-care regimen and ‘glass skin’, the porcelain Asian skin that defies age problems, as well as excellent reviews on beauty blogs and in magazines.
ONGOING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
In recent years, we have seen Korean products, such as BB creams, ‘cushion’ foundations, as well as ‘sheet’ masks becoming key beauty products in all Western countries.
This is not merely the result of favourable circumstances, but largely due to planned development with the support of the state to establish the existing beauty industry as a source of revenue for the country. Beauty in Korea is extremely important and the term ‘Korean products’ is associated by professionals with top quality and high technology. This is why Korean cosmetic companies are constantly investing in research and development to produce the next winning formula, a unique product to satisfy the market that is always starving for innovation.