Hilario 1

Elli Hilario
English 115 Honors
Professor Lawson
28 November 2016
Final Research Paper
Word Count: 2522 words
The Rise of Korean Cosmetics
Many women in the United States have heard about various South Korean beauty
products or services whether it is makeup, skincare or plastic surgery but not everyone has
realized that they might be using products from South Korean beauty companies. Korean
celebrities are admired for their seemingly effortless beauty and clear, radiant skin, with barely
there make-up (Arirang News), and there are a lot of people who are very interested in Korean
culture around the world, most of which are also interested on how Korean celebrities keep their
good-looking appeal. South Koreans took advantage of consumer interests and started the trend
of using products such as BB creams and cushion foundations as a new make-up format (Kim,
Minji), and these products are now widely used by Americans as they became available in stores
nationwide. South Korean brands play a big role in todays makeup and skincare industry
globally, and especially within Southeast Asian countries. In the rise of the South Korean beauty
industry in the global market throughout the years, many more international investors are
planning on taking over the Korean cosmetic market in order to raise profits by globalizing
Korean beauty products, especially in the United States and in Europe, while matching its
growing popularity, especially through South Korean entertainment and YouTube beauty
vloggers.

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As South Korea is setting a foundation with their culture through dramas, music and
cosmetics, many western companies try to invest in leading Korean brands, as more and more
consumers of Korean cosmetics increase gradually. It is noticeable that the rise in popularity of
K-pop culture and soap opera across Asia Pacific has [also] helped South Korean brands expand
beyond their home market (Kim). One of the famous actresses in South Korea, Jeon Ji Hyun
sparked a buying craze after her drama My Love From Another Star with a lip oil that is said
to deepen the bitten-lip look during the year of 2014 (Chu). Shortly thereafter, in mid-2016,
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bain Capital Private Equity announced to have agreed to
acquire a majority stake in [Carver Korea] from existing shareholders. Carver, a Korean cosmetic
company, has exceeded total sales of [approximately one hundred thirty US dollars] recorded
for 2015, representing a more than two hundred percent sales growth over a year (Bain Capital).
Big cosmetic makers such as AmorePacific Corp., owner of the Innisfree brand, has experienced
a fourfold increase in market capitalization since the beginning of 2014 (Cheng). This recent
boom on Korean cosmetic sales became a goal for a lot of investment companies to make
business with, since sales forecasts leads into a much larger profit incentive for major
stakeholders. Especially that Korean cosmetics exports has been increasing on a 36.9 percent
average since 2011, many Korean companies are getting a lot more international businesses and
relationships, such as Dr. Jart+, whose international sales account for around thirty percent of
their overall sales (Arirang News). Certain products, including Dr. Jart+, such as Too Cool For
School, AmorePacific and Tony Moly, are sold in Sephora within their skincare aisles. Sephora is
a big retail store with thousands of customers testing out and buying expensive skincare and
makeup products, needless to know where the products came from, people trust Sephora to
present legitimate and working cosmetic products. As a matter of fact, it was not until recently

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that Sephora has finally added a K-beauty section on their website; and this can be seen as a
sign of the increasing import of Korean cosmetics into the United States.
A lot of Americans use BB creams on a daily casual basis. It is known that South Korea
originated the wide use of BB creams. BB creams are like tinted moisturizers with SPF, and
other added properties, ranging from primers to serums. Although BB creams were first
developed in Germany, years later, Korea made BB creams a big deal throughout Asia, until it
spread it popularity to the United States market. But before its release to the US, BB creams had
to go under several changes before it can make its appeal to Western consumers (Beautilish).
South Korea appeals to people with light Asian skin tones rather than including those people
with darker complexions. Companies, like Garnier and Maybelline, needed to develop more
shades in order for BB creams to have market value in other countries. Similarly, the cushion
compact foundation has the same issue as BB creams; both of the products were limited to light
Asian skin tones before its spread in popularity within Western nations. In brands such as: Etude
House, Missha, Hera, The Face Shop, Clio, etc., people can still see how limited the foundation
shades are; they are limited to the point wherein women would be disinterested in the product
being sold in Western countries. Noticeably, big beauty companies like Chanel, Lancme, and
LOral, also launched a cushion compact foundation in American markets. Meaning, both the
cushion compact foundation and the BB creams has proved its relevance in the market, in
observation between the Korean and other East Asian markets, as it makes way into the Western
market. Both of the products are convenient to use and are deemed perfect on busy young
women, however the initial users of the cushion foundation in Korea and some of Asia still use
this trend despite some how-to-hygiene issues that were later solved by Korean beauty experts
on YouTube. This makeup trend has been in the US market for over a year now, and sites like

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Teen Vogue has been encouraging women to use cushion compacts as part of their beauty routine.
Its popular use and expansion all over the world has encouraged other large international
cosmetic companies create shades that will sell on western markets, and some eastern markets.
Ever since, the market for cushion compacts has been expanded and implemented on a lot of
American stores ever since its release in Korea, as more people find use for the product.
Koreas pop culture is at a [set] pace for global beauty (Cosgrove). And within recent
years, the United States has been slowly adapting into more than just Korean cosmetic products,
but also Korean cosmetic preferences such as having, flawless, dewy skin, and the just-bitten
lip look (Bae). Last year, NYMag, posted an article about How to Get Shower-Radiant, Dewy
Skin inspired by Korean celebrities who used the dewy look to look radiant all day as if they
were not wearing makeup (Hou). Unlike the American counterpart of having matte skin,
Koreans wear their makeup keeping in mind that they should look as natural and radiant as
possible, without giving the idea that they are totally made-up. The just-bitten make-up look was
made to prevent Korean celebrities from looking too bold in dramas. This particular lip look is
used to make lips appear smaller, or just give a touch of color to the lips without looking too
fierce for the day. Drugstore brands like Maybelline, Revlon and LOral, along with BB creams
and cushion foundations, also created just-bitten lip products. Even larger companies like
Estee Lauder, Lancme and Laneige are now offering, although more on the skincare side,
products like sheet masks, and fermented products, since many Korean companies like Tony
Moly, Etude House and Holika Holika are gaining global recognition, they must keep up with the
pace (Marie Claire).
Many of the large cosmetic companies such as Maybelline and LOral, are adapting into
the new influence that Korean beauty products is having around the world. Maybelline has a

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product called Color Blur, which is used to create a gradient lip effect a very popular trend in
South Korea. As well as LOral which included cushion compacts into their True Match line. All
international companies share a large global market, and they have noticed Koreas wave on the
cosmetic industry and how consumers are beginning to use Korean-made beauty products on a
daily or preferred basis. Korea and Japan, being the two East Asian countries that share similar
ideas towards skincare, has shown their growing dominance in the global skincare industry
through marketing exotic Asian products and trends. Although Japan has established brands like
Shiseido [to help] popularize anti-aging ingredients, South Korea is now seen as a fastemerging center for innovation in the [skincare] industry, approaching half of all global
skincare sales (Chu). Based on this statistic, many of the Western cosmetic companies have
launched products with east Asian-based ingredients. For example, The Body Shop has an
extensive collection of products based on Asian ingredients such as green tea, lotus, cherry
blossoms and satsuma mandarin. Along with careful marketing and packaging of each of the
products, these companies are actually getting a profit by emphasizing the Asian origin of these
ingredients, which attracts customers that are beginning to incline towards Asian beauty
products. There are also companies that are inspired by South Korean trends, such as Lisa
Eldridge, the creative director of Lancme, was blown away by the technology and
enhancements in makeup [in Seoul], and brought back the idea of cushion compacts for
Lancme to release in the Western market (Chitrakorn). Not only investors are putting their
money into the Korean cosmetic industry, but even the western cosmetic companies are
fascinated with Korean makeup trends and technology. However, it also does not mean that
Korean companies are falling behind in the race of marketing their own products.

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YouTube can be seen as one of the primary marketing platforms that newly-debuted
Korean cosmetic companies are using in order to catch some customers. Many Koreans use
YouTube as their primary source of business through showcasing different Korean skincare and
makeup products to viewers and followers. YouTubers like PONY, bubzbeauty, heyitsfeii and
meejmuse, to name a few, are people who started with Korean-style-makeup how-to videos and
other similar tutorials, until to such a point where companies send them products to review on,
just like what Michelle Phan did before she started her own makeup line. These YouTube people
got really famous in the Korean makeup industry, they are associated with companies based here
in the United States that sell Korean products. Memebox is a company headquartered in San
Francisco that makes Korean cosmetics readily available in boxes containing various products,
whether it may be skincare, makeup or both, are sold for less than the total cost of the combined
products. In addition, the rise of Korean pop culture in Los Angeles has been growing immensely
over the past few years. PONY, a Korean makeup artist, made almost two million subscribers
after going independent from OnStyle, another Korean YouTube channel, and developing her
own makeup line under Memebox, being sold out within two days of sale in KCON 2016 held in
the Los Angeles Convention Center. Different YouTubers who widely use Korean cosmetics are
invited to KCON to meet fans and give live tutorials; they are invited by companies who
represent Korean pop culture like Memebox and Soompi. KCON holds different cosmetic booths
within the convention, making way for profit, with the thousands of people lining up to get their
hands on readily available and within-reach Korean cosmetics. And this encourages more
investors of the Western market to make business with Korean companies to gain profit in the
United States, also in Europe.

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Different western beauty companies needed to make changes with to match the use of
cushion compacts and BB creams in western countries. The cushion compact for example, the
variety of shades has drastically increased over the past years since its release in Korea in order
to increase its market to consumers with different skin tones. The Korean market only sold
shades for lighter skins, since they value pale, but somewhat healthy-looking skin in their
culture. This culture, however, had a popular expansion all over the world that has encouraged
change in other large international beauty companies for western markets. K-pop has a
tremendous influence on makeup users, they are a major influence in the use of Korean
cosmetics aside from other Korean celebrities. Korean pop music artists are known for their
flawless, fair skin, and eye-catching nature. A lot of people in the United States are getting into
K-pop, as seen in KCON New York and Los Angeles, as well as in YouTube, where views on
Korean pop bands have large amounts of viewers. It was recently known that the aforementioned
makeup artist, PONY, is the makeup artist of CL, a Korean singer making her way to debut in the
United States. However, there are still a little number of Korean products that are sold in the
United States, partly because Korean beauty is not for everyone. Since Koreans value light skin,
most of the shades are limited to those with fair skin to begin with. Not all of the women in the
market have very light skin, especially in the west, where not all consumers would not prefer
super lightened skin. Koreans still stand strong on their skin-lightening products for Asian
women in general in order to match their skin tone with the shades of foundation or BB cream
available in the market. In contrast to western beauty culture, Asian beauty culture values having
light skin, or would like to have light skin. However, this does not work for American values.
People in the United States are very diverse in skin tones. Women in the United States vary in the
color of shade that they need for their makeup routine, so Korean face base products that are

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narrowed down to a specific group will not benefit the market of the United States beauty
culture, making it harder for Korean beauty culture to fully immerse in the western beauty
industry. Even though it is hard for Koreans to completely dominate the cosmetic industry, they
still managed to get their products in the market of the United States, by either being an
expensive product in Sephora, or being accessible through US-based companies such as
Memebox; Koreans are still leading in the cosmetic industry.
The increasing global popularity of the Korean cosmetic industry has brought up
opportunities in investment with market growth rates that increase yearly. More and more
investment companies putting their money on Korean cosmetics, even other international beauty
companies started to adapt Korean cosmetic innovations to increase global competition in the
cosmetic industry. People worldwide who are beginning to use Korean cosmetics are increasing
yearly, as western beauty companies try to create their own version of products with Korean
cosmetic innovations in mind into their makeup or skincare line. On top of that, with the help of
YouTube and marketing strategies, Korean cosmetic companies sponsor certain beauty vloggers
to test and review their product for their viewers, therefore increasing the number of potential
buyers of Korean cosmetics around the world. And every day, a lot more people are becoming
aware of this lead in the cosmetic industry, especially to those who are working as makeup
artists, or have their own cosmetic line. It does not mean that the US is becoming more
Korean, but the fact that Koreans are continually influencing the western market is proof
enough to say that Korean cosmetics is leading the worldwide beauty industry.

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Works Cited
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"Carver Korea Acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity and Goldman Sachs." Bain Capital. 18
July 2016. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
Arirang News. K-Beauty Businesses Take on the Global Market. Online video clip. YouTube.
20 May 2016. Web. 20 November 2016.
Cheng, Jonathan. "South Korean Beauty Boom Proves Alluring to Investors." Wall Street
Journal. 17 July 2016. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
Chitrakorn, Kathy. "The 'Asian-ification' of Beauty." The Business of Fashion. 08 July 2015.
Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
Chu, Kathy. "Cosmetics Industry Applies Asian Trends to West." Wall Street Journal. 05 May
2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Cosgrove, Joanna. "Korean Cosmetics: Setting the Pace for Global Beauty." Beauty Packaging.
16 Mar. 2016. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Hou, Kathleen. "How to Get Shower-Radiant, Dewy Skin." The Cut. NYMag, 06 Aug. 2014.
Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Kim, Minji. "The Rising Wave of Korean Beauty." In-Cosmetics News. 25 June 2015. Web. 20
Nov. 2016.
Marie Claire. "Here's Why K-Beauty Is Killing It." Marie Claire. 09 June 2016. Web. 21 Nov.
2016.