Korean cosmetics, which have been in the beauty trends of the world for several years now, are not limited to sheet masks, snail slime and cute young girls in advertisements. A huge industry with the latest technology is developing by leaps and bounds and every year produces a lot of cosmetic products for every taste and color.
K-Beauty Phenomenon
Just five years ago, there were 1,200 cosmetic brands in South Korea, very few compared to the United States. Currently, their number is approaching 10 thousand. The Korean beauty phenomenon, or K-beauty, is based on three principles: innovation, surprise, and speed.
Koreans are constantly finding or inventing new ingredients in nature, whether it’s swallow’s nest extract or packaging in the form of a tomato. And, most importantly, they do it faster than anyone else.
Why is Korean cosmetics popular?
Naturalness. Korean cosmetics are more care-oriented than Western ones. The goal of an Asian woman is the so-called “glass skin”. This term refers to a bright, young, smooth and radiant face without wrinkles, age spots and other imperfections. Both care products and decorative cosmetics are designed to create the effect of a flawlessly clean face. The recent global fashion for natural – nude – makeup largely reflects this concept.
Deep care. If our daily skin care includes 3 stages (cleansing, tonic, moisturizer), then Korean – 8 or even 10. Deeper care is associated primarily with a more polluted atmosphere in the megacities of South Korea. First comes make-up removal using a special hydrophilic oil, then cleansing the face of oil residues using a special water-based foam or mousse, exfoliation, ionizing and applying essence (a hybrid of tonic and serum). After that, a special serum or ampoule is applied against specific problems – acne, pigmentation, enlarged pores. Then a tissue-based mask impregnated with a gel or lotion is applied for a few minutes. The mask is followed by a moisturizer – emulsion, gel or cream. The ritual ends with a cream with a UV filter.
Exotic ingredients. Korean skin care products often contain very exotic ingredients: snail mucus (mucin), snake or bee venom derivatives, volcanic ash, mushrooms. Chaga mushroom is very popular, which has a rejuvenating effect, helps fight inflammation and acne, and solves many other skin problems. Some of these components, due to their high efficiency, were borrowed by European cosmetic companies.
Textures and packaging. Korean cosmetics are textures that are unusual for us. For example, the hit of recent years is a bubble mask that forms abundant “live” foam on the face. Another strange but convenient and compact product is pill-like, compressed masks that need to be pre-soaked in water or lotion.
What will surprise you with Korean cosmetics?
Compound. Korean women are already so deep in the topic of cosmetics that many girls and women understand the composition of cosmetics as well as experts. Therefore, brands began to pay more attention to the “purity” and “simplicity” of the composition, because the manufacturer of cosmetics is simply obliged to prescribe the entire composition on the packaging of cosmetics.
Huge sizes. According to statistics, Korean women use more funds than the average European girl. And if a girl likes some remedy, then, most likely, she will stock up on it for a long time when there are discounts on it. Also, Korean women are more generous when using cosmetics, so small jars are not enough for many. As a result of all this, Korean manufacturers began to produce BIG SIZE products.
Bright colors. We are also pleased with the novelties in the segment of decorative cosmetics. Especially in the decorative cosmetics section, bright and unusual colors and shades of tints and lipsticks are constantly coming out.