Korean beauty is here to stay….or at least, for the next three years. Over the last decade, the popularity of Korean beauty has soared — seeing South Korea enter the forefront of all things beauty related — especially skincare making it top contender in today’s dynamic beauty game industry. The exponential rise of K beauty has made it a particularly dominant force over their international counterparts, thanks to various socioeconomic factors and Hallyu that have significantly influenced the South Korean global economy. In other words, Hallyu is also known as the K-Wave, which refers to the cultural phenomenon in which Korean pop culture has dramatically spread worldwide — encompassing everything from music, drama, food and beauty. The major rise in K-Beauty since the 2010s was a result of South Korea’s entertainment industry, most notably with K-pop and K-dramas that were always popular in South East Asia, China and Japan — but this time, successfully in fully penetrated the western market. There has been a growing interest in Korean culture, fashion, and beauty, which continues to fuel the demand for K-beauty products.
On the other hand, with all trends, no matter how successful, they are always at risk of declining, due to the cyclical nature of the beauty market. As well as the power of social media today, trends are getting turned over much more rapidly, especially with the launch of indie brands and the effectiveness of social media marketing as well as a level of unpredictability in the beauty market. Trend life cycles can generally be split up into five stages: introduction, rise, peak, decline, and obsolescence. Thus with the major popularity K-beauty has been having in the last decade, and the growing influence of Chinese beauty and Thai celebrities, is it approaching a decline? LUXUO examines the influence of pop culture, regional heritage and market statistics to evaluate the longevity of the Korean beauty craze.
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Major Growth From Pop Culture
Along with rising fame of K-pop and K-drama celebrities, came a popularised aspirational standard of Asian beauty — characterised by clear complexions, glowing skin, minimal makeup and natural beauty. These figures like BTS and Blackpink came to represent the ideal image of beauty, almost acting as Korea’s global representatives and an image that encapsulated of Korea’s rigid beauty standards of a slim body, fair skin and a flawless complexion. Furthermore, The popularisation to the “glass skin” look had promoted the sales of Korean beauty products that are endorsed by celebrities or ones that promise buyers the smooth and glowy “glass skin” made famous by idol groups and actors. With the worldwide exposure of Korean celebrities, western audiences were more compelled to try K-beauty products due to its trendy characteristics. Hence, the birth of skincare trends like the “10-step skincare routine”, “7-layer” toner routine and an emphasised importance on sun protection. These popular trends had exposed international consumers Korean pop culture, Korean skincare brands and ingredients that have a reputation of working effectively at a reasonable price point, as opposed to western alternatives.
Given that the marketing involving K-pop, K-dramas and K-beauty consistently overlap, the effects of the skyrocketing popularity of Korean entertainment is evident in the exponential rise in K-beauty. From 2017 to 2023 Korean cosmetology exports have increased a whopping 219% at more than USD 530 billion as per the Japan Times. These figures were accelerated by the general trend of K-beauty, celebrity endorsements as well as product placement in music videos and K-dramas offering mainstream recognition. For example, BTS’s collaboration with VT Cosmetics — a brand that previously unknown to the international audience — was able to garner global attention and sale to their brand through reliance on the influence of BTS. It is also important to note the powerful influence these celebrities have, most notably with K-pop idols known for having a particularly dedicated fan base — known for selling out a product a celebrity was seen using regardless of price point.
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Persistence of Korean Celebrities
Despite the extreme skyrocket to fame in the late 2010s, these Korean celebrity influences are still extremely persistent to this day. Korean entertainment industry boasts an increasing number of Korean celebrities taking on overseas projects such as fashion ambassadorships, movie opportunities as well as international red carpet appearances — making the influence of these individuals even stronger than before. This is partly due to the worldwide acceptance and love for Korean culture paved by some of the major K-pop groups like 2NE1 and BIGBANG who had successfully broken into the western market and the groups like BTS and Blackpink who had brought K-pop to global stages. Their undeniable influence lies in their dedicated fan bases of younger millennials and Gen Zs, a population that social media and celebrity marketing is most effective.
As evidenced by Cosmetics Design Asia reports that state 80% of K-Beauty buyers from the millennial and Gen Z demographic were the driving force of sales growth. The sheer star power and influence of these public figures have been effective marketing tools for numerous fashion and beauty brands. Additionally given that most K-beauty brands have a significant presence on social media, with influencers and beauty bloggers frequently sharing reviews, tutorials, and recommendations, the growth is likely to continue. Hence, the K-beauty industry typically goes hand in hand with K-Beauty to maintain dominance in the relevant industries through ambassadorships and collaborations.
What is So Different About K-beauty?
Korean beauty products are known to be rooted in traditional beauty rituals and respect for ingredients. The upkeep of beauty and taking pride in one’s skincare routine has been ingrained in Korean culture for generations, typically focusing on lighter makeup that eventuated a “glow from within” look, as opposed to the traditional style of western makeup style that usually involves mattifying. K-beauty is also known to often incorporate unconventional yet beneficial ingredients such as snail mucin, ginseng, and propolis — which are not commonly found in Western skincare. These ingredients are chosen for their reputed skincare benefits and have become synonymous with Korean skincare to produce functional products that allow an individual to customise their routine according to their needs.
K-beauty is known for setting trends and regularly introducing new and exciting products that keep consumers interested and engaged both with new innovative products and their digital presence. While it could be argued that Japanese beauty has been a constant in the Asian beauty scene and incorporate similar ingredients and rituals. However, despite Japanese beauty brands ability to produce high quality products, many brands have struggles to match the vitality and digital presence of their Korean counterparts.
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Impeding Factors
However there are some factors that may disrupt and challenge K-beauty brands may face as they seek to maintain their global presence and adapt to evolving consumer demands and market conditions. In the past year we have seen the emergence of new trends like the trend of Chinese makeup and skincare, that has been on the rise with the viral makeup looks on Chinese social media Xiao Hong Shu. Furthermore, C-beauty’s rising vitality could possibly overshadow the K-beauty trends in a matter of years. This is also being further accelerated by the rise in Chinese celebrities’ involvement in international events in fashion that increases the influence and credibility of C-beauty. That being said, it would also be unreasonable to rule out the influence of Thai celebrities that have been rapidly increasing. Due to the surge of Thai dramas and their global success, these Thai celebrities have started to dominate the fashion industry and the beauty industry could be next.
Additionally, as K-beauty becomes more popular, local and international beauty brands are increasingly incorporating Korean beauty elements into their products, increasing competition. Many Asian-American brands like Glow Recipe and Peach and Lily have already done so, which may impede the continuous growth of K-beauty due to these the ease of accessibility and understanding of these products within the western market. As mentioned earlier, the cyclical nature of beauty may be the main disadvantaging factor of the K-beauty craze — as with a huge spike in demand, the rapid growth leads to higher supply and an oversaturated market. Hence the proliferation of Korean brands and products could make it difficult for new or smaller brands to stand out and result in consumer fatigue. Given that there are a plethora of products to choose from, consumers may become overwhelmed, leading to confusion and fatigue in choosing the right products and a possible switch to other approaches.
While it is important to consider the rise of other beauty trends and the cyclical nature of the industry, K-beauty is still extremely popular and in demand due to its positive reputation, innovative approach and the significant influence and relevance of Korean celebrities. Additionally, the trend of clean beauty and customisable skincare may contribute to the continuous growth of Korean products due to its reputation of science-backed formulas and natural traditional ingredients. Hence the growth and dominance of K-beauty in the industry will flourish for the next three years at the very least.
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