Understanding Korean beauty brands isn’t exactly simple if only due to the sheer number of brands at widely varying price points. To further confuse things, much of the actual manufacturing of most of the products, and regardless of price, is done by two very large manufacturers. Thus the most expensive Amore Pacific cream might be manufactured next to one by another line that retails for under five dollars.
I actually went to
Korea and met with a number of brands and distributors before setting up a website
(www.essentiellebeauty.com)
selling high quality branded Korean beauty products.
While I personally
believe that the Korean brands do an excellent job quality wise I wouldn’t go
so far as to say that there is no difference between higher and lower end
lines. The obvious difference is price
but the relative ratios of expensive to cheaper ingredients is noticeable. Reading ingredients lists I personally can
see wide variances in the quality and amount of ingredients. Overall, you often, but not always, do get
what you pay for.
Koreans tend to
focus more on skin care than on color cosmetics and their skin care utilizes always-new
cutting edge technologies with a strong focus on traditional and natural ingredients. They include the exotic such as snail slime
and donkey milk but also utilize extensive essences, oils, flowers, legumes,
ash, herbs, vegetables and other such beneficial additions. Ingredients lists can top fifty items with
all or almost all being such ingredients drawn from nature. They also mix in fermented additions, which
lose potency with too many artificial additives yet power heal skin.
BB cream, bright
lips, semi sheer eye shadow and lovely matte pastel blushes are currently (when
I last went in early 2015) popular in Korea.
But so are sunscreen and an extensive skin care routine. Horse Oil is the new trend. Men’s lines make up an estimated 40 percent
of the market in Korea and over 90% of men there use BB cream.
And Korean brands
are very popular throughout Asia, which might be part of the reason they
haven’t expanded quicker in the United States.
Tastes vary, and the brands have had such strong demand regionally they
have sometimes stayed focused on what will work there. Tourists from China in particular are known
to take suitcases full of Korean beauty products home with them.
But knowing which
brands to buy can be confusing, especially as many of them have only recently
begun to become available in the United States and many others are hard or
impossible to get.
Overall, I would
say that Korean brands tend to have excellent products, are on the forefront of
industry innovation and are packed with amazing ingredients.
The first place to
start is with the big two, Amore Pacific and LG (a division within the same
firm that does the electronics). These
two brands dominate the market and each houses a number of brands from the most
to least expensive. Some have been internally
developed while others were bought after they’d reached a certain size.
Amore is the
leader, and they’ve also to date put more emphasis on international expansion. Their flagship brand, Amore Pacific, is one
of the better known Korean brands in the United States and has excellent but
very expensive products. Sulwhasoo is
Amore’s premium skincare line focusing on oriental medicine. It’s the best selling Korean brand ever. Other high end lines include HERA (western
style high end brand), Lirikos (similar to La Mer) and VB Program (dietary
supplements). In the mid-range they
have IOPE (plant stem cells and botanical extracts with modern science),
Hannule (mid-range oriental herbal skin care), Hyosiah (new fermented beans
based line), Mirepa and Odyssey (men’s), Laneige (in Target), western perfume
brands (Annick Goutal, Lolita Lempika and eSpoir), Verite and Primera (nature
based), Mise En Scene (western style shampoo brand) and Ryeol (Oriental shampoo
brand).
Amore’s cheaper
brands include Innisfree (Jeju Island and nature based), Etude House (makeup
and skin care for the younger market with shockingly good quality products),
Happy Bath (body), Mamonde (younger skin care) and Aritaum (drugstore).
LG has also put
major effort into building a strong stable of varied brands across all price
points. On the higher end are The
History of Whoo (Oriental medicine to compete with Sulwhasoo), Su:m37
(fermented skincare), OHUI (western and advanced science based). On the mid-range end LG has Belif
(collaboration with UK Herbalist Duncan Napiers and now carried by Sephora),
Beyond (naturalism), Isa Knox (cheaper OHUI), Sooryehan (cheaper History of
Whoo), Mirepa and Vonin (the latter two are men’s lines).
LG’s lower end
lines include The Face Shop (all over Asia with skin care and color cosmetics),
Lacvert (younger), Carezone (younger skin care), Cathycat (makeup), VoV
(makeup) and Re-en (Oriental medicine based skin care).
Many of these
brands remain focused on the Asian market and are huge sellers in China.
But the beauty
market in Asia is more complex than just a few large companies in control. Tony Moly is the fourth largest seller and
has built its business quickly with great marketing and quirky packaging, such
as fruit plastic casing. Their product
quality doesn’t rival the high-end brands but is consistently strong. And they’re one of the better-known brands in
the US, being already in Sephora and Urban Outfitters.
Dr. Jart+ is a very big seller in the United States and has excellent skin care and BB creams.
Dr. Jart+ is a very big seller in the United States and has excellent skin care and BB creams.
Then there are the
younger, aggressive brands, of which there are many. Korea really is at the forefront of beauty
innovation. New brands are growing quickly,
fueled by the demand throughout Asia.
Some companies are completely
independent while others are part of billion dollar conglomerates (chaebols).
Banila is high
quality, mid to low priced brand that mixes great design with high quality skin
care and makeup. Too Cool for School is similar, but with a more minimalist
feel. VDL and Moonshot also offer mid to
higher range cosmetics and skin care.
Recipe makes wonderful, nature based skin care.
Mid-range brands
can be excellent, given the competitive marketplace and demanding clientele.
NoTS was started
by a beauty industry marketer whose son had skin issues. Struggling to find products that worked among
her contact base she, frustrated, created her own and the high-end brand took
off very quickly. Finco, with their A
and J line, is another similar brand that quickly developed a celebrity and
successful following, using essences and melon.
Original Raw is part of Sammi Corporation and mixes science with
traditional herbs.
Missha is a very
high quality brand with an excellent essence among other skin care products,
though I find their color cosmetics less than exciting.
Klairs is part of
a portfolio of companies and offers natural but powerful essences for perfect
skin, including vegetable essences.
Label Young was able to grow its Shocking line almost exclusively using
social networks and specializes in products that reduce steps in a skincare
routine, but show results.
It’s on the lower
price point end where I feel the number of brands gets overwhelming. Many of them do cater to a younger
audience. Beauty is very important in
Korea and it’s a leader not just in beauty products but plastic surgery as
well.
SkinFood has
lovely packaging but also very high performing products. Holikka Holikka does something similar, as
does Shara Shara whose packaging has a more Asian in feel. Privia was started by someone who had a long
career working for major beauty brands who decided to start his own complete,
high quality but still affordable line that has become popular in Japan.
Nature Republic is
similar to Innisfree and is known for their aloe line. Mizon, and Benton are two other less
expensive lines. Mizon has a wide range
of products. Club Clio, Goodal and
PeriPera have a collective US website and freestanding stores that carry all of
the brands’ products in the US and Korea.
They have some lovely makeup/color products.
Boutique brands
from the Jeju (Volcanic Island similar to Hawaii) Island area offer nutrient
rich and very distinctive higher quality lines, focused on skin care.
The list of brands
could go on for pages and included here are only some of the better-known
ones. Later, I’ll list more of the (of
which there are so many) smaller but often quickly growing brands. And I didn’t even touch on the spa quality or
boutique higher end brands.
Walking shop to
shop in Seoul I was overwhelmed with the selection of both brands and
products. They vary widely in quality in
price point and quality, but overall they are excellent and really do lead the
beauty industry in innovation.
And
in the United States, their products are growing quickly in popularity and
demand because they work. Unfortunately,
some or most can be hard to get in outside Asia. That’s why I started www.essentiellebeauty.com
