Asia has been obsessed with K-beauty for a number of years now. Beauty enthusiasts in this part of the world pay close attention to what K-pop celebrities are wearing and take time to pick up new trends such as straight brows, gradient lips, and dewy skin. It isn’t surprising that beauty products such as the sleeping mask, two-tone lipstick, and BB cushion are top-sellers in Asia.
And in case you don’t know, the three products that we’ve just mentioned are all Korean innovations; specifically, they were created and marketed by AMOREPACIFIC, the Korean beauty company that owns some of your favourite K-beauty brands like Laneige, Sulwhasoo, Mamonde, and IOPE.
K-beauty takes off in the USA
And while we thought that Asians are interested about K-beauty because of how the trends and looks are suited for our skin concerns and skin tones, it looks like the trend has also reached the USA.
AMOREPACIFIC has recently participated in ‘Beautycon LA’, one of the largest beauty exhibitions held in the USA to reach out to American customers. Held at the Los Angeles Convention Center between 14 and 15 July, this annual event attracts about 22,000 visitors. The event features over 100 brands and more than 200 celebrity and beauty content creators to interact with visitors who are enthusiastic about beauty.
At the event AMOREPACIFIC showcased five brands: AMOREPACIFIC, Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Mamonde, and IOPE, at the AMOREPACIFIC Lounge, where the K-Beauty special exhibition zone is held. At this space, beauty ambassadors from the West shared with customers about K-beauty. The influencers included Karen Yeung (@iamkareno) and Fei (@heyitsfeiii) who has 1 million YouTube followers, and they shared K-beauty tutorials and their experience using K-beauty products from AMOREPACIFIC.
This is the first time this special exhibition zone is set up at the Beautycon, which is a nod to the rising K-beauty trend in the USA.
K-beauty offerings from AMOREPACIFIC first entered the USA in 2003 when the brand launched their luxury flagship brand AMOREPACIFIC at Bergdo Goodman in 2003. Bergdo Goodman is a premier department store in the USA. Later, Sulwhasoo was launched in 2010, and Laneige in 2014, as a response to the K-beauty popularity that is observed to be rising.
More recently, Innisfree launched in September last year in Manhattan, New York, and Mamonde products are now distributed through Ulta, a popular US-based beauty retailer.
It looks like the K-beauty trend is only going to become more mainstream, which only spells good news to those of us who have been embracing Korean beauty brands. We’re likely to see even more innovations and product offerings with a larger demand worldwide – and we’re definitely not complaining.
