Blah blah~ Where Can Get K-Beauty Product Information?

What is K-Beauty?

I stayed for a while(around 3 yrs) in three foreign countries a few years ago. Each country has different charms and the parts that feel convenient during living are all different. Here, if I choose a part that is noticeably more developed in Korea than in other countries or that is really comfortable to live in Korea, I can confidently pick the beauty industry. The beauty industry in Korea that I have experienced is different from other countries. First of all, Korean people have different basic interests, and regardless of men and women, there is a high interest in skincare and makeup. In addition, due to the range and type of products and the classification by skin type being subdivided, there are many product options. And interest in ingredients has increased these days, and it seems to be a trend in the Korean beauty industry to reduce chemical products that make skin sensitive as much as possible. Finally, the price range is very diverse. From cheap products to very high-nd products. It is easy for Koreans to access information on these Korean products. However, there is bound to be a limit for foreigners.
So today, I would like to recommend three places where you can find reasonable K-eauty products. If you have a trip/business trip to Korea or want to get information, please refer to the recommendations below.

Olive Young

It is the most famous drugstore in Korea. It can be thought of as a similar form to Sephora, which has many branches in foreign countries. And Olive Young is more known to the public and popular than Sephora in Korea. It is located in every neighborhood, and many people have naturally gone there often since they were students. If you visit Olive Young, you can find out Korea's most popular or most beloved beauty brands (both domestic and foreign). It sells all beauty products such as skin care, body care, and makeup. It sells not only cosmetics but also various health and hygiene products. Also, it is famous for its frequent sales events or special offers, which is one of the reasons why Koreans often use Olive Young. (It feels like it's on sale every day) It's possible to ship not only domestically but also overseas, so it's the most convenient site for people living abroad to buy various Korean beauty products. Many people use overseas shipping as I went into the site, and there are quite a lot of reviews from foreigners. Since not all the descriptions are translated into English (some products have the contents translated into English), you can refer to the review or re-search on the Korean site to get a rating. Below is the address of the Olive Young Global site.
OLIVE YOUNG Global | https://global.oliveyoung.com

Main Page of Olive Young Global Site ( Source - Olive Young Website)

Hwahae App

This is an app for Koreans who are interested in skincare or beauty. The reason I use this site is to find the ingredients of cosmetics because my skin is sensitive and I cannot use whatever i want. The initial purpose of this application was to provide people with all the ingredients of cosmetics, but now the business has grown so large that it is a sales application that allows them to purchase products from more pledgling&various Korean brands than Olive Young. Not only information on ingredients but also people's evaluations of products are very detailed and diverse. However, the disadvantage is that English is not supported in this app, so it is difficult for foreigners to use it. However, it is possible to search for brands in English and the photos are well posted, so you can estimate how many bad ingredients there are or how much the overall rating is. Although there are linguistic difficulties, it is a very useful application when you want to check the components and ratings of the product.

Hwahae App in Appstore&An Example of a Product Detail Screen on the App( Source - Hwahae App)

iHerb

An international direct purchase site where you can purchase foreign goods from anywhere. Korean brand beauty products can also be purchased on the site, although there are not many types. Also, there is a separate category for K-Beauty. The advantage of this site/application is that it is easy to purchase, and you can check the reviews for each country. When purchasing a product from iHerb, you can also order only one Korean cosmetic that you are curious about and test. It is not as much information as the two sites above, but it is recommended for those who are interested in K-Beauty items but never have purchased Korean products yet.

 

Current K-Beauty Trend

For reference, a few years ago, low-cost shops such as Etude House, Innisfree, and Tonimori, also known as road shops, were popular. However, as a large number of lower-priced good brands have recently begun to emerge, the above brands are slowly disappearing or seem to be used by young students. There are so many newborn brands, and as mentioned above, light and healthy products with good ingredients seem to be the current trend in Korea. I hope that friends who read this will have a chance to look around the sites above and find various products that fit their skin.