Look around major retailers' beauty counters these days, and it's beginning to look like Koreatown.
While those of us in Hawaii, with our close Asia ties, have long been privy to shopping at Korean specialty stores, Don Quijote and Palama Market for beauty products from the East, these days major national retailers such as Sephora and Neiman Marcus are stocking brands offering BB creams and moisturizing masks popular throughout Asia.
The invasion started with Western-branded BB creams. Short for "blemish balm" or "beauty balm," BB cream has been known as the secret of Korean celebrities' flawless skin appearance since the 1980s. They were a hit with women on the street as well, because of their multitasking, all-in-one properties, serving as moisturizer, primer, foundation and sunblock.
That's one of the reasons Western brands were so slow to adopt the formulation. After all, why sell one item, when in the West, women were already accustomed to buying a different product for each of those tasks?
According to Betsy Lum at DFS Waikiki Galleria's Beauty World, the store welcomed its first Western-branded BB Cream from Estée Lauder last spring. Clinique and Dior quickly followed. These days, BB creams have gone prime time with TV commercials for Garnier's version.
The response has been phenomenal, she said. "Most of our customers come from all over Asia, so they get it. Most women want an all-in-one product. The more it can do for you, the better. Especially with summer coming, you don't need foundation when you can put this on, have your hydration and high SPF protection, and go."
Meanwhile, Western brands now find themselves competing with top Korean brands like The Face Shop and Sulwhasoo. The latter, based on herbal remedies, recently launched in Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus stores.
At the heart of Sulwhasoo's formulations is ginseng. The company's research into herbal, medicinal cosmetics rooted in ginseng began in 1967. It wasn't until 1973 that Ginseng SAMMI, the first ginseng-based line, was released. In 1997 Sulwhasoo was released following joint research with the College of Oriental Medicine at Kyung Hee University.
Today products from Sulwhasoo bear the herbal signature of not only ginseng, but other plant ingredients such as seaweed, Korean red pine, white mulberry and extract of bei xuan shen, a Chinese perennial widely used to treat dry skin. Since its launch in China in 2011, it aims to make the global top-10 list for cosmetics giants by 2015.
Thomas Kim follows his intuition when it comes to spotting retail trends. After working in the automotive industry selling cars, working on cars and selling high-performance parts, he said his friends thought he was crazy when he launched Baby Emporium nine years ago. Then last year he threw everyone for a loop again when, without knowing anything about beauty, he decided to bring The Face Shop to Hawaii.
"Europe used to be the skin-care capital," he said. "Now it's Asia."
The Face Shop might be considered the Sephora of Korea, going beyond retail to manufacturing the half-dozen men's lines and dozens of women's lines carried within its shops.
"Everywhere you go in Korea, there's a Face Shop," Kim said. "There are more than 1,000 stores in South Korea, and by the end of the year, they plan to have 1,300 to 1,500 shops, in such a small country. In Korea they're so critical about what they use that if the products didn't work, they would not be expanding as fast as they are.
"In Asia they really care about their skin. On rainy days they're wearing sunscreen; on sunny days they're carrying umbrellas," he said, because there one's face is truly one's fortune. While employment in the United States would still be considered largely merit-based, there potential employees are asked to submit photos as part of the culling process, and age discrimination is a norm when hiring women.
Kim said that in Hawaii people are not as conscientious about staying out of the sun or using sunscreen, but as they get older and start seeing the results of sun damage, they're seeking remedies.
He uses The Prestige men's line for age-related concerns. But he said his shop doesn't just sell beauty solutions. The need for TLC touches everyone.
"Look at the number of nail salons and massage shops that have opened, in spite of the economy. Everybody feels as though they deserve a nice facial, they deserve to be pampered after a long day at work."
The Face Shop makes such care affordable. Masks infused with ingredients that promise to hydrate and brighten skin sell for as little as $2 for a single use. Just open the package, put the mask on your face, lie down and relax for about 20 minutes to let the ingredients in the mask work.
As for the skin-care lines, each addresses a specific problem, making it easy to shop for such needs as sun care (Natural Sun), collagen loss (Flebote), lifting (Myeonghan Miindo Yul Sibigyeaonrak) or brightening (White Tree Snow).
There are also lines to fit different budgets, such as E'thym, a collagen treatment line with products that start at $9, versus $31 for a similar Flebote product. The difference is in the amount of active ingredients, with the higher-priced line geared toward an older customer. A younger person on a budget may not need as strong a product.
"When they list ingredients, they're very specific. One product, an Abyssine emulsion, boasts of containing microorganisms from the Galapagos," Kim said. "If it contains mushrooms, they're going to tell you where they were cultivated."
The Face Shop is also popular because of its policy of providing free sample products to buyers when available.
"In the beginning we were overzealous, so we were running out, but we usually try to offer something because not everyone is sold on us. Some people would just come in for body lotion, but we might give them a mask, and they'll try it and think, 'Wow, I really like this,' and come back," Kim said.
That staple of Korean beauty regimens, the treatment mask, has received a technological update. Sephora recently introduced Masque*ology by Beauty Architects, which is also slated to be carried in Macy's Passport stores.
Just like its Korean counterparts, each mask addresses a specific skin-care need, from cell renewal to lifting and firming to pore minimizing.
Masque*ology's developers considered paper masks convenient and easy to use but not advanced enough to effectively deliver the ingredients. They created a gel mask with two parts, one covering forehead and eyes, the other covering nose to chin, to help it conform to any face shape for better contact with its fluid treatment product.
The masks can be included in any skin-care regimen. Prices range from $24 to $36 for packs of three.
