A year's worth of mascara? Fans of Korean beauty stock up as tariffs loom

Time of India

17-07-2025

When Esther Lee, a 32-year-old marketing agency owner from Los Angeles, heard that U.S. tariffs would soon hit South Korea, she and her husband jumped online to buy a year's worth of Korean eyeliners and sunscreens. It was triple their usual haul and cost hundreds of dollars.
The couple is among swarms of
K-beauty
consumers in the United States who have stocked up to brace for a potential price hike on their favourite cosmetic and skincare products.
Influencers have shared their bulk shopping hauls on social media. "The future is uncertain, but there is one thing I am certain about," Taylor Bosman Teague said to her 500,000 TikTok followers in May while unboxing bottles of toner and moisturisers. "I am not willing to lose certain
Korean skincare
products."
The panic buying began in April, when President Donald Trump announced plans for sweeping tariffs on South Korea's exports to the United States, but then suspended them to allow for negotiations. In early July, he threatened to impose a 25% tariff on almost all South Korean and Japanese goods if an agreement could not be made before Aug. 1.
This has caused ripples in the K-beauty industry, which has been booming, along with the rise of K-pop and K-dramas more broadly, and had record-high exports in the first half of the year.
South Korean
cosmetic exports
reached a record $5.5 billion in the first half of this year, nearly 15% higher than the first half of 2024, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
Amorepacific
, Korea's largest beauty company, reported a 40% increase in overseas sales in the past year.
Some people in the United States "are acting ahead of the tariffs" and purchasing more imported goods, said professor Rob Handfield, who studies supply chain management at North Carolina State University.
U.S. trade partners have been "stonewalled" by Washington in their attempts to reach a trade deal, Handfield said. He added that, for South Korea and Japan, it doesn't seem like there is "any possibility of working something out" by the Aug. 1 deadline.
Liah Yoo, a 36-year-old content creator from New York and founder of KraveBeauty, a U.S.-based K-beauty brand, said in an email that the tariffs would have a "massive impact" on the beauty industry at large. Her brand's products are formulated in South Korea.
A free-trade agreement between the two countries has long kept cosmetics duty free, and one of the biggest pluses of Korean products is affordability, she said. Korean brands that have relied solely on price to stay competitive will be hit the hardest, Yoo said.
She said she would "not make reactive pricing decisions" and would monitor how things develop over the next six months.
A silver lining, Yoo said, is that tariffs may be "exactly what the industry needs" to place a focus on value instead of just cheaper prices.
Fans of K-beauty say the products offer good value for money, and are often lighter and less abrasive than those in the United States. Their stylish packaging and popularity with Korean celebrities also add to their appeal.
Lee, the marketing agency owner, said over Zoom that she was wearing eyeliner from Clio, brow mascara from Espoir and mascara from Etude House, all Korean brands. Korean products comprise around 80% of her makeup and skin-care routine. "Korean eye products don't smudge as much on my hooded lids as do American ones," she said.
Lee, who is Korean American, said if the price of
Korean beauty products
rose because of the tariffs, she would buy in bulk every time she visits South Korea or ask her friends to purchase them for her when they travel there.
After Trump sent a letter to South Korea about the potential tariffs a few weeks ago, Seoul sent its top negotiator, Yeo Han-koo, to Washington to meet with Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative. Yeo came back largely empty handed.
"We are doing our best to bring about a result that is mutually beneficial to both sides, but we have been unable to establish what each side exactly wanted from the other side," President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea said about trade talks this month.
Some consumers said they would stay loyal to their favourite Korean brands even if they became more expensive.
Sophie He, a 27-year-old from San Jose, California, who is studying Korean at Yonsei University in Seoul over the summer, said all of her makeup was from Korean brands, and that she would buy several months' worth of moisturisers and serums for herself and her friends before going home.
She became interested in K-beauty in middle school, after influencers popped up on her social media feeds. She found that Korean products have lighter formulas and pigmentation than those in the U.S. and better match her complexion, she said.
At a branch of Olive Young, a major cosmetics chain, He pointed to a dozen products, rattling off their functions and ingredients by heart. "K-beauty is fun, trendy and constantly evolving," she said. When her stash runs out, she won't hesitate to pay higher prices for more. "For me, it's worth it."