US Retailers Want in on K-Beauty — Again

Business of Fashion

07-05-2025

After nearly two years of TikTok's obsession with all things K-beauty, from glass skin and milky toners to sunscreen and snails, US retailers have finally caught up.
Amorepacific's 'glass skin'-focused brand Hanyul will be the latest in the K-beauty giant's portfolio to enter Sephora on May 16, following the conglomerate's dermatological brand Aestura in February. After an early 2020s-era purge of its K-beauty selection, Sephora — as well as virtually every other major US retailer — is now quickly rebuilding the category after TikTok virality caused K-beauty's 'second wave.'
This influx is happening just as US president Donald Trump's tariffs have taken effect, abruptly ending more than a decade of free trade that had helped spur Americans' love affair with serums and sheet masks, and caused South Korea to become the largest beauty exporter to the US, overtaking France last year, according to US International Trade Commission data.
Retailers and brands are forging ahead despite the chaos, as K-beauty's performance has defied a wider beauty industry slowdown. The US has been a major source of Amorepacific's dramatic turnaround over the past year. For the first quarter of 2025, the conglomerate's earnings report showed that its Americas revenue grew 79 percent, with overall revenue up 17.1 percent. The increase marked a comeback for the company, whose total revenue declined 11.1 percent in 2023 as it took a hit from the China beauty slowdown.
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As China remains a challenging market for all top beauty conglomerates, a lot is on the line for Korean companies that have bet big on the US.
'As a global organisation, there's been a big focus on the growth and the capabilities to build in North America,' said Amorepacific North America CEO Giovanni Valentini.
Riding the New Wave
A US-South Korea free-trade agreement that first went into effect in 2012, along with Korean government support for exports, helped usher in what at the time was called the 'Korean wave' or Hallyu in the US.
In addition to K-pop acts like Blackpink and films like 'Parasite,' consumers rapidly embraced Korean-inspired multi-step routines complete with serums, essences and masks. But as those products became widely adopted by international brands, the obsession with K-beauty began to wane around 2017, with many Korean brands disappearing from US retailers' shelves by 2021.
Even as South Korea's largest beauty conglomerate Amorepacific was still facing struggles in 2023, a US K-beauty renaissance was underway. Cosrx, which had investment from the conglomerate, led the way with a snail mucin phenomenon that spread in the US via TikTok; it was fully acquired by the company in October of that year. Other portfolio brands like Laneige, one of the few Korean brands to survive Sephora's K-beauty purge, and Innisfree saw major sales boosts for their TikTok-viral lip mask and sunscreen, respectively.
While influencer marketing efforts may have helped spur the resurgence, K-beauty also found itself at the right place at the right time. Its innovative, novel products were the perfect format for TikTok's algorithm, while accessible price points helped the brands flourish with a young audience just like North American labels such as E.l.f. Beauty or Cerave.
While the first wave of K-beauty was centred around the 10-step routine, the 'second wave' of K-beauty is focused more on hero products, like Laneige's lip mask, Valentini added. With Hanyul, the bet will be on making toner pads the next big beauty craze, following their success in South Korea.
In 2024 and 2025, Sephora has doubled its K-beauty portfolio with six recent and upcoming launches, said Carolyn Bojanowski, executive vice president of merchandising at Sephora. In addition to the Amorepacific brands, Then I Met You launched last fall, Biodance joined Sephora's lineup this year and Beauty of Joseon will launch there in August.
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Bojanowski said that while K-beauty was 'once best known for its multi-step routines, unique jelly-like textures, and fun formats,' Sephora is now focused on brands known for innovation, efficacy and ingredients, as well as 'an approachable price point.'
'It definitely is the second wave, especially for Sephora again,' said Lindsay Ullman, a co-founder and partner at retail consultancy View From 32.
But just about every retailer is expanding its K-beauty section, Valentini pointed out.
Target brought on several brands, including Round Lab in February and cleansing oil giant Ma:nyo in March 2025. Last year, Ulta Beauty added Ma:nyo, skincare label Anua and feminine care brand Rael, and indicated in recent earnings reports that there would be many more to come.
International K-beauty retailers have also recognised the US opportunity. Olive Young opened a US office earlier this year, and plans to debut its first store in Los Angeles. Germany-based K-beauty retailer K-Beauty World has been holding pop-ups in the US in 2025, showing up in Los Angeles' Century City mall in February and at Revolve Festival in April.
Navigating Tariffs
But the resurgence of K-beauty comes at a difficult time for the industry in the face of an unfolding global trade war. Trump's 10 percent tariff is now in effect on Korean goods imported to the US, and an additional 25 percent duty may come later when President Trump's 'reciprocal' tariffs take hold.
To shoulder the extra costs, retailers are already gearing up for the possibility of raising prices. In a video posted to Instagram and TikTok in mid-April, Charlotte Cho, the founder of US-based K-beauty e-tailer Soko Glam, told customers that she had begun to be billed for the new 10 percent rate.
'This definitely weighs heavily on me. I haven't been able to sleep at night,' she said in the video. 'Policies are literally changing on a dime.' She stated that she would be talking with brands in an attempt to avoid raising prices on Soko Glam.
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In the meantime, K-beauty brands are in an expensive holding pattern.
'Until now, we have not had a conversation just yet, because everybody's waiting until these percentages settle,' said Rael co-founder and CEO Yanghee Paik. 'A lot of companies are just being hit by the tariff without a way to recoup that margin.'
Many, like Amorepacific, have been stockpiling more weeks of supply in what Valentini calls a 'buffer' against the possible higher future rate. Amorepacific is weighing price increases among other possibilities, though Valentini hopes to mitigate the cost to customers.
'We're having very close conversations with the retail partners on what could be the potential course of action. Inevitably, there may be some degree of pricing increase,' but Amorepacific is 'prepared to absorb some of those costs,' he said.
K-beauty brands are watching for optimistic signs in South Korea's negotiations with Trump, which are showing more positive signals than other countries such as China. The US president has said a deal could be reached as early as this week. In 2018, trade negotiations with the first Trump administration ultimately resulted in a revised free-trade agreement. What could happen this time is still anyone's guess.
But executives and beauty experts are bullish that this time around, K-beauty is more than just a passing fad. Multiple major retailers plan to keep expanding their Korean brand rosters this year. Bojanowski said that Sephora had 'more to be announced soon' for its K-beauty section.
'This isn't just a random extension of the skincare category,' said Ullman. 'It's here to stay.'
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