Latest news with #KoreanBeauty
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Shop the Korean beauty app that brings skincare and makeup brands NEVER sold in the US to you at amazing prices
If you're always on the hunt for new Korean beauty products but wish you had just one convenient place where you could shop it all — and at the touch of your fingertips — we have found the most amazing thing. YLESS just made its US debut, and we couldn't be more excited. The app brings the best of indie K-beauty right to you, featuring over 1,000 products from 20 brands that have never even been sold in America until now. YLESS Bring the best of K-beauty right to your fingertips! YLESS makes it easy to streamline the experience with its clean, gorgeous app. Shop the best of the best right here, including top-tier makeup and skin care products all neatly laid out and simple to navigate. Everything comes to you from leading Korean beauty manufacturers with fresh formulas and wallet-friendly prices! FREE Download Here Browsing YLESS is a dream thanks to its clean interface and easy-to-navigate categories, which are broken down so you can easily find the K-beauty products you love Touting itself as a 'cosmetics paradise,' the app is jam-packed with gorgeous makeup and skin care at incredible prices — and using it to find your favorites is both fun and easy thanks to the clean, streamlined interface. YLESS makes it easy to navigate products you've never heard of and formulas that are completely new to you in the most approachable way. The company teams up with leading Korean beauty manufacturers to deliver these fresh finds to you. In other words, you can trust that what you order is brought to you by a trusted name in beauty. After you download (it's free!), you have the option to select a few of your favorite beauty essentials before diving in to shop. If you prefer, though, you can skip right to the good stuff and head straight to paradise. Here's where you'll find everything neatly laid out, from sunscreen and moisturizer to lip oil and highlighter. Conveniently, you can even browse by bestselling products in each category, simplifying things if you aren't sure where to begin or if you're totally new to K-beauty and want to find what everyone's loving. If you know exactly what types of products you love and want, though, YLESS makes it so easy to find them. Click around to browse items by category, or to view products strictly formulated for sensitive skin. All the beauty and all the values! YLESS delivers it all and makes it so easy to find new favorites via its sleek app that is new to America What you'll find is the best of the best. The 'Wink' lineup consists of super high-performance dupes of five-star favorites. The AVANJUNE Winter Camellia Serum, for example, is formulated to replicate the widely beloved Chanel Camellia Serum. The difference? It delivers the same impressive results in no time for a fraction of the price of the big name. Also notable is the 'First-Try' range, which is where adventurous types will find their pot of gold. If you aren't afraid to try something new, step outside of your comfort zone, and test the K-beauty waters, you are going to love what you find here! Among the highlights is BLAC3 Blood Drop Lip Oil, which is basically formulated to deliver that devilishly sexy, 'just bitten' red tint to your pout with zero effort. You literally can't find an easier (or more fun!) way to shop for new, exciting K-beauty products. It's as simple as downloading the YLESS app and adding to cart!
Japan Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
South Korean beauty brands bet boom in U.S. demand outlasts tariff pain
Emboldened by roaring online success in the U.S., South Korea's cosmetic startups are expanding their bricks-and-mortar presence in the world's biggest consumer market, confident their mass appeal will offset the hit from tariffs. Brands like Tirtir, d'Alba, Torriden and Beauty of Joseon are in talks with major retailers to stock their U.S. shelves, company executives have said. Korean beauty or "K-beauty" products are able to compete globally on quality, price and snappy marketing and have benefited greatly from the success of the Asian export giant's other consumer hits, namely its music, film and television. "K-culture — things like PSY in the past, BTS, and then Korean dramas and films like 'Parasite' — those really paved the way," Tirtir CEO An Byung-Jun said. "In the U.S. market, there was already growing interest in South Korea. Then Korean cosmetics entered the scene. The quality was good, but the prices were lower than the existing luxury brands like L'Oreal or Estee Lauder." Tirtir's profile shot up last year following the viral online success of its cushion foundation shades designed for dark skin. The product will be sold at some U.S. stores of Ulta Beauty this summer, An said, adding that the firm aims to double U.S. sales this year. Retailers in the U.S. from Sephora and Ulta Beauty to Costco and Target are in talks with Korean cosmetics brands to launch sales in their physical stores, according to interviews with a dozen people including cosmetics company CEOs, executives and industry experts. They also expect Korean brands to weather tariffs better than rivals thanks to higher-margin business models. Many of them outsource production to contract manufacturers like Cosmax and Kolmar, dubbed the Foxconns of fast beauty, to keep costs down. Products are displayed at a TIRTIR store in Seoul on May 23. | REUTERS South Korea overtook Germany to become the world's third-largest beauty product exporter after France and the U.S. in 2024. Four-fifths of its $13 billion cosmetics output are for exports, which have predominantly been driven by e-commerce sales. Yuliet Mendosa, a 25-year-old visiting Seoul from America, is a fan of K-pop boy band BTS, which led her to greater interest in K-beauty products. "They go straight to the point to fix what you need to fix and your skin," she said at an Olive Young store. Changing landscape The U.S. push comes at a tricky time for the world's big exporters with U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs unsettling global trade. But while the levies create uncertainty for Korea's beauty exporters, strong demand is expected to mitigate some of this, executives say. South Korea's dominant beauty retailer Olive Young plans to set up its first U.S. store in Los Angeles as early as this year, said Jin Se-hoon, executive vice president of the company's global platform business. "The U.S., especially California, has by far the most customers for our global online shopping platform," Jin said. He said Washington's tariffs were a burden but not enough to hurt K-beauty's popularity and value-for-money proposition. Their U.S. expansion, despite tariffs, also seeks to sustain momentum after exports to China, the biggest overseas market for K-beauty, fell due to geopolitical tensions and competition. Skincare brand d'Alba, owned by d'Alba Global and known for its vegan mist serum and sunscreens, is in talks with Costco, Ulta Beauty and Target for retail distribution, the company said. A woman takes a photograph of a cosmetic product made by TIRTIR at its store in Seoul on May 23. | REUTERS LVMH's cosmetics chain Sephora plans to launch two new Korean brands, Torriden and Beauty of Joseon, this summer, according to a Sephora spokesperson. Costco, Target and Ulta did not respond to requests for comments. Tirtir's An said the baseline 10% tariff that the U.S. has already imposed is "endurable," although the planned 25% tariff on South Korean products due in July may force the company to raise prices "a little bit." Seoul, a major U.S. ally, is seeking tariff exemptions in trade talks with Washington. The Founders — the maker of Anua skincare products, which hit Ulta Beauty shelves this year —also have more room to absorb higher tariffs than rivals, its strategy team leader Jung Jun-ho said. The company posted an operating profit margin of over 30% last year. Niche brands South Korea replaced France as the biggest cosmetics exporter to the U.S. in 2024, according to official data, driven by online sales through Amazon. The top five Korean cosmetics brands in U.S. e-commerce — which include Beauty of Joseon, Medicube and Biodance — saw online sales grow 71% on average over the past two years, outperforming the overall U.S. market's 21% growth, according to Euromonitor data. The top five French brands — which include L'Oreal Paris, Dior and Lancome — posted 15% growth over that period. Social media has played a big part in Korea's success. "Nowadays a single viral TikTok video or influencer endorsement can turn a product into a global bestseller before it even launches outside Korea," said South Korea-based beauty marketer Odile Monod. But longer-term success will require increased physical store sales, said Jason Kim, CEO of cosmetics distributor Silicon2. There are already signs of growth plateauing for some companies, such as startup COSRX, now part of Korean cosmetics giant AmorePacific, as competition heats up and cheaper alternatives emerge, analysts said. For now, investors remain upbeat about Korean potential, with shares of d'Alba Global more than doubling since their debut last month. "The K-beauty trend is strong," Silicon2's Kim said. "But indie brands will face challenges too."
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
K-beauty startups bet booming US demand outlasts tariff pain
SEOUL, June 5 (Reuters) - Emboldened by roaring online success in the U.S., South Korea's cosmetic startups are expanding their bricks-and-mortar presence in the world's biggest consumer market, confident their mass appeal will offset the hit from tariffs. Brands like Tirtir, d'Alba, Torriden, and Beauty of Joseon are in talks with major retailers to stock their U.S. shelves, company executives have told Reuters. Korean beauty, or "K-beauty", products are able to compete globally on quality, price and snappy marketing and have benefited greatly from the success of the Asian export giant's other consumer hits, namely its music, film and television. "K-culture — things like PSY in the past, BTS, and then Korean dramas and films like 'Parasite' — those really paved the way," Tirtir CEO An Byung-Jun said. "In the U.S. market, there was already growing interest in South Korea. Then Korean cosmetics entered the scene. The quality was good, but the prices were lower than the existing luxury brands like L'Oreal or Estee Lauder." Tirtir's profile shot up last year following the viral online success of its cushion foundation shades designed for dark skin. The product will be sold at some U.S. stores of Ulta Beauty (ULTA.O), opens new tab this summer, An told Reuters, adding it aims to double U.S. sales this year. Retailers in the U.S. from Sephora and Ulta Beauty to Costco (COST.O), opens new tab and Target (TGT.N), opens new tab are in talks with Korean cosmetics brands to launch sales in their physical stores, according to Reuters' interviews with a dozen people including cosmetics company CEOs, executives and industry experts. They also expect Korean brands to weather tariffs better than rivals thanks to higher margin business models. Many of them outsource production to contract manufacturers like Cosmax ( opens new tab and Kolmar, dubbed the Foxconns of fast beauty, to keep costs down. South Korea overtook Germany to become the world's third-largest beauty product exporter after France and the U.S. in 2024. Four fifths of its $13 billion cosmetics output are for exports, which have predominantly been driven by e-commerce sales. Yuliet Mendosa, a 25-year-old visiting Seoul from America, is a fan of K-pop boy band BTS, which led her to greater interest in K-beauty products. "They go straight to the point to fix what you need to fix and your skin," she said at an Olive Young store. The U.S. push comes at a tricky time for the world's big exporters with President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs unsettling global trade. But while the levies create uncertainty for Korea's beauty exporters, strong demand is expected to mitigate some of this, executives say. South Korea's dominant beauty retailer Olive Young plans to set up its first U.S. store in Los Angeles as early as this year, Jin Se-hoon, Executive Vice President of the company's global platform business, told Reuters. "The U.S., especially California, has by far the most customers for our global online shopping platform," Jin said. He said Washington's tariffs were a burden but not enough to hurt K-beauty's popularity and value-for-money proposition. Their U.S. expansion, despite tariffs, also seeks to sustain momentum after exports to China, the biggest overseas market for K-beauty, fell due to geopolitical tensions and competition. Skincare brand d'Alba, owned by d'Alba Global ( opens new tab and known for its vegan mist serum and sunscreens, is in talks with Costco, Ulta Beauty and Target for retail distribution, the company said. LVMH's ( opens new tab cosmetics chain Sephora plans to launch two new Korean brands Torriden and Beauty of Joseon this summer, according to a Sephora spokesperson. Costco, Target and Ulta did not respond to requests for comments. Tirtir's An said the baseline 10% tariff that the U.S. has already imposed is "endurable" although the planned 25% tariff on South Korean products due in July may force the company to raise prices "a little bit." Seoul, a major U.S. ally, is seeking tariff exemptions in trade talks with Washington. The Founders--the maker of Anua skincare products, which hit Ulta Beauty shelves this year--also have more room to absorb higher tariffs than rivals, its strategy team leader Jung Jun-ho said. The company posted an operating profit margin of over 30% last year. South Korea replaced France as the biggest cosmetics exporter to the U.S. in 2024, according to official data, driven by online sales through Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab. The top five Korean cosmetics brands in U.S. e-commerce--which include Beauty of Joseon, Medicube and Biodance--saw online sales grow 71% on average over the past two years, outperforming the overall U.S. market's 21% growth, according to Euromonitor data. The top five French brands--which include L'Oreal Paris, Dior and Lancome--posted 15% growth over that period. Social media has played a big part in Korea's success. "Nowadays a single viral TikTok video or influencer endorsement can turn a product into a global bestseller before it even launches outside Korea," said South Korea-based beauty marketer Odile Monod. But longer-term success will require increased physical store sales, said Jason Kim, CEO of cosmetics distributor Silicon2 ( opens new tab. There are already signs of growth plateauing for some companies, such as startup COSRX, now part of Korean cosmetics giant AmorePacific ( opens new tab, as competition heats up and cheaper alternatives emerge, analysts said. For now, investors remain upbeat about Korean potential, with shares of d'Alba Global more than doubling since their debut last month. "The K-beauty trend is strong," Silicon2's Kim said. "But indie brands will face challenges too."
