Glass skin and snail mucin: K-beauty's rise to global fame

Propelled by interest in all things South Korea, Amorepacific, the cosmetics giant, is expanding its reach into the United States. But so are many of its competitors, write Daisuke Wakabayashi and Jin Yu Young from Seoul

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In 1991, four years after joining Amorepacific, his family's South Korean beauty conglomerate, Suh Kyungbae travelled to France to figure out why the company's skin care line was selling so poorly there.

He found the products collecting dust at rundown French drugstores. Mr Suh decided to pull the items off the shelves. He did not want to risk undermining Amorepacific's image in France, the birthplace of the modern cosmetics industry.

"I realised that having a brand that is recognised in the market is very important," said Mr Suh, 62, now the chairman of Amorepacific. "At that time, Korean brands weren't strong enough."

Those days are long gone. Riding the cultural wave of South Korean music, movies and television shows, even food, the country's beauty products are thriving. South Korean beauty trends including glass skin, multistep skin care routines and snail mucin serum are online fodder.

South Korea surpassed the United States to become the world's second-largest cosmetics exporter, after France, in the first half of 2025. Cosmetics exports surged 15% in the six-month period, to a record $5.5 billion, fuelled by growth in the United States and Europe, according to data from the South Korean government.

Amorepacific is being transformed from domestic stalwart to export powerhouse. Last year, the company's sales to the West, which includes North America and Europe, more than doubled.

Once a niche segment, Korean beauty products are thoroughly mainstream, with a large presence at retailers like Sephora and Walmart in the United States, as well as major stores across Europe. The American chain Ulta Beauty, which has more than 1,400 US stores, said in July that it was expanding its K-beauty offerings. South Korea's biggest cosmetics chain, Olive Young, plans to open its first store in America next year, in Los Angeles.