Salmon sperm to slime Online K-beauty boom reaches UK high street

Korean beauty products are moving from phone screens to UK high streets as social media drives sales of skincare with the help of eye-catching ingredients such as snail slime and salmon sperm.

- Joanna Partridge

Retailers are looking to capitalise on the TikTok and Instagram trend for skincare and makeup ranges from South Korea - known as K-beauty - by opening stores and launching brands in a push to get consumers to pick up products that have gone viral online.

While some of the ranges have been available on specialist beauty websites for some time, British shoppers are now getting the chance to try them out and assess their supposed wondrous effects.

The trend is another example of South Korea's growing cultural prominence: food, film, TV and K-pop, with international stars such as the boyband BTS, are becoming big business.

K-beauty's positive reputation stems in part from Korea's tradition of using natural substances in products, making them gentle on the skin, and its strict rules around labelling. The industry is also known for novel formulations and packaging, although many shoppers discover brands such as Beauty of Joseon and Laneige through reviews by influencers.

Georgia Stafford, from the market research firm Mintel, said: "Social media is the driving force behind K-beauty's popularity in the UK, where 34% of users have bought a beauty or grooming product after seeing it on social media, rising to 58% of gen Z users."

A fifth (21%) of gen Z consumers (aged 13-28) use K-beauty products, according to Mintel, compared with 8% overall. They are more likely to follow the complex 10-step skincare routines popular in South Korea, or try to get the "glass skin" look beloved by the beauty industry, where your face is drenched in moisture to give a dewy, luminous look.

K-beauty products have previously had a relatively limited audience, according to Stafford, because they were unavailable on most high streets. However, online popularity could now translate to in-person purchases.