We often forget that Korea has one of the most competitive beauty industries out there. New brands pop up every day trying to become a household name like Etude House, Tony Moly, and Laneige. Only a few manage to succeed, but a couple of brands do stand out and present themselves as worthy competition to the big guys. And for us, these are the five brands that you should definitely keep tabs on:
1. COSRX
Represented by their adorable cartoon mascot Mr. Rx, Cosrx has some of the simplest skin care in K-beauty yet. They target specific skin concerns and focus on having a short list of ingredients with only the essentials. Their One Step Pimple Clear Pads and Acne Pimple Master Patch are favorites in Korea, and their chemical exfoliants are highly-raved about by K-beauty enthusiasts all over the world.
2. Pony Effect
Pony Effect is a cosmetics line by the Korean celebrity makeup artist Pony, who you might recognize from the Etude House Play 101 campaigns. Her brand, however, has an entirely different aesthetic with its black, gold, Charlotte Tilbury-esque packaging. From cushions, contouring products, to liquid lipsticks, Pony is taking the K-beauty world by storm with these sleek, high quality products.
3. Son and Park
Son Dae Sik and Park Tae Yun are the pioneers of the Korean dewy skin look. And together, these top-tier celebrity makeup artists launched a high-end brand that prioritizes good skin care for better makeup application. The brand’s Beauty Water in particular is an unexpected stunner for its mild exfoliation properties and a gentle pH level that calms the skin. Since its release, everyone from Korea and even the West has kept their eyes peeled for more star quality products from the duo.
4. Neogen Dermalogy
High-performance and innovative skin care with benefits from the most natural ingredients is what Neogen is all about. They’re making waves in the industry with their use of a six-core biotechnology that produced their famous Bio Peel Gauze Peeling Wine exfoliating pads and Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser that are consistent bestsellers on the American K-beauty curator, Sokoglam. Their products are the best blend of naturally-derived skin care and advanced technology, and we're definitely hungry for more.
5. Mizon
Mizon may be best known for being one of those brands that helped popularize snail skin care, but they have tons of other products that definitely deserve the same hype. Unlike other brands that have specific price ranges, Mizon has both affordable and high-end skin care products, making it easy to pick something for your concerns. To help you get started though, their Snail Recovery Gel Cream is a light moisturizer with skin healing properties that is part of their inexpensive yet well worth it bunch.
Make sure to keep an eye out for these brands because they might just come out with the next big thing.
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