Apart from delivering heart-fluttering love stories that leave butterflies in our stomachs, Korean dramas have a lot more to offer. Somehow, there’s always a life lesson to be learned after a show’s run, and it manages to stay with us throughout the rest of our binge-watching days. Take stories that tackle physical beauty for example. Be it about plastic surgery, makeup, or weight loss, there's a K-drama that's guaranteed to make you weigh in on the conversation about beauty.
Need a little help looking for good ones? Below, we list down 10 K-dramas about beauty that you'll likely resonate with:
1. True Beauty
Watch on: Viu
A pretty face isn't everything, as you'll soon learn in the recently concluded True Beauty. After mastering the art of makeup from YouTube, Lim Ju-gyeong becomes a goddess overnight, revered by her peers for her looks. Despite her rise to popularity in school, Ju-gyeong’s greatest fear comes true when her handsome and popular classmate, Lee Su-ho, recognizes her without makeup on. Will he be able to accept the real her—flaws, pimple marks, and all?
Starring: Moon Ga Young, Cha Eun Woo, Hwang In Yeop, Park Yoo Na
2. My ID Is Gangnam Beauty
Watch on: Viu, Netflix
Bullied for her looks all her life, Kang Mi-rae decides to get plastic surgery in hopes of a fresh start in college. Unfortunately, her newfound popularity is quickly derailed when the truth about her operation is revealed. She’s taunted by her schoolmates with the nickname “Gangnam Beauty,” which leaves her just as distressed as she was back in her childhood. Despite the rumors circling around her, Mi-rae eventually finds an ally in the handsome yet seemingly aloof Do Kyung-suk, her naturally good-looking middle school classmate who chooses to stand up for her amid the whole fiasco.
Starring: Cha Eun Woo, Im Soo Hyang, Jo Woo Ri, Kwak Dong Yeon
3. Oh My Venus
Watch on: Viu, Netflix
Despite her achievements as a successful lawyer, 33-year-old Kang Joo-eun is still disrespected and ridiculed by her peers because of her weight. When she's dumped by her boyfriend of 15 years for the same reason, she enlists the help of famous Hollywood personal trainer Kim Young-ho to turn her life around.
Starring: So Ji Sub, Shin Min A, Jung Gyu Woon, Yoo In Young
4. She Was Pretty
Watch on: Netflix
When her now-handsome first love, Ji Sung-joon, asks to meet her, Hye Jin convinces her attractive roommate to take her place and pretend to be her. However, complications arise when Hye Jin, who failed to maintain her good looks from high school, finds work in Sung-joon's magazine company where he openly treats her with contempt and disdain, not knowing that she's really his childhood friend.
Starring: Hwang Jung Eum, Park Seo Joon, Go Joon Hee, Choi Si Won
5. The Beauty Inside
Watch on: Viu, Netflix
Two different worlds collide in The Beauty Inside. This drama follows Han Se-gye, a famous actress with a secret: Her appearance and identity changes to a different person once a month. She eventually develops a bond with Seo Do-jae, a seemingly perfect and wealthy man who hides the fact that he suffers from Prosopagnosia, which makes it impossible for him to remember faces. He makes up for this by telling people apart through their personalities. Will the two be able to make things work despite the complications between them?
Starring: Seo Hyun Jin, Lee Min Ki, Lee Da Hee
6. Birth of a Beauty
Watch on: Viu, Netflix
Sa Geum-ran is a kind but overweight housewife who’s treated poorly by her in-laws because of her looks. Her life is upended when her husband comes home from the United States after seven years and asks for a divorce so he can be with his mistress. Out for revenge, Geum-ran asks Han Tae-hee, a brokenhearted man with his own ulterior motives, to transform her into a beautiful woman with the intention of ruining her cheating husband’s relationship.
Starring: Joo Sang Wook, Han Ye Seul, Jung Gyu Woon
7. The Miracle
Watch on: Netflix
Twin sisters Kwon Shi-ah and Shi-yeon are complete opposites. Where Shi-ah is the popular, picture perfect K-pop idol, Shi-yeon is an overweight recluse who never leaves her room. Their whole worlds are thrown for a loop when they magically switch bodies and now have to live each other’s unfamiliar lives.
Starring: Hong Yoon Hwa, Kim Na Hyun
8. Perfume
Watch on: Viu
Betrayed by her husband’s affair, Min Jae-hee, a hardworking middle-aged housewife, attempts to end her life. However, before she can do so, she’s mysteriously sent a perfume that miraculously makes her look young and pretty again. Out to relive her youth, she signs on to become a top model for fashion designer Seo Yi-do, the perfect ideal man, if it weren’t for his multiple phobias and allergies.
Starring: Shin Sung Rok, Go Won Hee, Ha Jae Sook
9. Miss Korea
Badly hit by the IMF crisis in 1997 and in need of money, a company’s CEO, along with his employees, set off to transform a clumsy 25-year-old elevator operator into a beauty queen, in hopes of helping her win Miss Korea.
Starring: Lee Yeon Hee, Lee Sun Kyun, Lee Mi Sook
10. My Lovely Sam Soon
Talent trumps beauty in this classic K-drama when an insecure baker named Kim Sam-soon is hired by a haughty cook at an upscale restaurant, right after her cheating boyfriend publicly dumps her. The only problem? They’re polar opposites who absolutely cannot get along.
Starring: Hyun Bin, Kim Sun Ah, Jung Ryeo Won
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