K-Beauty Searches Explode to 10x French Beauty: Why Global Consumers Now Buy 'What Koreans Actually Use'

Numbuzin's 'NAD+ BioLifting Room Essence' and MediCube's 'One Day Exosome Shot 7500 Serum'…. A large number of products from small and medium-sized Korean companies were included in cosmetics selected by the U.S. fashion and beauty magazine "Vogue" as the most popular beauty trend in January. Among the five cosmetics recently selected by the New York Times as the "best serum," Korean company Toriden's "Dive in Serum" and Hanyul's "Red Rice Essence" were included.

Korean cosmetics products, which have become popular in Seoul, are making their way to the global market. Searching for "Korea Glow-Up" on the Internet is now a daily routine. "Korea Skin Care" was found to have been searched nine times more than French and six times more than Japanese skincare on Google Trends (based on search volume from April 29 to June 4, 2026).

According to a survey of foreigners visiting Korea conducted by the domestic tourism platform Creative Trip in February, the most anticipated point of travel to Korea was in the K-beauty (beauty) field, such as skin care (22%), hair shop (20%), and makeup (19%).

Jasmine Sario, a beauty influencer of 2.29 million YouTube and Instagram followers from Finland and Dubai, said, "About four years ago, I was looking for new skincare routines and ingredients online, and I fell in love with K-beauty for the first time." In September last year, a video of him attaching a collagen mask pack to his face from "component editor" was viewed 52.4 million times on Instagram alone, and the video posted in October last year was seen by 22 million people.

*My interest in K-culture to K-beauty

According to CJ Olive Young, the sales ratio of foreigners at Olive Young's Myeong-dong, Hongdae, and N Seongsu stores last year was 95%, 89%, and 83%, respectively. Ray (29), a British man who met at CJ Olive Young's store in Myeong-dong on the 23rd, said, "It was my fourth visit to Olive Young during my four-day trip to Korea," adding, "I bought a lot of products that are really popular with Koreans, not products advertised for foreigners."

Last year, 70 percent of the products purchased by Koreans and foreigners at Olive Young overlapped. People around the world are looking for products that are "real Koreans use." An Olive Young official said, "The products included not only mask packs but also cleansing foam, toner pads, essence, and other makeup products." Thanks to this, CJ Olive Young has open a local store in a large commercial district in LA.

Korea's cosmetics exports, which were only $800 million to $900 million annually in 2010, grew rapidly to $11.4 billion (about 16.6 trillion won) last year. According to the Korea International Trade Association, Korea ranked first among the countries that export cosmetics to the U.S. from 2024 to 2025. Cosmetics exports to the U.S. in 2025 amounted to about $2.18 billion, breaking the largest exports ever for two consecutive years. After the early days of the Korean Wave, when Chinese "Tai Gong" were hoarding mask packs in Myeong-dong, Seoul, products floating in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, have transformed into a global export industry that is eaten around the world.

Last year's "Seoul Con" event, which brought K-beauty to the forefront, attracted more than 3,500 influencer from around the world. "The economic ripple effect alone is 176 billion won," said an official at the Seoul Economic Promotion Agency. "K-beauty is now leading global trends and industries."

*If it works in Korea, it works in the world

The Korean cosmetics industry is known as the "red ocean" (competitive saturated market). There are more than 30,000 registered cosmetics companies in Korea, and consumers choose less than 200 products a year. It is a market where 60 to 70 idol groups debut a year, and only one or two teams survive. "The competition in K-beauty in recent years is similar to that of K-pop idols," said Park Jin-ho, CEO of beauty marketing firm View's Company. "Surviving in the Korean market is more difficult than winning a gold medal at the Olympics."

"Korean-made and K-beauty is like a guarantee of quality."

Korean cosmetics companies actively use online platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. When "Miss Darcei," a black American beauty influencer, complained that the cushion of a Korean tartir did not fit her skin tone, the Korean headquarters immediately expanded the color to 30 different skin tones to cover various skin tones. "Social media is already dominated by K-beauty," said Seo Dae-sung, an 800,000 influencer who mainly deals with contents that promote K-beauty to foreigners. "Cosmetics are definitely faster than fashion and food." "It is a kind of quality guarantee that it is made in Korea and used by Koreans," said Kim Yoo-jae, CEO of Ongradients, which is well known for its basic cosmetics products. "It is expanding globally by expanding its export destinations to North America, Europe, and the Middle East."

Companies are scrambling to launch new products to become "successful idols" in the K-beauty world. Overseas brands release new products every three years on average, while K-beauty releases new products every one month on average. In the process, unfamiliar products such as PDRN, which helps collagen production, Lidl shot, which helps absorb cosmetics, and Eoseongcho extract, which is good for preventing acne, were born overseas. "When we first launched the product in 2021, we tried to differentiate it with high content because there were few cosmetics containing PDRN. Recently, exports to Taiwan, Vietnam, and Canada have increased significantly, and most of them look for PDRN products," said Kim Sung-geun, CEO of Eclipse, an early runner of PDRN Ample.