NUUL All-Skin Base Hit No. 1 on Olive Young the Day It Dropped

A brand-new makeup artist label just pulled off something genuinely rare: its debut product, the NUUL All-Skin Base, topped the entire makeup category on Olive Young's online mall on its very first day — by 5:30 PM on November 9, before the brand even had its official launch event.

NUUL (pronounced "neol") was founded in 2026 by makeup artist Hwang Bang-hoon, who built his name through senior artist roles at international cosmetics brands and TV appearances. Creative director Ham Gyeong-sik co-leads the brand, and broadcaster Hong Seok-cheon — a longtime friend of the founders — joined as CMO. The lineup behind this launch is less "celebrity vanity project" and more "people who have spent years on set watching products fail in real conditions."

The All-Skin Base is the brand's entire opening statement — one product, deliberately. Hwang's stated goal is to make something a person actually finishes rather than abandons half-used. The formula was co-developed with Korea Kolmar and designed to work across skin types without segmenting into separate versions. It applies with a moisturizing slip, then sets into a thin, even layer that doesn't interfere with whatever base makeup goes on top. Active ingredients include niacinamide and adenosine for dual functional claims (brightening and anti-wrinkle), plus an extract from peach blossom sourced from Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province.

Before launch, NUUL ran a blind test in July with ten professional makeup artists — including Woo Hyeon-jeung, Kim Ji-hyeon, Shin Ae, and Ha Jun — without disclosing the brand or product name. The testers flagged lightweight moisture, post-absorption adhesion, and compatibility with subsequent base steps as the standout qualities. That's a credible stress test: working artists have strong opinions and no reason to be polite about a formula that doesn't perform on set.

The official launch event on November 10 at LCDC in Seongsu drew around 200 people — roughly double the planned guest count of 100. At that event, NUUL confirmed it's already planning expansion into Japan, the US, Taiwan, and Indonesia after establishing its domestic presence through Olive Young online.

The "one product done right" positioning is a deliberate counter to the ever-expanding multi-step routine market, and the Olive Young same-day No. 1 suggests that angle is landing. Whether the All-Skin Base holds that position past launch week is the real test — but a debut that clears the entire makeup category on Korea's biggest beauty platform on day one is not nothing.