Chelsea Thorniley & Ellie Gordon
The continued growth of K-Beauty reflects a changing beauty landscape, with consumers increasingly seeking out innovative products, exploring new ingredients and building routines around their individual skin concerns.
As demand for K-Beauty continues to grow, the category has become an increasingly important part of the global beauty market, making it a natural fit for LOOKFANTASTIC’s 12 Days of K-Beauty Advent Calendar.
K-Beauty is known for its innovation, unique formats and ingredients that many customers are still discovering. This makes it particularly well suited to the surprise and excitement of an Advent calendar, offering something different from a traditional beauty Advent while helping customers discover some of the most-loved brands and products in the space.
Interest in K-Beauty has grown significantly over the last couple of years. Since LOOKFANTASTIC launched its K-Beauty assortment in June 2025, we have seen continued engagement across the category. What's been particularly interesting is that it is no longer a niche audience. Customers who may have originally entered the category through one hero product are now exploring broader routines and multiple brands.
Bringing together customer favourites and new discoveries
The thinking behind the 12 Days of K-Beauty Advent Calendar was to reflect the breadth of our K-Beauty range on LOOKFANTASTIC. This meant including well-known customer favourites alongside newer discoveries, while ensuring each product genuinely earned its place in the calendar.
The focus was on products with strong customer reviews, bestsellers within their categories and a balance across different skincare products to support routines.
For many customers, Advent calendars can be a self-purchase, offering one of the most cost-effective ways to trial multiple brands and products before committing to full-size purchases and broader routines. This is particularly relevant in K-Beauty, where consumers are often interested in exploring new ingredients, formats and routines. The calendar therefore acts as a discovery journey as much as a seasonal purchase.
The brands and categories driving K-Beauty demand
Beauty of Joseon continues to dominate within K-Beauty, driven by the ongoing success of hero products such as the Relief Sun Rice SPF50, which has seen 57% year-on-year growth, and Ginseng Eye Serum, which has grown by 120% year on year. Both have become staples in customers’ skincare routines.
Medicube has also seen triple-digit growth at LOOKFANTASTIC, driving newness and innovation within the K-Beauty space. Customers are building their trust in the brand through hero products such as the Zero Pore Pads and viral PDRN range, with PDRN as an ingredient seeing four times the growth compared with last year.
From a category perspective, sun care, serums, moisturisers and barrier-supporting skincare continue to perform exceptionally well, reflecting the core principles that have made K-Beauty so influential globally.
We are also seeing increasing customer interest in new-generation K-Beauty brands such as Anua and Dr. Althea, as consumers look to discover effective, ingredient-led solutions that deliver visible results at accessible price points.
A more informed, ingredient-conscious beauty consumer
The continued growth of K-Beauty reflects a more informed and ingredient-conscious consumer who is increasingly researching products, seeking out proven efficacy and shopping by skin concern rather than brand heritage alone.
K-Beauty has helped bring skincare education to the forefront, and we are seeing customers become more open to discovering new brands, ingredients and trends through social media.
At LOOKFANTASTIC, demand continues to be strongest for products targeting hydration, barrier support, longevity and blemish control. This highlights consumers’ growing focus on results-driven skincare and routines, with product performance increasingly central to purchasing decisions.
From trend to a permanent part of the global beauty market
K-Beauty has moved far beyond being a trend and is now a firmly established part of the beauty landscape. What started as a trending category has become a key driver of innovation within beauty, influencing everything from ingredients and routines to product formats and textures.
The continued success of brands such as Beauty of Joseon, Medicube and Anua shows that demand is being driven by product performance rather than novelty. From a buying perspective, we are seeing consistent consumer appetite for K-Beauty, with customers actively seeking out the latest innovations while continuing to repurchase trusted hero products.
We are also seeing K-Beauty evolve beyond facial skincare and into categories such as body care and haircare, highlighting the category’s ability to continually innovate and maintain long-term relevance with consumers.
Ultimately, the continued rise of K-Beauty reflects a broader shift in how consumers discover and shop for beauty. Customers are increasingly interested in exploring new brands, understanding ingredients and finding products that meet their individual needs. Through the 12 Days of K-Beauty Advent Calendar, LOOKFANTASTIC brings together the innovation, trusted favourites and new discoveries that continue to shape this evolving category.