Asian makeup and skincare trends and products have long been strong players in the beauty industry – but how come?
All countries and continents have their own preferred looks and tendencies they go for when it comes to their looks – they emphasise different areas in their faces more, and employ different techniques. But what is it about Asian makeup and skincare that has made them so widespread?
While the Western beauty industry keeps going for crazier, more neon or darker colours all the time – making all looks extremely loud and in your face (pun intended) – Asian makeup trends, specifically Korean trends, tend to focus on the more natural looking, sheer colours.
For a lot of people, that is more habitual, and more within their own comfort zones.
Whenever you watch Asian makeup YouTubers, they will always emphasise the importance of skincare and will never put makeup on bare, unprepared skin. Not only that, but their skincare routine will stretch out over, sometimes, 10 or 15 rigorous steps – something that is not usually habitual in the West.
They always highlight the importance of priming, moisturising, doing various masks and whatnot – which is a good trend, that not only will lead to general improvement of skin condition for a lot of people, but also sets a higher standard for other makeup gurus.
In addition, a lot of the ingredients they use in their products frequently (aloe, for example) are very good for extremely sensitive skins, which is something that the Western market is not too good at accounting for.
All of that, in turn, makes it more popular with the general public.
Asian makeup, compared to a lot of western products, is incredibly cheap, and also incredibly easily accessible.
Easily purchasable online – on websites akin to YesStyle (where you can shop for Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese beauty products, amongst many other things) and many others – the prices for some of the most popular brands, like Etude House, are downright ridiculous, while the quality is very high.
The most expensive Etude House eyebrow pencil, for instance, will cost you less than £6, while a £9 lip tint will survive up to 6 months, if not more, of rigorous use.
Asian makeup is not ever afraid to experiment in order to make their products better and more popular on the market.
As such, you will often find products with such unique ingredients as snail mucin – for moisturising, bee venom – for collagen formation boosts, pearls – for skin brightening and many, many more.
Such ingredients are not only alluring, even if sometimes shocking, to the consumers; they are also incredibly effective, which makes Asian skincare stand out.
It is no lie or of any doubt to anyone that the initial surge of popularity of Korean makeup – which resulted in the growth of a market for Asian makeup overall – was due to cultural reasons. Specifically – K-Pop.
With their quite natural yet specific beauty trends – like the gradient lip tint and the aegyosal (highlighted undereye area to make the eyes pop out more) they grabbed the public’s attention; and the attention stayed.
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