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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

K-Beauty’s Golden Age Is Ending. What Comes Next?

Their 10-step routines, snail serums and sheet masks took the world by storm 10 years ago. Now, Korean beauty brands are facing a fiercely competitive market and need to think outside the box.
A store employee applying foundation in a Laneige boutique, which is an Amorepacific brand.
A store employee applying foundation in a Laneige boutique, which is an Amorepacific brand. (Getty Images)

Before Alicia Yoon launched Peach and Lily, the e-tailer known for bringing South Korean beauty to the American masses by curating products for the likes of CVS, Walmart and Ulta, she hosted a focus group to gauge what people knew about K-beauty. The year was 2012 and the result, she learned, was not much at all.

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