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Following in the slipstream of K-pop superstars, K-beauty has become a massive global business. A further secret behind the South Korean cosmetics boom is the unlikely alliance of big manufacturers and small entrepreneurs creating a stream of products and the "skinfluencers" who help them lock in consumers. Seoul (tca/dpa) – Jo Min-Su was working toward a computer science doctorate at one of South Korea's best universities when he stumbled on his calling: building a better lip gloss. The 30-year-old sat near his booth at Seoul Beauty Week, pulled out a stick of his brand — named Blup — and gave his upper lip a dewy pink glow-up. "Nobody trusts a founder who doesn't use his own product," he said, smacking his lips. Jo is one of the tens of thousands of entrepreneurs looking to strike it rich on the seemingly insatiable global demand for beauty products from South Korea. Following in the slipstream of the superstars of K-pop, K-beauty has become a massive global business. Los Angeles fans of South Korean imports flocked to KCON LA 2025 at the L.A. Convention Center this year. At the music and cultural festival, they saw top K-pop idols andlined up for K-beauty at skin-care booths . The three-day convention — which had more than 350 booths and attracted more than 100,000 people from around L.A. and the country — was sponsored by South Korean health and beauty giant Olive Young, which plans to open its first US outlet in L.A. early next year. The secret of K-beauty's success has been the unlikely alliance of big manufacturers and small entrepreneurs to develop and supply a steady stream of new products to consumers and the "skinfluencers" who help them lock in on the latest lotions. Popular for offering unique and affordable products — like sunscreens that don't leave white smears while doubling as moisturizers — South Korean cosmetics have dominated some social media feeds in recent years. Whether it is Kim Kardashian on Instagram or deals from Walmart or Target, consumers who care about cosmetics are getting constant updates on the ever-changing trends. That online buzz has catapulted South Korea's cosmetics exports to more than $10 billion. Last year, it dethroned France — home of beauty royalty brands such as L'Oréal and L'Occitane — as the biggest exporter of cosmetics to the US. Unlike South Korea's other marquee exports like semiconductors and automobiles, beauty product exports are largely backed by smaller companies. Two-thirds of last year's cosmetics exports came from small and medium-sized firms like Blup, according to the Korea International Trade Assn. What has emerged is the hope that anyone, with the right product and a little bit of luck, can make a fortune in K-beauty. Since 2013, the number of registered cosmetics sellers in the country has increased sevenfold, to over 27,000 last year. The K-beauty trend took off in Los Angeles and across the country during COVID-19 when people were locked at home, online, thinking about self-care and exploring alternatives to well-known brands, said Sarah Chung Park, the founder and chief executive of Landing International, an L.A.-based company that connects K-beauty brands to American retailers. "Because of COVID, TikTok really boomed, and I think that was a way for people to discover K-beauty brands and then those brands went on Amazon and converted that virality to sales," she said. "Pretty much every Korean brand has capitalized on that." Behind most of the budding brands is a handful of manufacturers such as Colmar and Cosmax. The cosmetics manufacturers behind many of the latest brands are largely invisible to ordinary beauty consumers. Unlike other global players like L'Oreal or Estée Lauder, Cosmax has never sold directly under its own name, specializing almost entirely in research and original design manufacturing, or ODM. Cosmax was founded in 1992 and has grown into the largest cosmetics ODM in the world, supplying 4,500 brands from its factories in South Korea, China, the US and Southeast Asia. And at a time when some of the most well-known beauty brands are in decline or stuck in single-digit growth due to consumer fatigue, Cosmax reported a record $1.7 billion in revenue last year — a 22% increase from 2023. The company is a primary reason why South Korean beauty startups have been able to take off so quickly, flooding global markets at a pace that competitors in other countries struggle to match. Cosmax accounted for around 26% of all of South Korea's cosmetics exports last year. It has a unique ability to develop and launch new products rapidly while still making money supplying even the smallest brands, said Lee Kyung-soo, the company's 79-year-old chairman and founder. "From the point a brand comes to us with an idea, we can supply them in as little as three to six months," he said. "In other markets, that can be anywhere between a year to three years. They just can't compete with South Korea when it comes to speed." Few clients are too small for Lee, who has made sure that Cosmax will fill custom orders as small as 3,000 units. The company supplies companies with billions of dollars a year in revenue, and also Blup, a three-person lip gloss startup. Kang Seung-hyun, the senior managing director of Cosmax's research unit, estimates that the company releases around 8,000 new products annually. By the end of any given year, each of the company's 1,100 cosmetic scientists will have worked on the development of 80 to 100 cosmetic products, allowing Cosmax and its domestic peers to, as Kang puts it, "carpet-bomb the global market with novel products." The list of Korean beauty trends that have been adopted as staples around the world is long: BB creams, ampoules, face masks and pimple patches. Having big manufacturers like Cosmax do the heavy lifting allows many with little experience in cosmetics to join the K-beauty free-for-all. Among the beauty newbies: a scandal-ridden politician's daughter, a seafood retailer and a stationery-maker. "Anyone can do it. The barrier to entry isn't high at all," said Lee Sun-young, the founder of fruit-based cosmetics startup Kikiglow. "And the market is all about indie brands right now." As little as $20,000 in starting capital will get beauty entrepreneurs their first batch of product from a reputable cosmetics manufacturer in a matter of months. E-commerce platforms like TikTok Shop allow them to sell to global consumers directly. The only things they need are a concept, a set of thumbs and a knack for social media. Inside the convention hall, Kikiglow's booth was swarmed by influencers wielding camera sticks as they lined up for free samples. Giving product away to as many influencers as possible, hoping it will go viral, is an essential part of this game. "The people will stop coming once the samples run out," she said. To be sure, the fierce competition from the constant churn of new hot products and more affordable options from China and elsewhere makes it harder to stand out, succeed and retain customers. Meanwhile, the different tariffs coming out of the White House are making some cosmetic imports more expensive and less competitive in the U.S. "In the past, consumers would stick with a brand for 10 years or so and become extremely loyal," said B.J. Lee, who runs Cosmax's business in the US and is a son of the founder. "But with K-beauty, the ups and downs are extreme. New brands are coming out all the time, and people are constantly chasing the next exciting thing." Last year, according to US government data, over 8,800 cosmetic brands went out of business. Against such headwinds, Blup's selling point is that it can get the colors of lip glosses just right, using artificial intelligence to analyze consumer preferences and skin tones. The company is on track to record around $100,000 in sales by the end of the year and has plans to expand in Japan, Jo said. "I'm still not satisfied with where we are," he said. "There ar…

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Movember, a movement that takes place in November, is to raise funds and awareness for men's health issues, from cancer to mental health issues. Participants traditionally grow a moustache for the month to spark conversations and raise money. If you’re seeking inspiration, here are the famous people to look to. London (PA Media/dpa) – Once written off as a relic of the 1970s, the moustache is staging a confident return, fuelled by a new generation of style-savvy men reclaiming the upper lip. From Jacob Elordi to Timothée Chalamet, celebrities are starting to sport this contentious facial hair more and more on the red carpet. But getting a moustache right is easier said than done. It requires patience, care and – perhaps most importantly – confidence. As November rolls in, so too does Movember, when upper lips across the nation are conscripted into service for men’s health. So if you’re looking for inspiration, here are eight of the best moustaches throughout history. 1. Albert Einstein Perhaps the most famous moustache in science, Albert Einstein’s facial hair was a chevron-style moustache: full, bushy, covering the upper lip and extending past the corners of the mouth. Born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany, Einstein was a physicist who transformed our concept of space, time and energy with his theories on relativity. Despite his reputation as an absent-minded genius, his moustache remained reliably present in almost all his famous portraits. Some accounts say that by the 1930s he actually trimmed it less, letting it grow more freely than earlier in life, forming the wild and wiry tash we now associate with the scientist. 2. Clark Gable Gable’s moustache is a textbook example of the pencil moustache – thin, neat and sharply defined. The style leaves a narrow line above the lip, often with a clean gap to the nose. American actor Gable (1901–1960), the ultimate leading man of old Hollywood, first grew a moustache in 1930 for a stage role (where a fake one was too unreliable) but afterwards decided to keep evolving it for his film persona. Gable’s moustache felt like the finishing touch to his suave and rakish countenance – carefully groomed, never overpowering the face, but giving a strong line of character. 3. Freddie Mercury The moustache most associated with 1980s rock – and with Freddie Mercury’s legendary stage persona – was a thick, classic, full moustache, often described as part of the ‘pornstache’ family (i.e. bold and statement-making). Born in 1946, real name Farrokh Bulsara, Mercury fronted Queen with flamboyance and flair. His moustache became almost as iconic as his vocals. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it punctuated his stage presence: strong, dark and striking. Because he often paired it with stubble or light beard growth, the moustache dominated – a sign of his enduring confidence and swagger. 4. Lionel Richie Lionel Richie is perhaps less commonly lauded for facial hair, but in the 1980s and early 1990s he sported a full moustache, thick but well-groomed, with neat borders. Born in 1949, Richie rose to fame with the Commodores and then as a solo artist. His moustache offered a smooth contrast to his silky voice – a bit of edge around the sides of his soulful expression. While less theatrical than Mercury’s, it was nevertheless a strong facial signature in his time. 5. Tom Selleck Tom Selleck’s moustache is iconic – large, thick, expressive and often called the definitive ‘Magnum’ moustache. Many regard it as one of the most recognisable in showbiz. Selleck, born in 1945, became a household name via the popular TV drama Magnum, P.I. in the 1980s. His moustache is not delicate or subtle – it’s bold, full and synonymous with Selleck’s look. It sits squarely as part of his face, balancing out his bold facial features. Selleck managed to revive a trend of bushier, masculine moustaches throughout his time on the show. 6. Hulk Hogan Hulk Hogan’s moustache is textbook horseshoe moustache territory: the full moustache plus vertical extensions down the sides of the mouth, giving an upside-down U- or horseshoe shape. Born Terry Bollea in 1953, Hulk Hogan became a wrestling and pop-culture icon in the 1980s and 1990s. His moustache, coupled with a shaved head and his trademark handlebar-style blondness, became inseparable from his persona. The horseshoe style is certainly an aggressive statement – perfect for a performer whose presence is all about physicality and projection. 7. Timothée Chalamet Chalamet’s moustache is a little more subtle than Hogan’s. His sparse upper-lip growth is otherwise known as the shadow moustache: delicate, almost timid but deliberate in style. Born in 1995, actor Timothée Chalamet is often cast in introspective, sensitive roles. His decision to adopt a light moustache in certain appearances (like when channelling Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown) feels like an artistic gesture as opposed to a mandatory masculine accessory. 8. Jacob Elordi The newest addition to the moustachioed hall of fame, Jacob Elordi has helped usher the tash into Gen Z trending territory. The Australian actor – best known for Euphoria and his turn as Elvis Presley in Priscilla (2023) – has been spotted sporting a sleek, minimalist moustache that feels more Riviera than retro throwback. His style nods to the pencil moustaches of Hollywood’s golden age, yet his laid-back styling and slightly scruffy hair gives it a thoroughly modern twist. Elordi’s upper lip has become something of a cultural talking point, proving that a well-timed moustache can still send social media (and barbers) into overdrive. 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(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)