Trend report from 3 days in Seoul!

Hello there,

Sofia here and just returned home with Lisa, Kristina and Myra from Seoul. It was a short trip this time, we only had three full days, but it was packed as usual. We have eaten incredible food, met all our suppliers and been to some other exciting meetings (to be continued) and of course had time to do a lot of beauty shopping.

Shopping at Olive Young in Korea is really like stepping straight into a candy store of skincare, makeup and a bunch of other exciting products you've never seen before. This time we had done proper research before our trip to see which products and brands are trending right now to make it easier to know what to look out for. If you're planning a visit to Seoul in the future and want to visit Olive Young, it's really a tip to check out lots of TikToks, Instagrams and blog posts before to get some inspiration for your shopping list. Without a little bit of research beforehand, it's almost too much to take in as there's so much fun to discover.

In this post, I thought I would report on what we experienced as trending products and ingredients from our shopping but also of course from our meetings with all our suppliers as we got to take part in so much news that will come during the year (looking forward to it!). Let's get started!

Toners and Essences

It's like there's no limit to how many different toner and essence products there are and there's just more and more new products coming out all the time. Something that really stood out is all the thin and watery textures, almost all of the ones we felt and tested are much thinner than the ones we're used to here at home. We found that these toners and essences can be layered generously and for our Nordic climate they're perfect either under a thicker toner or essence product or perhaps as the only toner during the summer. We also bought jars filled with toner pads that you can then soak with your favorite toner or essence to make your own toner pads which was so easy. And this leads me to the next trend, namely...

Toner pads

If it was the Toner and Essence category that took up most of the product shelves, then the toner pads probably came in second place. There are SO MANY and yes, we bought almost one of each. I feel that there are almost even more varieties to choose from than when we visited Seoul last September last year and I have also seen toner pads trending significantly more on TikTok. Personally, this is really a favorite and especially for our cold and dry climate. I find that it gives so much hydration and glow if they are pulled over the skin and then left on like a sheet mask for five minutes before I continue with the next step in the routine. It is also fun that Toner pads are something that our brands will also release new products of during the year, including from Hyggee, which we are very much looking forward to.

SPF Sticks

Something that was everywhere, and that almost all of our brands will also release this spring, are SPF sticks. I can't say enough how much we love this! So easy to reapply during the day, perfect for traveling with as they are not liquid and the ones we tested also apply so nicely to the skin. Also perfect to carry with you during the day and use on the back of your hands, décolleté, lips, etc. A novelty we are really looking forward to! Overall, the SPF range is incredibly large in Korea and we are really looking forward to broadening our own SPF range further in a few months when more new products are released.

Bakuchiol

Something that was significantly more abundant than when we last visited Seoul, and which will also be found in many of this year's new products from our brands, is Bakuchiol. Bakuchiol is a plant-based alternative to the celebrity ingredient "retinol" but which is considerably milder but with similar properties. Bakuchiol is an antioxidant that works specifically on the skin's signs of aging such as fine lines, firmness, elasticity and skin tone and is becoming a common ingredient in "well-aging" products within K-beauty.

Glutathione

An ingredient we saw a lot of and which will also be featured in several new products from our brands during the year is Glutathione. Glutathione is a peptide that consists of the three amino acids cysteine, glutamine and glycine. In addition to being a peptide, glutathione is also an antioxidant that is naturally produced by the body's liver to protect our cells against harmful factors. Glutathione in skin care therefore has protective properties but is mainly used in products intended for uneven skin tone. It therefore has a brightening and smoothing function on skin that is perceived as uneven due to excess pigment caused by, for example, sun damage, age spots, melasma or scars caused by acne. A new ingredient for us that we look forward to sharing with you during the year!

Healthy scalp and perfectly blow-dried hair

For those interested in hard care, there are just as many products for the scalp and hair to discover as for the face! Luckily, we have our brand La'dor, which we think has wonderful products and is also very innovative. We got to try a hair mist that will be released in the spring with keratin and moisture that you use during the day just like a facial mist. It was wonderful! We also visited their pop-up showroom, which was absolutely amazing, an experience for sure, and there we got to smell the new perfumed hair oil that will be released later this spring, we can't wait! In the shops, there were an incredible number of products to look at and ingredients like rosemary, vinegar and raspberry stood out a little extra. In addition, we marveled all day at the Korean women's perfectly blow-dried hair and curls, I don't understand how they do it, but we were very inspired. 

Powerhouse products

Korean brands and products are taking everything to another level this year and something we saw a lot of are so-called powerhouse products where you don't have to choose between the effects but where several ingredients and effects work in parallel to save you as a customer both time and money. We saw a lot of make-up with skin-care properties, sunscreen with a primer effect, moisturizing and brightening serum with UV protection and more. Look forward to even more, powerful, multifunctional products, simply put!

And some non-skincare related trends:

Match

Matcha is hardly anything new and especially not in Korea but oh how we saw matcha everywhere this time, in so many new fun dishes and pastries! Yogurt with matcha, matcha-filled croissant, doughnut with matcha, matcha granola, matcha ice cream, yes the list could be made long! Overall, the pastry and fika culture in Korea is something out of the ordinary. If we think we are professionals at fika in Sweden, it is a new level in Korea, the pastries are like small works of art and new coffee drinks like Custard Latte and Biscuit Latte are popping up everywhere.

Extra everything on the nails

We can never stop staring at all the incredible manicures we see everywhere in Seoul. There are lots of sparkling "icy" colors and maybe some real crystals and stones stuck on too. Very different to how our nails usually look here in Sweden but so incredibly nice and above all fun. The manicure is like K-Beauty in general, namely playful and an opportunity to express yourself, something we will be inspired more by when we go and do our own manicures in the future.

Sleep in Hours - stores don't open until 12 but are open until late at night

One morning we didn't have any meetings until lunch and thought that now we should get up early, have breakfast in peace and quiet and then visit all the showrooms and stores that we had saved in our Google Maps. I can say that we wondered where everyone else was when we started walking around the area we were going to visit and we didn't see a single person and the stores didn't open until 12. This trip we had it explained to us that the stores have so-called sleep in hours, opening at 12 but then staying open until 10 or maybe even 10.30 pm. Not so bad we think, maybe those will be our opening hours if we run a new GLOWiD Pop-Up soon! ;)

Bagels and Doughnuts

We asked all our suppliers what the current trends were in Seoul and they all said bagels and doughnuts and yes, they were EVERYWHERE! Croissants were also very popular at the moment and as usual, they are not the traditional pastries we usually think of when we think of bagels, doughnuts and croissants, no, here the croissants are served as little pyramids with fish roe, doughnuts with matcha crumble and white chocolate and more.

Iced coffee

We weren't at a single meeting where not everyone was drinking an iced coffee of various kinds, and we adopted the custom of the place we came to and of course drank lots of iced coffee too. It's so incredibly delicious and in Seoul it's almost more common than hot coffee, even if it's below freezing. Iced coffee comes in so many varieties and we also tried the popular iced coffee at Seven Eleven where you buy the ice in a plastic cup separately and then the drink itself in a small bag. Incredibly convenient, delicious but very sweet!

That's all from my trend reporting straight from Seoul! Hope you enjoyed following our journey!

Hugs, Sofia