Written by Clémence Rubiella | Published on 23 July 2023 | Skin care | Hair care | Makeup
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Dear readers,
The Korean beauty industry is a fast-paced innovative sector that offers hundreds of options to choose from. Sadly, only a limited number of them are making it onto the international market with worldwide recognition. So what better way to find some new extraordinary products than by checking if they are actually popular in Korea? Well, there is a simple way you can check first-hand if that is the case. Each year, there are a few platforms that celebrate the most loved beauty products in Korea by holding awards; consumer choice, best-sellers or the next must-have products. They are not very talked about outside of Korea and yet they are highly anticipated awards as they are a useful tool to help Korean consumers choose the best new products. Unfortunately, all of their official webpage are in Korean and do not offer an English version but nonetheless, let’s discover them together.
Korean Beauty Awards:
1. Glowpick Awards
Glowpick (글로우픽) is a review-based K-beauty website, launched in 2014, that holds its Glowpick Consumer Beauty Awards twice a year to unveil the top trends of the year in skincare, makeup and many more beauty categories. The selection procedure includes a strict four-step screening process which prevents spam or sponsored reviews to be eliminated from the evaluation process for a fair and unbiased result. This platform was the first to implement such a transparent selection process. You can visit the official Korean website for discovering the awards winners but you should be aware that there is no English version. As a result, the Glowpick Awards have earned a reputation as one of the most reliable beauty award programs, placing the power of recognizing true beauty winners directly in the hands of consumers.
2. Olive Young Award
First of all, it is important to understand what is Olive Young. Well, you can think of it as a Korean Sephora filled with Korean beauty, health, food items and lifestyle good products, although they have a few selections of Western beauty brands like Benefit, Bobbi Brown or Urban Decay. You can find their stores everywhere across the Korean peninsula and especially in the capital where an Olive Young shop can be found quite literally at every corner. A “dangerous” place to be as you can easily spend hours in this heavenly place. It gets particularly busy during its sale events that happen 2 to 3 times a year.
Now, with such a significant presence in the Korean market, Olive Young is able to collect each year millions of customers' purchase data and compile their own Beauty Awards (올리브영 어워즈&페스타). It is held every year at the end of November and celebrates the top-selling products of the year. As a go-to destination for numerous Koreans seeking their cosmetic essentials, Olive Young has become a trusted indicator of the industry's latest trends, making the Olive Young Awards an exceptional gauge of the ever-evolving beauty landscape.
3. Powder Room
Powder Room (파우더룸 뷰티 어워드) is the oldest online community on cosmetics in South Korea that started back in 2003 as a simple fan café on the Korean search engine Naver. Since its debut, it has
grown into what we know today. With just under 200 million members, users have the option to explore and actively contribute to a diverse range of topics, including daily life, beauty, cosmetics, shopping, fashion, and food. This establishes Powder Room as one of South Korea's most esteemed and enduring online platforms, offering expert advice, tips, and hacks on all aspects of beauty. Recognizing the wealth of beauty knowledge within its community, Powder Room has launched its own beauty awards program, aimed at highlighting the most beloved K-beauty products. The prestigious award is held every six months and is based on votes sourced directly from dedicated beauty consumers that incorporate these products into their daily routines.
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