A huge crowd mills about a beauty fair called, “Sephoria” held at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles for two days from Sept. 6&7 where a line of Korean cosmetic products including AmorePacific’s LANEIGE and Innisfree confirmed the ever rising popularity of Korean beauty products in North America, in the U.S. in particular. (Photo: AmorePacific)

Korean brands cosmetics showed off their peak popularity at the beauty fair “Sephoria,” which was held by Sephora, the world’s largest cosmetics select shop.

AmorePacific Corp. was the only Korean company to participate in this year’s two-day event held at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall, Los Angeles on last Thursday.

AmorePacific’s brands LANEIGE and Innisfree were on par with global brands such as Laura Mercier and La Mer.

Sephoria, which has been held since last year, introduces the latest beauty trends to the market and popular brands sold at Sephoria all at once. This year, Sephoria’s “hot issue” was by far K-beauty.
Influenced by K-beauty, which uses natural ingredients to focus on skin care, Sephoria has set this year’s theme for “natural” and “clean beauty.”

To that end, only skin care brands that use natural ingredients were gathered separately to create a special zone called ‘The Garden’, which was featured prominently in the center of the venue. Innisfree, which uses green tea as its main ingredient, drew attention as it was assigned the front booth of “The Garden.” This was a big coup for the brand that entered Sephoria just this month.

On the other hand, Japan, which used “J-beauty” to target the global market, failed to get a single brand to participate this year.

Millennials flocked to the Innisfree booth, which was decorated with a large photo of green tea fields. Visitors who interested in natural ingredients and skin care showed much interest by smelling green tea or looking at the description of green tea from Jeju Island. Meanwhile, the popularity of K-beauty was even hotter at the LANEIGE booth on the second floor of the venue.

Sephoria put together three of the most popular brands each in for main items, foundation and lips, to create a separate space on the second floor.

The LANEIGE Experience Zone, decorated with pastel-tones, attracted several times more attendees than other exhibits, causing people to be unable to move forward and detour to the other side.

“The secret to K-beauty’s popularity is that it uses good ingredients, works well, and sells for a reasonable price,” an American visitor said.

South Korean beauty brands are shifting their attention to the United States after their presence in China took a toll from Seoul’s deployment of a U.S. antimissile shield that led to consumer shunning of Korean brands.

For Korean cosmetics companies, the U.S. is the third largest overseas market after China and Hong Kong. Korean brands have been making headway in the global beauty market, once dominated by American and European labels, on the back of novel ingredients and affordable products that don’t skimp on quality.

The shift in market focus comes as Korean firms have been hard hit by a Chinese backlash over Seoul’s decision to deploy a U.S. missile system to counter threats from North Korea. China has vehemently opposed the system, saying it poses a national security risk.

Korea’s top cosmetics firm AmorePacific Corp. is among the many companies making an aggressive push into the U.S. market. It set up its first local entity in Los Angeles in 1986 and has since introduced its luxury brands AmorePacific and Sulwhasoo as well as the French perfume brand Annick Goutal, which it acquired in 2011.

The cosmetics giant is preparing to launch a flagship store for its brand Innisfree in Manhattan’s Union Square in September. Innisfree’s focus on natural, organic sources and its affordable price range are expected to make it a success among ingredient-conscious Americans, according to AmorePacific.