A South Korean cosmetics brand was recently forced to apologize after promoting one of its blushes by describing the shade as the “adorable cheeks of a Mongolian baby.” Controversy broke out when content creator Khaliun reported on Instagramin a video that surpassed 270,000 views, that the brand was exploiting an outdated stereotype. Faced with global pressure, the company modified the text for “a beautiful deep mocha pink color that appears gently warmed by the sun.”
This incident is not an isolated anecdote. It is the reflection of an industry that exports its products to the entire planet, but that has historically designed its cosmetics with a single demographic in mind, systematically excluding most of the world’s population.
The Western fascination with Korean beauty began in the 2010s. This first wave of K-Beauty focused almost exclusively in skin careexporting concepts such as double cleansing or the coveted “glass skin”. As these were facial routines, inclusion was not an obvious challenge.
In parallel, K-pop and K-dramas became the perfect vehicle for soft power. “The visibility of K-pop and K-dramas reinforces the perception of the effectiveness of K-beauty,” explains Professor Hye Jin Lee to cnn. The consequence was immediate: in 2024, South Korea surpassed France as the main exporter of cosmetics to the United States, with 1.7 billion dollars in shipments.
The problem arose with the arrival of the second wavewhen the trend expanded into color cosmetics and hybrid makeup. Traditionally, Korean brands They launched their makeup bases in just three to five extremely pale shades, baptized with names such as “porcelain”, “ivory” or “sand”, designed for its domestic market. When making the international leap, darker-skinned consumers found themselves facing a wall: the most innovative industry of the moment, simply, I didn’t make products for them..
The standard that excludes without shouting
The K-pop industry has been celebrated for challenging gender norms — male idols wearing makeup or traditionally feminine clothing — but it has not been as racially disruptive. The dominant standards They continue to emphasize light skin, a small V-shaped face, big eyes, and a slim body.
A recent academic article, published by International Journal of Social Humanity & Management Research, defines these standards as a form of cultural racism: not an explicit discrimination, but a symbolic system that presents an aesthetic as natural and universal while excluding other corporalities. The mechanism does not need to proclaim “we don’t want dark skin.” It is enough to define beauty as something incompatible with them.
In the Asian context, the preference for light skin has historical roots linked to social status and neo-Confucian traditions where whiteness symbolized respect for its principles. This is summed up in the Chinese term bai fu mei (white, rich, beautiful), which is still commonly used to describe a perfect woman. But when that standard becomes a global consumer product, the reading changes.
The globalization of K-Beauty has caused cultural clashes evident. On YouTube, the video series “Black Girl Tries Korean Makeup” made the frustration visible of black creators in the face of the lack of dark tones and the omnipresence of whitening products, pointing out a bias of “anti-blackness”. In response, part of the Korean audience defended the brands by arguing that Korea is a monoethnic country and that its standards should not be judged by “the western prism”.
another study by researcher Andrea Gómez shows how “Asian beauty” is associated in Latin America with youth, health and clear skin. The concept of whiteness is not just chromatic: it implies status, modernity and privilege. In their interviews, salespeople and makeup artists acknowledged that many clients requested shades lighter than their real skin. Not necessarily to look Korean, but to get closer to an ideal historically linked to social advancement imposed since colonial times.
This is where K-beauty fits in as the perfect piece: it sells scientific innovation and, at the same time, reinforces an aspiration for clarity and neatness that was already established. As Vogue Business points outthe global beauty industry “thrives on insecurity and the allure of attainable ‘improvements’ that privilege white skin.” And in many cultures, light skin continues to function as symbolic capital.
A deep or strategic inclusion?
The real change came when diversity was shown to be enormously profitable. The most representative case is that of the brand THROW. When African-American YouTuber Miss Darcei tried her popular foundation in cushion On social networks, she showed that the initial offer of extremely pale tones left her out. The brand responded by creating new ringtones and sending them to him; In a matter of months they expanded their range to 40 colors. The result of listening to a diverse audience was an astonishing increase in 55.465% in brand sales in the United States.
Since then, other brands they have reacted. Dear Dahlia expanded the shade range of its liquid blushes and foundations to reach deeper complexions. K-Brown was born in Seoul focused exclusively on the care of melanin-rich skin. Yepo Beauty launched foundations designed for darker tones under the tagline “inclusive K-beauty.” In addition, corporate discourse also changes. Global giants like Unilever and L’Oréal they have already announced the elimination of explicit references to “whitening” or lightening of the skin on its packaging in the face of international criticism.
But not all adjustment is virtuous. When the Youthforia brand released a tone 600 Described by critics as a pure black with no undertones resembling human skin, the product caused a stir and was discontinued. A poorly executed inclusion can quickly become a caricature.
The tyranny of beauty
The racial and aesthetic debate intersects with another axis of oppression: the obsession with eternal youth. The global popularity of collagen—in powder, cream or capsule—reflects growing anxiety and pressure not to age. This is despite experts such as Dr Afshin Mosahebi questioning the scientific soundness of many of these ambitious anti-aging promises.
This demand to stop time falls disproportionately on women. Psychology Today remember that the standards of whiteness and bodily perfection present in K-Culture They are not neutralbut rather systems of cultural power that shape self-esteem in problematic ways. K-beauty didn’t invent this anxiety about fitting in, but it has packaged and sold it with pinpoint efficiency.
Even so, Korean aesthetic demands also face resistance from within. The South Korean movement Escape the Corset (Escape from the corset) It is a rebellion of the women of the country against the exhausting and oppressive patriarchal demands that force them to invest excessive time and money in their appearance. It is also paradoxical that many of these Korean canons considered traditional have strong Western roots: the popularization of double eyelid surgery, for example, is attributed to Dr. Ralph Millard, an American military plastic surgeon who introduced it massively during the Korean War.
South Korea is progressively approaching the demographic threshold of a “multicultural society”, with more than 5% of its population born abroad. However, a report from the South Korean Ministry of Culture revealed that more than 38% of those surveyed did not know the meaning of cultural diversity, and 54% had developed stereotypes against certain groups through the media.
The cosmetic industry is now at a crossroads. You can continue to expand markets while minimally adjusting your image, or you can truly assume that if you intend to sell in Brazil, Nigeria, or the United States, the entire world must be able to find its reflection in your mirror.
K-beauty completely revolutionized the facial care routine. It transformed hybrid makeup. Converted the base cushion into an object of global cult. Now you face a much deeper question: If the first wave was perfect skin and the second was smart makeup, will the third be real diversity? Because global beauty no longer supports three tones.
Image | freepik
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