Key Takeaways
- • UK cosmetic safety assessor Sarah Robb told Seoul Economic Daily that K-beauty has moved past a passing trend and become a permanent fixture of the British market, with Western brands treating it as the standard to aspire to.
- • K-beauty has spread from specialist online retailers into mainstream British channels, including Boots, Superdrug and Selfridges.
- • Western brands are adopting K-beauty vocabulary, such as "ampoule" for product formats, and are using Korean-origin ingredients such as PDRN, which Robb said consumers accept despite its derivation from salmon sperm.
- • APR (278470) reported UK revenue growth of more than tenfold in the first half of the year versus a year earlier, with its Zero Pore Pad ranked No. 1 in the toner category on Amazon UK since December of the prior year.
Summary
K-beauty has moved beyond specialist online retailers into mainstream British retail, according to a Seoul Economic Daily interview with Sarah Robb, a UK cosmetic safety assessor based in Seoul's Jongno District. Robb, who is described as one of Britain's leading K-beauty specialists, said the category has become a permanent presence in the market rather than a passing trend. Major UK retailers cited in the report include the drugstore chains Boots and Superdrug and the department store Selfridges.
Robb said K-beauty is now influencing the language and product development of Western cosmetics companies. She noted that terms originating in Korean beauty culture, such as "ampoule," have been adopted by Western brands as signifiers of quality, expertise and efficacy. She also pointed to ingredients as a parallel trend, citing PDRN, which is derived from salmon sperm, as an example of an ingredient that consumers accept because it is used in K-beauty products.
UK cosmetics must undergo a safety assessment by a qualified assessor before sale. Robb said she has prepared safety assessment reports for K-beauty brands including Medicube and Anua since around 2020. She singled out Medicube as the brand that has made the strongest impression on her, noting that awareness of the brand among British consumers has grown from roughly one in ten people to nearly everyone.
The report also cites APR (278470), whose British revenue grew more than tenfold in the first half of the year compared with a year earlier. Its Zero Pore Pad has held the No. 1 position in the toner category on Amazon UK from December of the prior year to the present.
Robb said K-beauty is now influencing the language and product development of Western cosmetics companies. She noted that terms originating in Korean beauty culture, such as "ampoule," have been adopted by Western brands as signifiers of quality, expertise and efficacy. She also pointed to ingredients as a parallel trend, citing PDRN, which is derived from salmon sperm, as an example of an ingredient that consumers accept because it is used in K-beauty products.
UK cosmetics must undergo a safety assessment by a qualified assessor before sale. Robb said she has prepared safety assessment reports for K-beauty brands including Medicube and Anua since around 2020. She singled out Medicube as the brand that has made the strongest impression on her, noting that awareness of the brand among British consumers has grown from roughly one in ten people to nearly everyone.
The report also cites APR (278470), whose British revenue grew more than tenfold in the first half of the year compared with a year earlier. Its Zero Pore Pad has held the No. 1 position in the toner category on Amazon UK from December of the prior year to the present.
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