6 K-Beauty Trends to Watch for in 2021

The skin care industry continues to lean on the K-beauty trends among products and skin care practices so watch out for these K-beauty trends in 2021.

Layering Serums

Layering serums whether it is acids or another variety of skincare serums, helps target different skin concerns tailored to you. Common examples of layering serum products would be using a Vitamin C serum for brightening, followed with a hyaluronic acid that will provide hydration.

Christine Chang from GlowRecipe notes that this trend is a “huge cornerstone of k-beauty” and notes that in order to layer skincare serums properly you need to layer from thinnest to thickest. A good rule of thumb is that hyaluronic acid comes after all other serums because it is thicker. It is also important that the ingredients in your serums are gentle since they are a concentrated treatment and that the ingredients of the serums you are layering, will be compatible with one another. More emphasis on body care

2. More emphasis on body care

Glow Recipe Founders, Sarah and Christine educate that many Korean beauty and skincare trends originate from bathhouse culture including extensive body skin care. The skincare company founders see a growing trend for body skin care and feel that body care will be fully included in the definition of skincare. Since 2021 follows a very difficult time period for many, they predict this adds more emphasis on personal self care as well.

This trend can be seen so far in 2021 as many companies that primarily focused on facial skincare have released products made for the body as well. Some examples include Glow Recipe’s “Watermelon Glow Pink Dream Body Cream” and Summer Friday’s “Summer Skin Body Lotion.”

3. Acids

Korean beauty shys away from abrasive skincare products, and therefore is leaning into gentle exfoliating acids like AHAs and BHAs to get smooth skin. Charlotte Cho, founder of Soko Glam, an online Korean skincare shop shares how K-beauty focuses on a gentle, balanced approach especially when it comes to acids which are growing in popularity.

4. Skin barrier and skin immunity

With masks being a common skin problem now, K-beauty has shifted to prioritizing restorative skin care and strengthening the skin barrier. K-beauty also primarily focuses on holistic skincare and operates under the belief that skin health is tied to inner health.

GlowRecipe Founders share that skin immunity products include ingredients like mushrooms or detoxifying herbs. Ceramides strengthen the skin barrier and will become popular again in skincare products with this new K-beauty emphasis on skin barrier.

5. Mirror skin

Previous K-beauty skincare trends included ‘glass skin’ or ‘cream skin’ but the newest trend is for ‘Mirror Skin’ or glowy skin. Glowy skin has been trending in the skincare industry but is now growing even more. GlowRecipe founders share that it is given the term ‘Mirror skin’ because you are so glowy that the skin is almost reflective. They emphasize products that cause glow from within like Niacinamide serum whereas the glowy skin trend has previously emphasized facial oils.

6. Minimalist skincare routines

The 10 or 12 step Korean skincare routine is a thing of the past, the new trend is minimalist skincare that works for your skin. In K-beauty trends it has been called the “skin-care diet” as well as “skipcare” trying to emphasis the minimalist approach to skincare. Jude Chao founder of Fifty Shades of Snail and author of Skin Care for Your Soul notes that minimalist skincare also prioritizes clean products with minimal ingredients.

Sarah and Christine of GlowRecipe also find a growing trend in skin-makeup hybrids, a different approach to minimalist skincare that focuses on using less products in the daily routine, contrasting the former 10-step Korean skincare trend.