The number of Korean cosmetic products that have gained popularity in the West in recent years is difficult to count. K-beauty makeup trends? Less so—but not for long. Their measured approach to cosmetics—from an emphasis on skin-first ingredients to gentle and diffused colour trends—flips the script on engrained beauty standards, which here typically take on two extremes: full face beat or clean girl. There’s plenty to learn, and respect, about one’s looks; where we might do mental acrobatics to cover under-eye bags, the K-beauty approach is to showcase it, not simply embrace it.
A brief recap of K-beauty: This once-insider-only sector has gained popularity after being found by ardent fans perusing speciality stores like YesStyle and Olive Young. Today, leading K-beauty brands are everywhere, from big cosmetic boutiques to viral streams on TikTok, signalling a new era of accessibility and impact. That momentum is just accelerating. The appetite for Korean brands in international retailers is just getting started, according to Sarah Chung Park, founder and CEO of Landing International and creator of K-Beauty World. Michelle Lee, former editor in chief of Allure and CMO of K-Beauty World, has also noted this, telling Vogue that “2026 is poised to be an even bigger year for K-beauty as education and awareness grows.”
Speaking of education about Korean beauty, there is a rising appreciation for both the goods themselves—skin care, hair care, and makeup—as well as how they are used. Take a crucial trend, Aegyo sal (you’ll have to scroll to learn more)—there are TikTok tutorials garnering 60,000+ views into an altogether new audience outside of South Korea. With so many K-beauty products at your disposal, it raises the question of how the cool set in Seoul uses them.
Ahead, our K-beauty experts explain down the four important Korean makeup trends to know in 2026, from fresh-faced methods to fun, expressive color—so you can wear your favorites the Seoul-approved way.
Blurred Lips
Arguably, the entry point to Korean makeup are lip products—from lip oils to balms, glosses, and more—which are always prominently exhibited in large retailers like the everything store. Though it’s necessary to go back to fundamentals, the blurred lip is like the little black dress of Korean beauty. “Some iteration of blurred lips has been hot in Korea for years. However, Lee previously told Vogue that this year’s twist was a little milder. “Rather than a distinct ombré look, lips were lined with a chunky, rounded, soft lip liner, and subtly blended.”
Rom&nd is another well-liked choice, and Chung Park highlights Unleashia’s hefty liner as a top candidate in the category. Both assist create a rounder, plumper-looking pout with no Botox necessary. And for a lip combo, there’s velvety long-wearing liquid lip formulations, rich in emollients for an unbelievably lightweight feel.
Unleashia
Oh! Happy Day Lip Pencil
$14
Rom&nd
Lip Mate Pencil
$14
Peripera
Ink the Velvet Lip Tint
$16
Etude
Fixing Tint
$13
Aegyo Sal
Under-eye filler and picture editing be damned—in Korea, Aegyo sal is all the rage. Lee says it’s the subject of entire product categories devoted to generating this under-eye makeup craze. So what is it? “Aeygo sal accentuates that puffy area of ‘cute fat’ (what the trend translates to) below the eyes when you smile,” she continues. “It’s a trendy technique that creates the illusion of brighter, wider eyes, especially on people with East Asian eye shapes.” While Aegyo sal has been a prevalent cosmetics trend in Asia for some time, Lee adds it’s only recently had its western mainstream moment this year—another thing we can credit to the TikTok democratization of beauty.
To recreate the look takes only two simple steps: a light, cool-toned contour just under the eye “fat,” with a dab of highlight on top. Too Cool for School’s palette works well for powder formulas; all you need is a small flat eyeliner brush. There are also double-sided pencils that make Aegyo sal even easier, with one side for shading and one side for highlighting. Below are best-selling options from Colorgram, The Saem, and Flortte (a popular Chinese brand available at K-beauty stores) .
Artclass
Rodin Shading
$15
Colorgram
Under Eye Highlighter Stick
$14
The Saem
Saemmul Under Eye Maker
$7
Flortte
2 in 1 Aegyo Sal Pen
$8
Under-Eye Flushed Blush
Diffused blush products aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon. And while, according to Lee, blush had a major moment in 2025, the way Seoul fashionable girls wear their favorite formulas has dramatically evolved. “This [makeup trend] is not the super lifted diagonal strip of blush we see on social media,” she says. “This style is a soft, diffuse plume of color right below the eyes, reminiscent of a cute animated character truly blushing.”
Another bonus of the Korean blush category? Fwee’s Blurry Pudding Pots, Rom&nd’s roll-on blush, and Hince’s luminous blush sticks are examples of highly entertaining and inventive textures. Meanwhile, A’pieu Juicy-Pang water blusher can deceive you into thinking it’s nail polish, but it provides a semi-sheer, dewy flush of color.
Fwee
Lip&Cheek Blurry Pudding Pot
$16
Rom&nd
Juicy Roll Cheek
$15
Hince
True Dimension Radiance Balm
$22
A’pieu
Juicy-Pang Water Blusher
$8
Softer, Straight Brows
While Western brows tend to be more arched and defined, Lee says that K-beauty trends skew towards softer, straighter brows. It’s a brow shape you may have spotted not just on K-pop idols—in fact, plenty of TikTokers are shaving off the tail of their brow for a straighter, more lifted look. According to Lee, “the Korean straight brow started to gain ground here too, but the fluffy laminated look still held strong in the US this year.” (Consider Charli xcx’s straight but raised brows, Mia Goth’s naturally slender arches, or Jenna Ortega’s bleached brows.) “In Korea, we saw brows softening, whether by lightening the color or straightening the shape to make them look less severe.” This, she claimed, added to the overall softer, more monochromatic makeup looks.
“I bought the Peripera Speedy Skinny Brow mascara while in Korea. And for someone with very dark brows like mine, it actually makes a pretty substantial difference in my entire look to lighten them a shade or two,” Lee previously told Vogue. You can go to Rom&nd and Unleashia for two well-liked brow-shaping gels, or pick another brow pencil from Etude.
Peripera
Speedy Skinny Brow Pencil
$10
Unleashia
Shaper Pomade Eyebrow Fixer
$11
Rom&nd
Han All Brow Fixer
$12
Etude
Drawing Eyebrow Pencil
$7
