Hallyucosm Wikia

## What is the Hallyucosm?

The Hallyucosm is an interactive community created by Hallyu Cosmetics. Since there is an overwhelming amount of information on Korean cosmetics that is scattered across the internet, this Wikia was created to provide a centralized hub and creative outlet for easy to digest, up-to-date information on anything from Korean cosmetics to Korean culture. Unlike most Wikia pages, the goal of the Hallyucosm Wikia is to be as informative as a Wikipedia entry, while also being fun and creative as a personal blog entry by harboring knowledge, individuality, and personal creativity. Users are encouraged to treat every entry as a personal exercise in creative writing. This goes for anything, from a mask review to a K-Drama episode breakdown. Be as creative as you want.

Hallyu comes from the Korean word, 한류 (Han-llyu), which can be roughly translated as "Korean wave". The suffix *-cosm* comes from the Greek word *kosmos* meaning orderly arrangement..

## Korean Cosmetics vs Western Cosmetics

Below is a well done video which shows the differences in style and application of Korean makeup and American makeup.   Korean celebrities are commonly signed on as spokesmen/women to represent the brand's target image.
In addition, there is a heavy focus on skin care and rejuvenation in conjunction with makeup. This was popularized by the worldwide success of BB cream. Several brands implement the use of medicinal herbs and extracts, especially those used in TCM, or traditional Chinese medicine, along with fermentation techniques.

## Road Shops

Road shops literally means shops on the street. Before Missha and all others, beauty brands mostly located inside of department stores who only were located one or two if it's a small city. Or there were "selected collection of various brands-shop" here and there but their merchandise and price weren't consistent or regulated. Trend started to make some of the brands more approachable and affordable, a lot of single brand store locations opened in a busy streets, near subway stations, universities, and more. So you don't have to take a bus or taxi just to shop your make up/skin care, you can buy them on the way back from school or work. So they came with lots of lower priced but decent quality products along with fast moving trend. And I believe that's how the Korean beauty brands bloomed. Now there are more than you can count out there and I'm always exploring.

A few brand names of road shops. Now not only the lower priced brands are on the street, brands like CLIO and lots of other brands who only lived inside of department store castles are now on the street as well to compete with road shops. The busy streets are mostly packed with beauty stores and coffee shops.

## Warm? Cool?

Another trend in Korea in 2015 was personal color. Many of you already knew, this came from U.S., depending on your skin tone is warm tone based or cool tone based, you can select makeup or fashion colors that flatter you up.

 Silver Jewelry looks better on you
 Pink Lipstick tones look better on you
 White Tops look better on you
 Hair is close to black
 Red, Pink, and Blue color nail polishes look better on you
 Natural redness on face
 Pure and Chic

And according to that, here are the colors that flatters your personal tone.

An example of cool/warm. She looks brighter and smoother with lemon yellow color(cool) while looks darker and blemished with warmer tone yellow (warm). So she is more likely a cool toned skin and will look better with cool tone colors.

## From Kimchi to Cosmetics

Fermentation techniques are utilized by several brands in their skin care products. Fermentation utilizes beneficial enzymes which have shown to allow for better absorption of nutrients in the body.

Kimchi has seen a surge in popularity in the West due to its reported health benefits. Traditional kimchi is much different than the kimchi seen today. The original kimchi was simply plain fermented Napa cabbage sans the red chili powder. Red chili flakes were later introduced to Korea via the Chinese spice trade and made its way to kimchi recipes in surrounding villages.

Kimchi was created out of necessity and survival.

Napa cabbage would be harvested and gathered at its freshest point. The remaining cabbage would then need to be stored and preserved prior to advent of refrigeration technology. The cabbage would be coated in salt and placed in deep heavy stone jars. The salt would pull any remaining moisture held within the cabbage and begin to fill the jar. A heavy stone would be placed on top of the efficiently-layered cabbage to keep the cabbage submerged in its "juices". If the cabbage comes into contact with the air, a habitat suitable for mold will colonize. Light and heat also promotes decay, so the jars will be covered then buried deep in the soil. This would allow for year-round availability, regardless of external weather conditions.

Studies later showed that the fermentation process would in essence, "unlock" trapped nutrients. The Chinese also utilized the enzymes via the fermentation process to break down the anti-nutrients found in the soy bean to bring out a more digestible form of nutrients and protein. This was also seen in eastern Europe with Sauerkraut. These "anti-nutrients" is a defense mechanism adapted by plants to protect its progeny.

Sandor Ellix Katz has written excellent books on the subject of fermentation. Below is a highly recommended video of a speaking event done by Sandor on the Art of Fermentation.

With this knowledge in hand, many brands implemented these enzymes to allow for nutrient absorption externally as well as internally. Brands like Goodal and SU:M37 specifically specialize in fermented skincare.

## The Brands

Clio

Doori

Dr. Jart+

Goodal

IPKN

It's Skin

Peripera

Other

## New Arrivals

Skin Food

CosRX

Benton

## Great Resources

CosDNA

/r/AsianBeauty