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Seoul: In South Korea’s beauty-obsessed capital, the green “O” of Olive Young stores is to skincare aficionados what the golden arches are to hungry travellers on a highway – a beacon guiding them to their holy place.

For the uninitiated, Olive Young is the South Korean cosmetics juggernaut that has helped cement the country as the gold standard for skincare products and a booming destination for beauty tourism.

An Olive Young Korean beauty store in Myeongdong shopping district in Seoul.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Its stores are concentrated in Seoul’s tourist hotspots, and its shelves are lined with slickly marketed and affordable Korean brands selling confidence and self-improvement in the form of sheet masks, ampoules, serums, toners and gels – all making various claims to tighten, brighten, whiten, plump, firm and boost your skin.

In the first half of this year, about 6 million overseas travellers accounted for more than a quarter of the brand’s bricks-and-mortar sales, as K-beauty trends swept TikTok and online influencers cashed in by reviewing their shopping hauls, sometimes so breathlessly that it suspiciously resembles undisclosed advertising.

There were eight Olive Young........

© Brisbane Times