Shoppers during the grand opening of an Olive Young store in Pasadena, California, May 29, 2026.
Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images
When Olive Young opened its first US location in late May, shoppers were already setting up tents, and the line stretched for several blocks.
On opening weekend, the South Korean beauty retailer’s new flagship store in Pasadena, California, had 6,000 customers walk through its doors, and is currently seeing an average of more than 1,600 visitors per day, the company said. It has since opened another location, in Century City, California, and said it plans to open more stores in the US
Shoppers wait in line to enter the first US location of Korean beauty retailer Olive Young during the store’s grand opening, in Pasadena, California, May 29, 2026.
Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images
That popularity is a microcosm of a larger trend playing out in the US: Consumers can’t get enough of beauty products from a country thousands of miles away — putting some companies ahead.
“The US is not only the largest beauty market in the world, but also one of the most influential countries in shaping global beauty trends, content, and consumer behavior,” said Olive Young global communications leader Rena Kim. “It was a natural and strategic next step in our global expansion.”
Glorious
The use of Korean cosmetics, otherwise known as K-beauty, has been on the rise in the US for years, with the “first wave” occurring in the 2010s and continuing into the Covid-19 pandemic.
“People were at home. They had time to learn about the 10-step skin care process. They learned about what certain ingredients are made of, how to put products together,” said Anna Mayo, beauty thought leader for NielsenIQ. “We’ve seen the rise of this ‘glass skin’ look, and it’s a real emphasis on healthy, glowing skin that looks good every day versus the need to cover it up with makeup.”
“Consumers are already ingrained in this skin care philosophy that they live by,” he added.
Now, a “second wave” is taking hold, Mayo said, as K-beauty brands capitalize on the success of this desire among American consumers for skin care. According to NielsenIQ, US K-beauty sales will reach $2.8 billion in early 2026, representing a 48% increase from last year. That’s faster than the nearly 45% growth rate seen in the year-ago period — an unusual pace, Mayo said.
Beauty is also making inroads into more US households, rising to 28.7% in the latest annual period – a sign that it is becoming more and more popular in the country.
Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman said he expects K-beauty’s growth to continue. In a March 11 note, the analyst predicted that K-beauty sales in the US could reach nearly $4 billion by 2026, citing “the growing popularity of K-culture and US consumers’ demand for effective skincare products” as drivers.
Gutman later confirmed to CNBC that those views are current.
Even if that prediction fails, the popularity of K beauty will have a lasting impact on the US consumer. Cassandra Bankson, a medical expert and skin care educator, believes that such popularity has paved the way for cosmetic products from other countries to follow, even in the US, as long as the channels of information and trade are open.
“I think it’s coming, and I think people don’t see it coming,” Bankson said, adding that he thinks products from China and Japan will follow, then Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand.
“The US now has these underground groups in a lot of the beauty groups I’m in, saying, ‘Guys, look what I found at Judydoll,’ or ‘I just went to China, I just went to Vietnam, I’m looking at this Thai sunscreen that I found that I can’t find anywhere else,'” she said. “I think there’s a lot of room for that.”
The American mall has begun to be reshaped as a result. At Westfield Garden State Plaza in New Jersey, the list of Asian retailers has expanded over the past 12 months, seeing new additions such as Sukoshi – a leading destination for K-beauty and Japanese beauty, or J-beauty, and Asian lifestyle products.
“Consumer acquisitions have changed dramatically,” said Kate Sabbag, vice president of leasing at Westfield Garden State Plaza. “People aren’t just finding brands in supermarkets anymore – they’re finding them on TikTok, Instagram and travel abroad. And once they connect with a company, they want to experience it in person. We see that playing out across our portfolio.”
Who would benefit?
While the majority of K beauty sales come from platforms like TikTok Shop and Amazonaccording to NielsenIQ data, there is room for retail to capture more market share.
“There’s a huge opportunity to move this segment offline and into stores and reach people that way,” NielsenIQ’s Mayo said in an interview.
Earlier this year, Sephora partnered with Olive Young to bring K-beauty products to Sephora customers in stores and online, Morgan Stanley’s Gutman said. Beautiful Beauty and is set to benefit from the growing popularity of K beauty in the US
In its latest earnings report, Ulta CFO Christopher DelOrefice said “the skin care and wellness category delivered low-single-digit growth this quarter,” with premium skin care, including Korean brand Medicube, continuing to “do well.” He said K-beauty brand Peach & Lily was among those driving “healthy guest engagement,” while “strong” skin care growth during the period was supported by Anua’s store expansion.
“I would expect them to continue to rely on this trend in the market,” said Anna Glaessgen, a research analyst at B. Riley Securities specializes in consumer products. “Obviously with the successful launch of the Olive Young store, there is a huge demand for K-beauty, and they need to be where the consumer is.”
Ulta did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. The company’s Q2 figures could provide investors with more clarity on this. The report is scheduled to be released on August 5.
However, Glaessgen emphasized that K-beauty’s popularity poses a risk: The overall average sales price in the category could be affected given that K-beauty is often priced lower than prestige skin care.
“If people who used to sell prestige leather are spending $30 to $60 on something now they’re spending on teenagers to their 20s, obviously that’s putting downward pressure on spending in the category,” he said.
He sees the danger coming more to the younger generations who are just getting into prestige skin care. “If they get a $20 or $30 product performance, it may be very difficult to get them to trade up to something in the hundreds,” the analyst said.
Other vendors such as The target, Costco again Walmart further increasing their penetration of the K-beauty market would be a way to help attract a wider audience to the category.
Target has made great strides in that area. The retailer quadrupled its K beauty lineup this spring, offering more than 150 new products and more than 10 new products in skin care, makeup and hair care, a spokesperson told CNBC. The company plans to launch more products.
“Beauty is an incredibly important and personal category for our guests, and our team is always looking to change our retail mandate by bringing them the brands and trends they want the most,” Amanda Nusz, senior vice president of merchandising, essentials and beauty at Target, told CNBC. “K beauty is a good example.”
Raymond James analyst Olivia Tong emphasized that products from companies such as The Ordinary, based in Canada and owned Estee Lauderinclude ingredients that have been popularized by those in the K-beauty space, such as centella asiatica.
“It’s a very different way of looking at the category — a lot of preparation, a lot of heavy lifting, and obviously there’s a certain speed of marketing that they bring with them,” he told CNBC. “We don’t think this is just a trend per se. We think this has changed a bit in the market.”
