20 Best Korean Makeup Brands For Next-Level Beauty Looks

From hydrating sheet masks and highly effective ampoules to cushion compacts and BB creams, Korean beauty brands are known for innovative products that consistently take the beauty world by storm. While K-beauty (the umbrella term for skincare and makeup that hails from South Korea) has carved out a major space in the skincare world, Korean makeup brands are still on the rise—and just as worthy of a place in the spotlight.

Like Korean skincare, Korean makeup products feature science-forward formulas that perfect your complexion while enhancing your natural beauty. Another reason to love K-beauty makeup? It adds an element of fun to your routine with new and satisfying textures, playful packaging, and formulas that feel so good on your skin.

Ready to dive into the world of Korean makeup? Continue reading below to learn about 20 Korean makeup brands and must-try products that we’re loving right now.

1. KAJA

As the first Korean makeup brand founded in collaboration with Sephora, KAJA (meaning, “Let’s go” in Korean), has developed a fast cult following thanks to its punchy, colorful products made to fit your on-the-go life. Kaja’s portable makeup includes stackable bento box-inspired makeup, easy-to-use winged stamp eyeliners, multi-sticks, and more that easily fit into your everyday routines.

What to try: KAJA Bento Eyeshadow Trio

This set features stacked shadows that easily snap into one another so you can create an entire eye look anytime, anywhere. Choose from high-impact mattes and shimmers (or a combo of both)—all shades blend on effortlessly with your fingers or a brush, and can be mixed and matched to your heart’s desire.

2. SULWHASOO

With holistic beauty at its heart, this luxury brand seeks to harmonize and balance the body and mind with formulas created from traditional Korean herbal ingredients. Fun Fact: Sulwhasoo is the official gift from the South Korean government to visiting world leaders. Yup, it's that good (and worth the splurge).

What to try: SULWHASOO The Makeup Balancer

This silky makeup primer does more than lock down your makeup—it’s infused with skin-perfecting ingredients like antioxidant-rich berry complex and pomegranate extract. The gel-cream formula features innovative petal-shaped powders that help blur imperfections while delivering instant radiance to your skin.

3. HOLIKA HOLIKA

This delightfully imaginative Korean makeup brand creates makeup, skincare, haircare, and body care with unique formulas and super fun packaging. With lip tints, dewy balms, blur creams, mascaras, and more, their easy to love products will transform your routine.

What to try: HOLIKA HOLIKA Jewel-Light Waterproof Eyeliner

These creamy, smooth eyeliners come in gorgeous shades (including jewel tones) that light up your looks. They’re waterproof and perfect for pool days and beach days, and they glide on easily to make blending a breeze. Use them to line your eyes, create washes of color, go smudgy and smoky—the sky’s the limit.

4. ERBORIAN

With a goal to deliver skincare benefits at every step, this popular Korean beauty brand infuses carefully-tested ingredients including fruits, seed oils, herbs, and vegetable extracts into all of their products. Look to ERBORIAN for skincare-focused makeup made to deliver instant and long-term results.

What to try: ERBORIAN BB Crayon

If you love BB creams as much as we do, you’ll be stoked to try this on-the-go version of the brand’s best-selling formula. It provides lightweight, buildable coverage and helps minimize the appearance of pores and imperfections. The skin-loving formula features a white ginseng complex mixed with licorice, wild yam, horsetail plant, and Kigelia to help moisturize and smooth skin, while plumping and soothing.

5. IOPE

As we mentioned above, Korean beauty brands are known for their innovative, science-driven formulas, and IOPE is no exception. This smart line of skincare and makeup utilizes extensive research, biotechnology, and unique plant-based ingredients to target skin concerns. IOPE’s bestsellers include cushion compact foundations and blush, skin-illuminating (and brightening) concealers, lip balms and oils, and so much more. Look to IOPE to stock up on makeup that works to make your skin better.

What to try: IOPE Air Cushion® Blusher

It will forever change your blush game. The sheer, slightly transparent formula gives your skin the most natural-looking flush and delivers a hit of hydration with the brand’s Air Prism Water™. The slightly glossy finish makes you look gorgeous and dewy, and blend easily with zero cakiness or stickiness.

6. ETUDE HOUSE

Beauty fixes for all your needs—that’s what you’ll find at ETUDE HOUSE. The brand’s name is inspired by Chopin’s Etude and aspires to create beauty products as perfect as the musical masterpiece. Their high-performance, high-impact makeup and skincare are powered by Asian botanicals to deliver a healthy dose of skin love with every application.

What to try: ETUDE HOUSE Dr. Mascara Fixer

Take fine, straight lashes to new levels of height and curl. The long-lasting, two-step formula coats lashes in smudge and flake-proof color, and it’s infused with iris ensata extract and caffeine for a boost of lash love.

7. SUREBASE

This vegan beauty brand shows love to your skin and to the planet with EWG-certified and sustainably packed products. SUREBASE uses lots of healthy, plant-based ingredients that are gentle on all skin types. Reach for this K-beauty makeup brand for products you can feel good about adding to your stash.

What to try: SUREBASE Glad Glow Foundation

The foundation to perfect your skin inside and out. The plant-based formula boosts moisture, imparts a dewy finish, and delivers long-lasting coverage—plus, the light texture feels so comfy on skin. The non-comedogenic formula doesn’t clog pores and it’s great for sensitive skin types.

8. MISSHA

Your beloved BB creams? MISSHA was one of the first brands to make it available for us to enjoy. MISSHA’s ever-popular makeup products are made with skin-loving ingredients and satisfy our cravings for the latest K-beauty makeup trends (like lip tints, serum blushes, and more). Their products are super affordable, easy to use and make fun additions to your makeup stash.

What to try: MISSHA M Perfect Cover BB Cream SPF 42 PA+++

Skincare-infused makeup is a hallmark of K-beauty makeup brands, and it’s one reason we love this lightweight BB cream. Not only does it leave skin looking even, flawless, and glowing, it protects with SPF and helps brighten, hydrate, and soothe.

9. JOAH BEAUTY

This award-winning Korean makeup and skincare brand creates on-trend makeup that easily fits (and adds fun to) your beauty routine. From skin-soothing makeup primers and mascaras to fresh pastel-hued eye makeup, JOAH’s cruelty-free, socially conscious, skin-friendly makeup deserves a coveted spot in your makeup kit.

What to try: JOAH BEAUTY Chasing the Sun Eyeshadow & Bronzing Palette

If you’re looking for a palette to boost your glow all year round, this is it. With 5 warm eyeshadow shades, 2 bronzers, and 1 highlighter, it’s the only palette you need for instant luminosity. The buttery smooth formulas blend on like a dream and will take you from day to night with ease.

10. AMOREPACIFIC

This 76-year-old brand is an institution in the Korean beauty space. The Seoul-based company owns more than two dozen well-known K-Beauty brands, some of which are also featured on this list. AMOREPACIFIC is known for developing products that highlight natural ingredients native to Asia, like antioxidant-rich green tea. (Oh, and BTW, all of the green tea used in their products is actually harvested from their own private garden on Jeju Island in South Korea!).

What to try: AMOREPACIFIC Color Control Cushion Compact Broad Spectrum SPF 50+

What better way to enter the wonderful world of K-Beauty than with one of the most famous Korean beauty products from one of the most famous Korean beauty brands? This cushion foundation compact is part makeup and part skincare. It offers weightless, buildable coverage while green tea brightens skin and provides anti-aging benefits. It even includes a dose of sunscreen for a strong daily defense against sun damage.

11. INNISFREE

INNISFREE is one of AMOREPACIFIC's many sub-brands and one of the best-selling K-Beauty brands in South Korea. INNISFREE is also powered by responsibly sourced ingredients that are harvested on Korea’s pristine Jeju Island. With a robust collection of both skincare and makeup products, this brand has all the K-Beauty staples you could want, and they’re all made without harsh chemicals or preservatives.

What to try: INNISFREE Matte Mineral Setting Powder

This setting powder is a complete game-changer for anyone with oil-prone skin. The formula combines green tea with mint to control oil and tighten pores, and the result is a velvety matte finish that keeps your face makeup looking smooth and shine-free for hours.

12. BANILA CO.

With over 80 stores in South Korea and China, BANILA CO.'s claim to fame is its Clean it Zero Cleansing Balm (which sells once every three seconds, ICYMI). The brand's skin-first approach means that all the makeup products sold by this brand are designed to look good while also being gentle and kind to the skin. If you're a skin-first makeup-second type of person, you're sure to love this brand's formulas.

What to try: BANILA CO. It Radiant CC Cream

With 11 beauty awards behind it, this CC Cream is totally worth the hype. In addition to creating a coveted "glass skin" effect, the formula also moisturizes, soothes, and hydrates thanks to an eco herb water complex. Use this regularly and you'll likely notice that your complexion looks healthier and brighter with or without makeup.

13. PERIPERA

With its vivid colors and adorable packaging, this brand is a great way to channel the playful ethos of Korean pop culture. PERIPERA is most famous for its highly innovative, high-tech lip products.

What to try: PERIPERA Ink Velvet Lip Tint

This super-affordable lip essential comes in a wide array of colors to suit any and all occasions. It features a fluffy, almost mousse-like texture and is highly pigmented with some serious long-wear capabilities. It also features a double-layer elastomer that fills in the fine curves of your lips for a plump, smooth finish.

14. NEOGEN LAB

Here's another K-Beauty makeup brand that skincare buffs will swoon over. The biotechnology brand creates high-performance products by combining the latest dermaceutical research with holistic, clean ingredients. NEOGEN LAB also puts its products through rigorous clinical testing to ensure that they're both safe and effective. If you have sensitive skin, this brand may be a good place to start.

What to try: NEOGEN LAB RAAR Sparkling Eye Glitter 

You know those days when you want a little something extra but don't feel like creating an entire eye makeup look? This foolproof product was made for that. Use this eye glitter as a sheer shadow, an accent liner, or apply it over your go-to matte shade to give it a new gleam.

15. LANEIGE

Here's another buzzy brand from AMOREPACIFIC. Stateside, this brand's lip sleeping masks have become a cult favorite, but they also have much more to offer. While the buzz around LANEIGE may be new to you, they've been around for the past 25 years creating hydration-focused formulas that showcase the "science of water." If supple, dewy skin is what you're constantly after, this brand will get you there.

What to try: LANEIGE Glowy Makeup Serum

This award-winning lightweight serum strikes the delicate balance of keeping oil in check while also hydrating the skin with a ceramide hydration gel base. It uses a diamond mineral powder to give your skin a healthy, reflective glow, while LANEIGE's Light Fit Prep Technology allows for super comfortable long-wear capabilities. Apply this as a primer before your face makeup or wear it solo for a polished natural glow.

16. THE SAEM

If you like to keep your makeup bag as natural as possible, you'll definitely vibe with the ethos of this K-Beauty favorite. THE SAEM is a holistic beauty brand that harnesses Mother Nature's most powerful ingredients through innovative extraction and manufacturing methodologies, so it’s no surprise that it also comes in eco-friendly packaging.

What to try: THE SAEM Cover Perfection Tip Concealer

This best-selling concealer feels lightweight but offers full coverage to camouflage dark under-eye circles. Taking a cue from Mother Nature, the formula is infused with an oxygen complex and glacier water to keep your skin moisturized. It also features a reflective, soft-focus powder to give skin a natural, healthy glow.

17. TONYMOLY

TONYMOLY is one of the most well-known K-Beauty brands here in the States primarily because of its wide variety of sheet masks and ultra-playful packaging. (It doesn’t get much cuter than hand lotion in the shape of a banana, lip balms disguised as fruit or a powder compact that looks like a kitten.) While TONYMOLY definitely puts an emphasis on fun branding, its formulas are also the real deal. High-quality ingredients and innovative technologies team up throughout this line to create skincare and makeup products that are fun, affordable, and effective.

What to try: TONYMOLY Petit Bunny Gloss Bar

For something a bit more moisturizing than a lip tint, try this adorable bunny-shaped gloss bar for a subtle pop of lip color. The smooth texture falls somewhere between a lipstick and a lip gloss, and the formula is infused with vitamin E and antioxidant-rich fruit extracts to moisturize and soften your lips. It's the perfect combination of color, lip care, and shine.

18. CLĒ COSMETICS

CLĒ’s formulas are all about perfecting that no-makeup makeup look with skincare-focused makeup formulas that bring out the best in your skin. If you tend to keep your makeup routine super simple, you'll love the way these super chic, minimalistic products subtly boost your natural beauty.

What to try: CLĒ COSMETICS CCC Cream Foundation

This CC cream is famous for its microcapsule technology, a cutting-edge technique that ensures that the formula's skincare benefits, pigment, and sun protection are released instantaneously upon application. While this CC cream does provide less coverage than a classic foundation, it still gives you more than a typical BB cream, making it a great go-to for video calls and minimal makeup days. The dewy-finish formula also features good-for-you ingredients like hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and niacinamide—so if you're in a rush, go ahead and skip your a.m. skincare routine. This CC cream has you covered.

19. THE CRÈME SHOP

THE CRÈME SHOP is an LA-based brand with South Korean heritage. The Korean skincare-inspired brand is distributed widely stateside but has manufactured its products in South Korea for over 20 years. The formulas are affordable, made with an array of unique ingredients, and feature that classic whimsical K-Beauty packaging.

What to try: THE CRÈME SHOP Clean Canvas Color Correcting Cushion Primer

Each color of this innovative color-correcting cushion primer is expertly designed to tackle all types of skin concerns and skin types. The pink cushion helps with brightening and reducing the appearance of dark spots, the green cushion cancels out redness and blemishes, the yellow cushion blurs imperfections and brightens, and the purple cushion illuminates dull skin tones. Dab on the color that best aligns with your top skin concern to instantly boost the performance of your BB cream or foundation formula.

20. TOUCH IN SOL

While a lot of K-Beauty brands are primarily skincare brands with a few makeup products in their range, TOUCH IN SOL is a bit different. It's the perfect foray into K-Beauty if you're totally makeup obsessed and not afraid of a glam look every now and then. Whether you're looking for face products for glass skin or you're on the hunt for a new daily mascara, there are a bunch of fun makeup products to play with here.

What to try: TOUCH IN SOL Pretty Filter Mattish Liquid Eye Shadow

If you love to play with color when creating beauty looks, you'll love these liquid eyeshadows. While they may look ultra-vibrant in the packaging, don't panic—they diffuse beautifully once blended into the skin, and they provide a fun pop of color that's still wearable for every day. And in classic K-Beauty fashion, the formula also features some skincare benefits: The shadows are made with a combination of hyaluronic acid and calamine powder, which acts as a soothing built-in moisturizer to protect against dry skin.

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