Alicia Yoon knows K-beauty. The self-proclaimed “avid sheet masker” tests products regularly for her shopping hub and namesake brand Peach & Lilly and has bridged the K-Beauty gap from Seoul to San Francisco. Therefore, Yoon was well suited to host “Surviving and Thriving as an Indie Brand” alongside marketing expert Karen Young of The Young Group at Make Up In New York’s conference portion of its recent trade show at Center415.
 
“Alicia Yoon is setting the stage for the remarkable world of K-beauty. This business is surprisingly small but yet so powerful – and there is enormous room for growth!” said Young to an eager-eared crowd. “From BB creams to cushion compacts to snail secretions to sheet masks, what I love about this platform is the fun!
 
Yoon noted that 2012 was the breakthrough year for K-beauty with BB and CC creams. Two years later came the tipping point after “educating the masses” on the benefits of K-Beauty in media and other outreach. Now, K-Beauty products are sold everywhere from CVS to Sephora to Barneys.
 
“It’s important to keep our ears to the ground in Korea,” said Yoon, who travels from New York City to Seoul once a month for shop-alongs, dermatologist meetings and other market indicators to pair with data analytics on what shoppers want in their K-Beauty products. “After all, we approach with a filter. Not everything that’s big in Korea will take off in the US.”
 
After all, consumers are savvy and their reviews posted online and on social media are equally as important, added Yoon.
 
“There’s a real appetite for trying new things,” she said. “The feedback loop is very fast! Early indicators are all over digital so labs can double down on production if needed. It really all comes down to the beauty culture today.”
 
In 2015, Peach & Lily opened its first “shop in shop” store within Macy's Flushing in New York. The next year, it debuted its second brick and mortar store within Macy's Santa Anita in Arcadia, CA.
 
In 2017, Target rolled out a new assortment of K-beauty products not previously sold at the retailer. And the best part? It was created specifically for Target by Yoon!
 
Ranging in price from $3.50 to $38, the curated collection at Target featured everything from Aprilskin Deep Cleaning Facial Cleanser ($7) to Lagom Spray Skin Texture Improvement Facial Toner ($21) to MIizon Snail Repair Cream ($38).
 
Her namesake skin care brand Peach & Lilly just launched online and at Ulta with everything from the “super juice” Glass Skin Refining Serum ($39) made with peach extract, niacinamide and Asian mountain yam extract (among other ingredients) to the Super Reboot Resurfacing Mask ($43) with a potent blend of 10% AHA, 0.5% BHA, and blue agave!
 
According to Yoon, K-beauty thrives on skin-loving, “good for you” ingredients that actually improve texture, tone and other facets over time.
 
Yoon’s goal for Peach & Lily is to empower her customers to transform their skin by providing them with relevant information and tailored advice using these innovations from East Asia. The products offered on the site use natural ingredients in conjunction with skin care technologies to heal and transform the skin and create lasting results—as seen with the K-Beauty trend itself.
 
“Think of it like fitness,” she quipped. “K-beauty is like going to the gym regularly – as opposed to rushing through a boot camp a few days before a wedding!”