Quick answer: According to the MKBT (Must-Know Beauty Trends) analysis by NEWEN AI and Maeil Business Newspaper, Korea’s Gen MZ consumers are discovering beauty brands through experience-led retail rather than advertising. rom&nd ranked #1 in makeup — ahead of Clio (#2) and Etude House (#3) — while Innisfree led skincare, followed by Dr.G and Round Lab. Three additional brands — Naming, Amuse, and Laneige — posted rising mentions. The common thread across all six leaders: engaging, on-trend experiences, not media spend.
A recent report highlights how K-beauty brands are standing out through unique experiences and creative campaigns. Musinsa gained attention with interactive events like product trials and lucky boxes, while Olive Young’s festival at Nodeul Island combined beauty, wellness, and entertainment in a memorable way.
How We Analyzed This
This analysis comes from the MKBT (Must-Know Beauty Trends) series, a joint beauty-trend report by NEWEN AI, a generative-AI-powered big data firm, and Maeil Business Newspaper.
Which Retailers Became Gen MZ’s Beauty Hub?
Two retailers stood out by turning shopping into an event rather than a transaction.
| Retailer | What They Did | Why It Worked |
|---|---|---|
| Musinsa | Interactive events like product trials and lucky boxes | Gave Gen MZ a reason to participate, not just browse |
| Olive Young | A festival at Nodeul Island | Combined beauty, wellness, and entertainment in a memorable way |
Musinsa gained attention with interactive events like product trials and lucky boxes, while Olive Young’s festival at Nodeul Island combined beauty, wellness, and entertainment in a memorable way.
Which Makeup Brands Generated the Most Buzz?
Rom&nd topped the makeup category with the launch of its flagship store and exclusive lip tints, followed by Clio’s Toy Story collection and Etude House’s webtoon collaboration. Rising mentions also went to Naming, Amuse, and Laneige for their standout partnerships and new products.
What the top three share is not budget but format: a physical destination (rom&nd), an IP collaboration (Clio), and a content collaboration (Etude House). Each gave consumers something to talk about and post, which is what converts into measurable buzz.
Which Skincare Brands Led the Category?
In skincare, Innisfree led thanks to big promotions, with Dr.G and Round Lab close behind.
Skincare buzz followed a different logic from makeup. Where makeup leaders won on novelty and collaboration, the skincare top three won on promotional reach and repeat-purchase categories — a pattern that typically signals a more price- and routine-driven consideration set.
What Does This Mean for K-Beauty Brands?
The results show that brands creating engaging, on-trend experiences are driving the most buzz—and setting the pace for the beauty industry.
For brands planning the next campaign, three practical takeaways follow from the ranking:
- Experience formats outperform message formats. All three makeup leaders anchored their buzz to something a consumer could do, visit, or collect.
- IP and content collaborations compress discovery time. Clio (Toy Story) and Etude House (webtoon) borrowed existing audiences instead of building new ones.
- Rising brands are the early signal. Naming, Amuse, and Laneige moved on partnerships and launches — the kind of movement that shows up in mention data before it shows up in sales data.
VUSSENS Insights
The Korean case is a preview of what is already happening in North America: consumers decide based on experiences they can see and share, not on advertising claims.
VUSSENS is an AI-powered beauty intelligence platform that tracks exactly this — which campaigns, collaborations, and retail experiences actually move consumer conversation, and which brands are rising before they top the charts. With VUSSENS, brands can:
- Track brand and category buzz in real time
- Benchmark campaign performance against direct competitors
- Identify rising brands and formats early
- Turn consumer conversation into product and marketing decisions
FAQ
Q. Which makeup brand generated the most buzz among Korea’s Gen MZ consumers? rom&nd ranked #1, driven by its flagship store launch and exclusive lip tints, ahead of Clio (#2, Toy Story collection) and Etude House (#3, webtoon collaboration).
Q. Which skincare brands led the category? Innisfree led thanks to big promotions, with Dr.G and Round Lab ranked closely behind — the top 3 skincare brands in the analysis.
Q. Which beauty brands are rising fastest in Korea? Three brands posted rising mentions: Naming, Amuse, and Laneige, all driven by standout partnerships and new product launches.
Q. Why are Musinsa and Olive Young called Gen MZ’s beauty hub? Both turned retail into experience: Musinsa ran interactive events including product trials and lucky boxes, while Olive Young’s Nodeul Island festival combined beauty, wellness, and entertainment in one destination.
Q. What drives beauty buzz among Gen MZ consumers? Across all 6 ranked brands, the common driver was an engaging, on-trend experience — a flagship store, an IP collaboration, a content partnership, or a large-scale promotion — rather than conventional advertising.
VUSSENS is an AI-powered beauty intelligence platform that analyzes global beauty trends, category shifts, product competitiveness, and marketing performance to support fast, accurate brand decisions.
Learn more: www.vussens.com Want a brand-level buzz breakdown for your category? Request a VUSSENS demo →
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