Three years ago, when I was the beauty editor at FLARE Magazine, I wrote a feature on multi-step Asian skincare rituals—so if you’re wondering whether this whole thing is a fad, the trend has only picked up more and more momentum since then.

Korean beauty (“K-beauty”) now has its own section on Sephora.com; numerous Seoul-based brands (including The Face Shop, Tony Moly and Laneige) have landed on Canadian shelves; and cosmetic companies based outside Asia are borrowing inspiration—launching their own take on cushion compacts, for example. Meanwhile, Korea’s answer to Sephora—a chain called Aritaum—is set to open stores across the U.S. and Canada, so expect many more inventive exports to come.

In part, the K-beauty buzz is fuelled by R&D advances: the East is thought to be more than a decade ahead of the West in terms of skincare technology, and South Korea is an especially influential hub for innovation. Anecdotally, some women in cities like Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong use upwards of 14 products a day—so the market is big and demanding.

For many North Americans, the Korean/Asian beauty boom has introduced them to product categories they’ve never heard of before. The trend began with BB creams and quickly expanded to cushion compacts, and more recently, we’ve seen sleeping masks, watery treatment essences and sheet masks. So what’s next? Right now, I’m noticing a lot of quirky textures in K-beauty. Take, for instance, the jelly-like “bounce” moisturizers; the soufflé-like cleansers made with egg whites; or the pore-purifying carbonated masks that froth up. Consumers in Asia generally favour skincare that feels ultra-lightweight, so texture has been a key area for innovation. K-beauty is also famous for using exotic-sounding ingredients, like snail slime(listed on packaging as “snail secretion filtrate”). Though popular in Korea for its acne-healing and skin-firming benefits, this extract hasn’t gone mainstream in Canada quite yet. Consider it one to watch.

Please check out Cosmetics, Canada’s beauty magazine for beauty experts.

Visit cosmeticsmag.com/askmickey to read the new “Ask Mickey” column by BeauteSchool founder Mickey Tortorelli.

 me reaching out to a  true fan is defined as a fan that will buy anything you produce. These diehard fans will drive 200 miles to see you sing, even if by the end of the day they don't get His/Her authgraph but for the fact they got to see and listen to you live was a world enough for them.

Can you excite or please them sufficient to earn one day’s labor? That’s a high bar, but not impossible for 1,000 people world wide.

And of course, not every fan will be super. While the support of a thousand true fans may be sufficient for a living, for every single true fan, you might have two or three regular fans. Think of concentric circles with true fans at the center and a wider circle of regular fans around them. These regular fans may buy your creations occasionally, or may have bought only once. But their ordinary purchases expand your total income. Perhaps they bring in an additional 50%. Still, you want to focus on the super fans because the enthusiasm of true fans can increase the patronage of regular fans. True fans not only are the direct source of your income, but also your chief marketing force for the ordinary fans.

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