Holitual was among one of the four start-up beauty brands showcased by Amorepacific at Cosmoprof Asia this year. This also marked the cosmetics maker’s first time exhibiting at the trade show.
“Holitual is a professional beauty therapy brand that merges latest innovations in skin care with the expertise of aestheticians,” said Jaekyung Yoo of Holitual, Amorepacific.
“This is the first professional beauty brand from Amorepacific but it also meant to be used at home so you can get professional results in your own home.”
The brand will launch in Korea by the end of November the professional and mass-market channels. It will launch with five products – a peel, a serum, a mask, ampoule and a face cream – which were meant to mimic the experience of an aesthetic facial treatment.
“We want to give people the chance to manage their skin like professionals. This line is not just about throwing in face essences or toners, it’s a professional and unique ritual to treat your skin at home or at the aesthetic clinic,” said Yoo.
The brand also hopes to expand outside of Korea and into Asian countries such as China, where the firm believes the trends are similar.
Tapping into beauty trends
Yoo told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that the company has observed that more consumers are beginning to seek professional treatments and are now demanding more from their skin care products.
“We now see a lot of Koreans going for facial treatments, its quite trendy. Because of this, we see that they want high-function, high-efficacy, high results-driven cosmetics. That's why we designed this brand.”
She added: “Home aesthetics is another emerging trend. In Korea, there are a lot of brands and even more products. But now, people want to use products with high-efficacy, not just any normal product, at home too.”
To achieve this, the brand also sought input from Baik Ji-Won, an aesthetician with over 35 years of experience treating troubled skin using herbal grain powder-based face masks.
Baik collaborated with Holitual to create the Clean Therapy Powder Mask, which harnesses the benefits of Korean herbs and natural ingredients.
“This is really a unique product that consists of a powder and an activator which combine to become a mask. The key function of this product is to balance the skin and bring out a brighter complexion by promoting skin purification,” explained Yoo.
The brand’s holistic approach to skin care taps into the global beauty meets wellness trend, but Yoo said it still is in the “testing process” to see if the message of holistic beauty resonates with its consumers
“I believe that trend is still in its initial stages in Korea and I think these needs exist in our market. We hope the consumers will respond well to this message.”
She added that the brand also hoped to tap into the beauty device trend. Its Core Lift Activating Serum, also works in conjunction with devices such as Skin Light Therapy II from Make On, another brand backed by Amorepacific.