What are the Korean beauty standards?
Over the last five years, korean beauty culture has reached the highest level of popularity worldwide, taking over the Western ones.
The demand for K-beauty products such as sheet masks, cleansers, moisturizers, makeups is so high that the south korean beauty industry is now a top performer, forecasted to reach $14 billion by 2027.
The use of snail slime, bee venom, starfish extract, pig collagen, and morphing masks are unique ingredients used to produce K-beauty products.
The growing demand for these products is generated by the overall idea of a Korean beauty standard and how these products can help buyers achieve that look.
The uniqueness of Korean society and culture, so much different from what we are used to in the western world, are at the core of Korean beauty standards.
In this article, I'll detail what makes Korean beauty standards so different from Western and other Asian countries such as China and India.
Female Korean Beauty Standards
Overall, Korean beauty standards push for an overall innocent look: small face, big eyes, slim body, to recreate that youthful look.
Compared to the Western beauty standards, Koreans, in general, tend to pursue cuter and feminine looks, at least when it comes to faces.
Koreans prefer slim, young, and youthful faces with small facial features and pale skin.
Unlike the West, curvy shapes like Kim Kardashian or Rihanna are just too much in Korean beauty standards.
In this context, being girly, cute, thin, and even skinny is a beauty goal for Korean women, rather than fit and healthy.
In general, Korean beauty standards prioritize:
1)
Small Face
(pointy nose, plump lips, v-shaped jaw, & straight eyebrows)
In South Korea, having a small face is at the core of one's beauty.
According to Joyce Kong - Korean beauty correspondent at Refinery29 - that's because Asians (in particular Koreans) have smaller eyes, giving them the appearance of a more prominent face.
Moreover, a small face is considered pretty because it makes you look like a child, and thus, younger.
Then, because of the differences in the facial bone structure of Asians, who have a flatter facial bone structure than their Western counterparts, facial bone contouring surgeries are pretty popular.
V-line surgery (jaw and chin reduction) and cheekbone reduction (zygoma) surgeries are popular tools to change Korean's facial contour.
A v-shaped face must have the forehead proportioned to the face, ideally not too small or angular.
V-shaped Jaw
The v-shaped face look is achieved by creating delicate and unpronounced jawlines and a pointy chin, either via makeup or surgery.
The desire to portray a more petite face is so high that Koreans either hide part of their jaw when taking pictures or use filters on social media to achieve a v-shape look.
Back to Korean style makeup, contour plays a crucial role in portraying the illusion of a smaller face.
Contrary to western societies, where the contour is aimed to accentuate cheekbones and the jawline, Korean makeup artists try to achieve the exact opposite.
For that, they shade the outer line of their faces to acquire a more slender and smaller face.
It is also interesting to note that, to reduce accentuated jawlines, South Koreans have invented all sorts of beauty utensils such as chin straps, jawline sheet masks, and massaging roles.
Another way of achieving the Korean beauty standard is through permanent interventions, such as plastic surgery.
Many Korean women and men seek to achieve the same V-shaped face appeal to cosmetic surgery in a procedure called "V-line".
During the operation, the surgeon shaves the patient's jawline to construct a slimmer and smaller face and a pointy nose with a high bridge.
Small, Pointy Nose
Another crucial facial feature, according to Korean beauty standards, is having a small but pointy nose.
People with small faces and pointy noses are seen as very elegant and sophisticated.
Interestingly enough, while having a small and pointy nose has become a critical beauty feature according to modern Korean beauty standards, big noses were a sign of beauty in the past centuries.
Small Mouth & Plump Lips
To complete the ideal of Korean standards of beauty of a small face with v-shaped jawlines and a small pointy nose, one must also have a small mouth.
However, while the mouth must be small, the lips must be plump.
Also, the bottom lip should always be plumper than the top lip.
On top of that, the strictness of Korean beauty standards insists that the lip line should face upwards, like when you're smiling.
Most Koreans achieve that 'small mouth' look with makeup and then complete it with an extra "lip-effect" through fillers.
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