7 All Natural Korean Beauty Brands Committed To All Things Organic

[kwonsoonyoung.livejournal.com]

If you're one of the many people who has switched (or wants to switch) to an all natural beauty routine, you don't have to miss out on Korean beauty and skincare products. But finding natural Korean beauty products can take a bit of extra effort because labeling can be inconsistent and claims of "natural" ingredients or "cruelty-free" products don't have to be certified by an independent regulatory agency. (This, it should be noted, isn't a problem unique to Korean cosmetics, and labels like "cruelty-free" don't have legal definitions in the United States either, while "natural" can mean a whole bunch of things, depending on the brand. Generally, though, the "all-natural" term refers to products that don't use synthetic chemicals.)

Fortunately for those looking to make ethical and eco-friendly cosmetic purchases from Korea, there are big-name Korean brands that do not test their products on animals. In fact, one of country's largest cosmetics companies AmorePacific voluntarily suspended animal testing in 2008; the company's holdings include the popular brands Etude House, IOPE, and Mamonde.

The relative flexibility of words like "cruelty-free" and "natural" means it's important to do your research if you want to understand which companies and brands are just as committed to using all-natural ingredients and creating cruelty-free products as you are to using them. But if you're willing to put in the effort, you can definitely find some great all-natural beauty products from Korea. To get you started, here are seven K-beauty brands making that commitment to be natural.


1. Innisfree

Innisfree Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask, $22, innisfree.co.kr

Established in 2000, Innisfree calls itself Korea's first natural cosmetics brand, and many of its ingredients are inspired by the natural beauty and resources of Jeju Island like volcanic clay or green tea. Though many of the brand's flagship products use ingredients sourced from Jeju, like green tea grown on an organic farm, not all of them are vegan, so make sure you check the labels if that's important to you.


2. Caolion

Caolion Lte V3 Pore Care Hydrating Mask, $6, peachandlily.com

According to Peach And Lily, an online boutique that curates Korean cosmetics, Caolion "was the first brand in Korea to come out with products that did not have coloring, fragrances, or alcohol," and the brand continues to make packs and masks that are free of these additives and focus on all-natural ingredients.


3. Whamisa

Whamisa Organic Flowers Olive Leaf Mist, $38, glowrecipe.com

Whamisa describes itself as an "organic fermentation cosmetic brand," and is perhaps best known for its mists and facial spray, neither of which include artificial fragrances or preservatives. Not only are the mists raved about, even being named the fanciest facial spray by Refinery 29, but they're also certified natural by the European trade organization BDIH.


4. Beyond

Beyond True Eco Facial Emulsion, $30.70, koreadepart.com

Beyond has a whole eco-beauty philosophy outlined on its website, which includes a strong stance against animal testing and a commitment to using organic and natural ingredients. It makes everything from essences and serums to shampoos and conditioners, all with these guiding eco-friendly principles in mind.


5. RE:P

RE:P Organic Cotton Treatment Toning Pad, $44, sokoglam.com

RE:P stands for "Real Elemental Practice," and Charlotte Cho of Soko Glam raved about these toning pads on her blog for their ease of use and efficacy. However, she was even more excited to share the brand's commitment to using organic and natural materials and ingredients, and even "triple confirmed" with the brand that it does not test on animals. Easy-to-use and eco-friendly make a pretty winning combination.


6. belif

belif The True Cream Aqua Bomb, $38, Sephora

According to the company's website, belif uses no animal origin ingredients and promises never to include dyes or artificial fragrances. Though it's not a super renowned brand, this gel-cream has something of a cult following, receiving pages of rave reviews on Sephora for its ability to quickly moisturize skin without leaving any stickiness or heaviness.


7. aromatica

Rose Absolute First Serum, $35, aromatica

Aromatica is, in many ways, the gold standard for Korean organic and all-natural skincare products. In no small part because it is extremely transparent about its manufacturing practices, even posting proof of its ECOCERT certification on its website. As it explains on site, aromatica is also the only Korean brand to "earn EWG’s Skin-deep Champion Status, an accolade awarded to toxin-free beauty brands." Many of aromatica's products are vegan, and those that are will be clearly marked as such on the website.


You don't have to give up on your all-natural skincare and beauty routine to enjoy Korean beauty products, especially if you know which brands to look out for. If the success of these brands is any indication, we're probably going to see more all-natural Korean beauty products on shelves soon.

sources: bustle, Images: thearomatica/Instagram; Courtesy Brands

Comments

[demeulemeester.livejournal.com]

ty for posting this ♡ now i have some more brands to add to my must-try list~
has anyone used any products by skin vegetarian? they also have some products that use ingredients sourced from jeju. they're not as easy to purchase online as some other korean brands so i wanna know other ppl's thoughts before i dive in~

[welljustguess.livejournal.com]

oh the only brand i know is innisfree, i thought the other common brand like faceshop or skinfood also organic

[kwonsoonyoung.livejournal.com]

yeah idk why they didnt include those products too, i think nature republic is also an organic brand

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

I think face shop and skin food both use chemical fragrances

[ixakaixa.livejournal.com]

thanks for posting this OP :D
today I went to the new Beyond store in my city but as it was my first time came across the brand I was hesitant to buy the product. The packaging is cute and they offered so many product line with different organic and natural ingredients and I was tempted to buy the snail cream maybe I'll buy it next time :3

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Innisfree products still contain tons of bad ingredients. Imi their all natural image is just PR.

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

Came here just to say this!

[ironicmustache.livejournal.com]

mte

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

ikr, their natural image is bs. i can't when people praise their ingredients. i like their sheet masks, soy neck cream, volcanic mask but everything else i tried broke me out quite terribly. no thanks

[bomsnose.livejournal.com]

yepp, i don't know about the rest of the brands, but cracked up at innisfree. i mean they have some products that are pretty good, but it's not all that natural.

reminds me of how a lot of american/european brands also advertise their products as organic*

*and then mention in tiny letters that only the ingredients* marked like this are organic, and sometimes they only make up very little of the full ingredient list.
as a result i am now a pro of reading through all the latin and chemistry speak on those lists...

[tree-star123.livejournal.com]

yeah they have a lot of fragrance too

[jessicamariek.livejournal.com]

Every Innisfree product I've tried - with the exception of the clay mask and gel cleanser - has broken me out. Masks, creams, emulsions, EVERYTHING. 1/10 would not recommend.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

i bought their green tea serum a while ago and it broke me out so much on my forehead. now i have half a bottle left in my bathroom and i dont know what to do with it. might sell it on ebay.

[kwonsoonyoung.livejournal.com]

may i know what's your skin type? i got a sample of their green tea serum from my haul last week and i really want to try it ;;;

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

i have dry skin. i know that the serum works best for oily skin but i thought why not give it a try.... well...

[kwonsoonyoung.livejournal.com]

i see, ty for telling me! i should becareful too then;;

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Ooh, beauty post! Nice one, OP :)

I've heard of all of these brands from blogs, online retailers and such, Innisfree being the most famous, but I rarely hear about Beyond. Are they not really famous in the K-beauty blogging community or am I just not looking in the right places?

[http://users.livejournal.com/psychedelico_/]

they're quite popular i think. their ambassador is kim soohyun. the thing is they don't appear to have a "star" product or line (e.g missha's time revolution first treatment essence or innisfree's green tea line). right now they're most famous for their alice in wonderland collection.

[ironicmustache.livejournal.com]

i used belif before and wanted to like it cause their packaging was nice and it was kinda expensive, but my skin did not agree with it ... like most k cosmetics brands.

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

I worked at one of the distributors mentioned here...just because they say it's organic or all natural it isn't necessarily so. I also buy Innisfree stuff even tho I know it has bad ingredients lol, I think Amore just does a great job of marketing the brand. I've tried belif but it doesn't do much for me. I do know someone who uses only belif tho and her skin is amazing.

I have wanted to try Aromatica, though, anyone use it before?

[dafairyness.livejournal.com]

I've used stuff from their rose line (lovelovelove) and I'm currently using the orange blossom toner. It's a great brand, especially if you have super dry, super sensitive skin.

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

Dang, I have combo but more towards oily skin. Good to know

[charlieu.livejournal.com]

Why did you end up leaving?

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

They ran me to the ground lol. Long hours, awful pay, no appreciation that I basically ran the whole entire business for them.

[charlieu.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I get that a lot of these companies that sell Korean cosmetics now is trying to get their share in a ultra competative market, but treating the people that is helping your company run like shit is really dumb. What did you do for them?

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

I've heard good things about Whamisa, and I had something I wanted to try, but I can't ever imagine myself dropping $40 on one cosmetic product.

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

i always wanted to try their sheet masks but 6000 won for one? idk

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

What kind of skin do you have? I hate the sea kelp and the hydrogels end up leaving like little bulbs of stuff on my face like when you are really dirty and you can kind of rub it off. Idk if it makes sense but whamisa stuff I feel like is best for dry or mature skin

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

Dehydrated with rosacea, I am in my early twenties so I guess I will pass up :p I just read some good reviews but the price tag... My wallet aches when I buy ￦1,000+ mask, I have a huge stash cause I use that stuff everyday.

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

It's not worth it

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

Right, there isn't even a sample for me to just test it out.

[hyeena.livejournal.com]

Great post! I've been dying to try beyond's products

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

i had no idea caolion stuff is natural? i have some of their masks and mucin water cream (crazy expensive for just 20ml). that pore mask changes color bc it's all natural. caolion has a warning on their website not to freak out if it's pink or violet when you took it out of the pouch. it happened to me haha. i heard good things about their pore masks too.

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

i only know innisfree in this list tbh. and i don't buy that any of these brands are completely all-natural, but my friend uses the innisfre line for acne, i don't know which one exactly, but she at least uses the facial wash, moisturizer/sun block, bb cream and she said it's the only one that works for her, so...

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

i reeeaaally want to buy something from whamisa in my next haul but products with no preservatives freak me out. benton is a company that doesnt use preservatives and they had a scandal last year when one of their shipments went bad and gave a lot of people horrible cystic acne

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

Well tbh it was also how Benton handled the issue that gave them a bad reputation lol

For whamisa I think it's good for dry skin but otherwise it's just overpriced as hell. It's way more expensive than it needs to be

[baddiemey.livejournal.com]

Benton fucked my skin up. I still have a shitload still in boxes.

[kwonsoonyoung.livejournal.com]

oh are most of benton products that bad? i really want to try their snail bee high content essence :(

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

I used their aloe toner looong after that mess and it broke me out so badly... I don't really have acne but that stuff gave me a ton of painful underskin bumps. At least I only had samples, not full size. Once I was given their bee sheet mask as a freebie and took me months before I over came my feat to use it. It did nothing but at least it didn't broke me out.

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

i have one of their bee sheet masks too and im scared to use it because i feel like it must have gone bad by now :(

[frantastic.livejournal.com]

This was me this week. I had one left and I very hesitant of using it bc I bought them in January? So, like you, I thought it went bad. I mean I had to discard my aloe toner bc, despite not breaking me out or anything (it was pretty soothing actually), the content became cloudy and had a funny smell.

But turns out the mask was alright and my skin looked great the following day so....thank god lol

[tendrejoue.livejournal.com]

I like yadah cosmetics at least their face washes that I own are really nice!

[baddiemey.livejournal.com]

QUESTION:

Does anyone know where I can get DIY sheet masks?? I saw the ones on Amazon from China but I don't trust shit from there. Preferably natural and soft?

I also wonder when I see Koreans take squares of paper and place them all around their face and use it as a mask, where can I get those?

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

I think face shop and nature republic both have diy face masks if I remember correctly. Maybe also Amore. If you live close to a Daiso, they have them too for cheaper

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

Lol, I use some Innisfree toner that I just absolutely love. It hasn't done me terribly. And I've tried an AmorePacific sample and I loved it. The full bottle is too much money, so I'll stick to my samples.

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

innisfree is cheap so i assume it's not actually ~all natural organic~

you get what you pay for

[shocko-o.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the others, but Innisfree isn't "all-natural", just has some natural ingredients.

I've always wanted to try Caolion and Aromatica.