Black beauty YouTuber Miss Darcei's shorts titled "The darkest Korean foundation," left, and her follow-up shorts showing her unboxing TIRTIR's 20 darker shades of cushion foundation the company sent to her. Screenshot from @MissDarcei on YouTube

TIRTIR, a Korean beauty brand, has broken new ground in the U.S. market with its Mask Fit Red Cushion, showcasing the expanding diversity in Korean beauty products.

The cushion foundation went viral through Black beauty YouTuber Miss Darcei's video, titled "The darkest Korean foundation." In the shorts, uploaded in April, the beauty influencer with 3.5 million subscribers said the Korean cushion foundation was too light for her skin tone. The company responded by creating 20 more shades to match diverse skin tones and sent them to her.

The shorts featuring her unboxing and trying the products went viral, garnering nearly 56 million views, and propelled the cosmetics product's 40 shades to the top of the overall beauty category sales rankings on Amazon.

Experts attribute the company's success to its alignment with U.S. consumers' shifting preferences — from a focus on Korean skincare to a wider embrace of makeup products — marking a shift in the international perception of Korean beauty brands. This reflects the increasing importance of inclusiveness and diversity in the beauty industry, suggesting that these values are essential for Korean beauty firms aiming to capture the global market.

This year's export data for Korean cosmetics mirrors a similar trend. While China remains a major cosmetics export market with $1.21 billion, the U.S. and Japan showed substantial growth of 61.1 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively, signaling the diversification of export markets and a shift toward North America, Southeast Asia and Europe in the first half's export data.

A promotional photo for Yepo Beauty / Courtesy of Tatiana Kurnosova Photography

"If I went to Olive Young, I couldn't really buy any makeup. The colors were not pigmented enough and it's too pale and the undertone didn't match my skin tone. If you are just a little bit tanned, you couldn't even buy a foundation," said Fama Ndiaye, CEO of AGASKIN, a Seoul-based agency specializing in exporting and promoting Korean beauty companies abroad.

Fama Ndiaye, CEO of AGASKIN

In 2020, Ndiaye and Mona Lisa Hanson, chief marketing officer of Seoul Cosmetic Surgery, created the "K-beauty cares for you" campaign. In line with the Black Lives Matter movement, many Korean companies have joined the campaign to start a conversation about the importance of inclusiveness in K-beauty and show their commitment.

Since then, Korean cosmetic companies have walked a long way as seen in TIRTIR, as well as Amorepacific's TONEWORK, a personalized makeup brand which offers a foundation line with over 150 shade options. Yet, the diversity and inclusiveness have remained mostly just a "concept," not a priority in developing and marketing their products.

"Although some Korean cosmetics companies launch a wider range of shades now, they don't seem to think this is a necessity for them to make these colors. If I see a Korean beauty brand in major beauty stores like Olive Young, I don't have expectations. It is somewhat understandable, because I'm in Korea and I'm not the target audience. Yet, when companies release, for instance, all their shades from very pale to a little bit tan, then people in the other spectrum would think they are not taken care of and they are an afterthought," Ndiaye said.

She believes that diversity is a must when K-beauty companies aim to become global players, particularly to appeal to Gen Z consumers. She emphasized the success of Rihanna's Fenty Beauty, which revolutionized the beauty industry with its inclusive cosmetics range, and shows how Gen Zers' shopping habits are increasingly influenced by values such as ecological awareness and inclusivity.

Yepo Beauty cushion foundations in various shades / Courtesy of Yepo Beauty

"They value inclusiveness and diversity and do research on brands. When Rihanna's Fenty Beauty came with a full range, what was really funny has been that all the sold-out colors were in the middle, which were the deeper colors. People even in the global beauty industry never understood that women of color is the biggest market and they're the ones spending the most," she said, adding that Korea should pay more attention to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

She stressed that Korean companies need to do better to understand diversity in earnest, suggesting that people from a variety of racial backgrounds should be included on cosmetic development teams from the outset.

"Just merely the product covering everyone doesn't mean you are OK with diversity. In terms of shade, you have to think of Native American, Hispanic community, Indian community, but there's also body shape. Not everybody has to be the perfect skinny model. All that is part of diversity and inclusiveness," she said.

Ndiaye thinks the Korean "natural-looking" makeup is what earned K-beauty all the buzz of today. In this context, she sees significant potential for the K-beauty industry in Africa, where there is a strong preference for natural beauty and skincare products.

Amorepacific's Hera foundations / Courtesy of Amorepacific

Ky Reid, an African American beauty enthusiast, also faced a common frustration — the lack of foundation shades for darker skin tones. This personal experience ignited her passion to launch Yepo Beauty, a Korea-based cosmetics brand she founded with her Korean husband in March.

"I've been interested in Korean beauty products since high school, but the issue that I kept coming across is I could never find something in my skin tone or my friends' so I really wanted to bridge this gap," Reid told The Korea Times.

Ky Reid, co-founder of Yepo Beauty

"At Olive Young beauty stores, shades are just too light even for a lot of my Korean friends. It's just so sad, and I don't understand why in 2024 there's still so much value or emphasis placed on having lighter skin."

So she has taken courses to become a skin care specialist. Under the motto of "inclusive K-beauty," her brand focuses on darker foundation products. She said Korean foundations, especially cushion foundations, excel in quality because they focus on skin care as well.

"I wanted to showcase that it's Korean-made but also I wanted to associate the term K-beauty with darker skin tones as well, because that's something that I think normally we don't see in society," she said.

From its brand name of "yepo," meaning "pretty" in Korean, all foundation shades are named in Korean words related to beauty, including "miin" (beautiful person), "mimo" (beauty) and "gwiyeoun" (cute). Reid's goal is to expand and keep adding more shades so that K-beauty is accessible to everyone eventually.

"We hope to showcase that diversity is beautiful as well as Korean products," she added.

Sharing excitement for the success of TIRTIR, she said other Korean beauty brands should look at them as an example of what proper marketing and expansion of their line can do.

"Korean products are the best (at) quality (and) luxury. But, a lot of companies aren't pursuing having darker foundations or more inclusive foundations because they think it isn't profitable. It shouldn't just be for making profit but rather a company's mission and drive. So if a company really cares about diversity and being inclusive then they should include different kinds of shades because K-beauty is global," Reid said.