If you’ve ever wondered how Korean celebrities and influencers manage to look picture-perfect, the secret is in Seoul's colour analysis studios. Known for its beauty scene, the South Korean capital of Seoul is where tourists flock to frequently to get their hands on the latest K-beauty products.

Made popular by multiple South Korean celebrities including Blackpink’s Jisoo, Girls Day’s Hye-ri, and Shinee’s Key, the hottest new trend to have emerged from the beauty-obsessed city is a visit to a personal colour analysis studio. Whether it’s finding the right lip shade or the best clothing colours, having your personal colour analysis means finding the most flattering colours to accentuate your features. 

What is personal colour analysis?

Personal colour consultations are highly sought after in recent times because they help individuals determine what shades of colour best suit their skin tone, from the clothes they wear to makeup, nail polish, and hair colours. With origins from the four-season colour theory (the colour wheel), colours are categorised into warm and cool tones. It is further divided into Spring and Autumn colours for the former and Summer and Winter colours for the latter. Analysing 16 further colour subgroups is the final step on your colour analysis journey.  

What happens during a session?

A colour analysis session usually involves going through multiple fabric swatches draped over your shoulders after scanning your natural skin tone with a colour scanner on your cheek. With the warm-cool tone question finally answerd, the draping process comes next. The colour consultants are honest and informative on which colour suits you best. If you’ve always struggled between choices, you won’t get any of that in Seoul. As you move through the colours, you’ll get to observe how your skin tone interacts with each fabric swatch. Colour swatch boards will also be held up to your face as you see if the colours brighten or dull your features. The last order of business after you have determined your colour palette is picking the appropriate make-up, accessories, and sometimes even hair colours. 

Keen to find out which studios to visit? We present you with our own list below.