After the advent of K-Beauty, which has stormed its way to a highly influential position in the global cosmetics industry over the last decade, it's time to make way for J-Beauty, which keeps gaining ground and inspiring beauty routines of men and women around the world. Minimalist and technologically advanced, but also influenced by ancient traditions, J-Beauty, which is ultra-popular in the Land of the Rising Sun, has the key elements to address the new skin concerns of Western consumers.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have spelt the end of K-Beauty (short for Korean Beauty), a vision of beauty straight from that country, which, until recently had appeared unstoppable in winning over followers—and, perhaps even more significantly, has had a wide-ranging influence on the international cosmetics industry. But now the K-Beauty approach, based on layering, and in particular on a ten-step beauty routine, seems to be losing ground to a more minimalist, authentic and natural routine, which has been growing in visibility and popularity during the health crisis.
And even if K-Beauty later came up with the idea of "skip-care" which, tried to gain acolytes by reducing the full routine to just a few multifunctional products, it is, in fact, J-Beauty (Japanese Beauty) which could correspond best to top concerns of consumers at the moment.
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Big in Japan... and elsewhere
And since "we're always our own best advocates," J-beauty is first and foremost gaining in popularity in its homeland, the Land of the Rising Sun. The J-beauty based cosmetics market is expected to grow from 521.9 billion yen in 2020 to 554.6 billion yen in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 1.2 per cent over the period, GlobalData experts report. "Japanese consumers are extremely health-conscious, which also reflects in their beauty purchases. Consumers are drawn towards products which have a positive impact on health and well-being," says Sukanyashri Kabali, consumer analyst at GlobalData.
And it's a trend that is also gaining ground in the West, especially in Europe and the United States, with a clear revival of interest in natural ingredients, especially those from Japan such as rice or rice water, which is as popular in cosmetics as it is on social networks, shell ginger or getto, or ashitaba, among others, which are in line with this desire to combine nutrition, health, and the beauty of the skin. All alongside a key—if not the predominant—philosophy underpinning J-Beauty: the idea of prevention. And this is evident through trends that are cropping up all over the world, including the boom of prebiotics in cosmetics. Men and women are no longer looking to systematically repair the damage suffered by the skin, but to prevent it through various actions and a routine that will help it defend itself against potential aggressions.
