A guide to K-beauty

K-beauty (or Korean beauty) has garnered much attention around the world for how effortless and flawless it is.

With a preference for less pigment and more of a polished, hydrated complexion, K-beauty accentuates your natural beauty and winds back the years.

Recently, K-Pop star Tiffany Young from the girl group Girls Generation (or SNSD) sat down with Vogue to reveal her beauty secrets and share her daily makeup routine with her fans.

There is a lot to learn about K-beauty from this 10-minute video, from the importance of face masks to how to best apply lipstick for a natural look.

It starts with the skin

Tiffany begins this tutorial by noting that face masks are probably the most famous thing K-beauty is known for, before applying her personal favourite.

The mask she used was an all-in-one so be on the look out for a versatile face mask that targets your skin concerns whilst also promoting healthy hydration and radiance.

She follows this up with a firming toner, a moisturising eye serum and a glow-inducing primer to have that natural radiance shine through when she goes in with foundation.

At this point, she also preps her lips with the help of some clear lip balm.

Wetting your beauty blender

Tiffany blends a light coating of foundation onto her skin using a damp beauty blender. Using a damp beauty blender will allow your product to blend easier and encourage a dewy skin finish.

She applies minimal concealer to any discolouration and sets the oilier areas in place such as her T-zone with a pressed powder and powder puff. She presses her puff onto the skin and rolls it out rather than dragging it as this may disrupt the base.

Brows take time

By far the most involved step in this tutorial is Tiffany’s approach to brows. 

She starts by softly lining below and above the brow with a brow pencil to mark out her desired shape. She then fills in any sparse areas with gentle flicking movements and then combs everything out with a spoolie.

Tiffany advises to wear a brow that will frame your face. She doesn’t gravitate towards the popular straight brow, nor does she like an overly-arched brow. She falls somewhere in the middle.

An innocent blush

Tiffany uses a powder blush and a cream stick blush to add colour to her cheeks. She opts for a soft pink colour and dabs it onto the apples of her cheeks and slightly above them using her fingers.

She then highlights ever-so-slightly with a pencil brush along the bridge of her nose, the highest points of her cheeks, her forehead and cupids bow, and then bronzes with a glowy bronzing powder, focusing on the jawline for that defined edge.

Soft definition

On stage, Tiffany goes for a gel liner. But for an everyday makeup look, she goes for a wash of soft rosy-pink eyeshadow and presses a brown or plum shadow along her lash line and drags that out slightly to create a soft cat-eye effect.

She completes her eyes by curling them and applying multiple coats of mascara. Her tip when curling the lashes is to make sure you’re curling them from the centre rather than the side.

A dab of lip colour

Instead of going in for that full lip look, Tiffany implements a popular trend in K-beauty and only applies lip colour to the centre of the lips. She rubs her lips together and blends it in using her index finger for a more natural-looking colour application. 

And that’s how Tiffany Young gets glam on a regular day!

Watch the full video below