The 40th edition of Korea’s most high-profile beauty trade show Cosmobeauty Seoul took place from 27th to 29th May 2026 at COEX expo centre – and in two halls, no less! Just like before the pandemic.
If you’re interested in reading about how the trade fair has evolved over the past ten years, check out these articles: Cosmobeauty Seoul 2016, Cosmobeauty Seoul 2017, Cosmobeauty Seoul 2018, Cosmobeauty 2019, Cosmobeauty Seoul 2023, Cosmobeauty 2024 and Cosmobeauty 2025.
The last three Cosmobeauty fairs only occupied one hall but with the addition of the consumer show K-Beauty Fest with the B2B show Cosmobeauty Seoul in 2025, things became much too crowded.
I think the organisers must have had a lot of negative feedback from their exhibitors and buyers; I certainly wasn’t the only trade visitor deeply annoyed by the hordes of consumers flooding the halls, blocking the aisles and booths and preventing legit buyers and visitors from even talking to the exhibitors, let alone trying out products or take pics.
While this year’s Cosmobeauty again included the K-Beauty Festa show, the first half of day 1 was reserved for the trade visitors, with consumers only allowed in the hall after 1pm. That made things a little better but personally I would have prefered every morning to be trade visitors only. The addition of Hall #2 improved the circumstances slightly – the aisles were wider – so overall the fair felt a bit less crowded than Cosmobeauty 2025.
After this extended intro: I don’t really have any official fair stats (yet) – last year there were 440+ exhibitors and this number has certainly gone up. Exhibitors were almost exclusively Korean brands, with China the second-biggest exhibitor country. There were more international buyers and vistors than ever (and oh-so-many “content creators”) and the 53,000+ visitor number from last year (which included the consumer visitors) is also likely to have increased.
Because there was more space in the halls this year, Cosmobeauty Seoul 2026 showcased its Rookie of the Year Awards line-up in hall #2 with plenty of space to walk around the display cases.
COSMOBEAUTY SEOUL 2026: KEY TRENDS
As you might expect from a Korean beauty trade show, active ingredients were by far the most visible trend. Especially PDRN but also the other classics – niacinamide, cica, collagen, microneedles/spicules etc. etc. An interesting aspect was the shift towards vegan PDRN: At Cosmobeauty 2025, PDRN was already one of the break-out ingredients but all of the Korean PDRN products that I came across at last year’s Cosmobeauty fair contained the typical salmon-based PDRN.
This year it was different. At Cosmobeauty 2026, Korean brands were increasingly opting for plant-based PDRN complexes to match their vegan positioning – vegan is a crucial product claim in Korea, especially for the younger, trendier brands.
Aside from the focus on actives, playful textures are another important feature of K-beauty and were definitely present at this year’s trade show. Bubble textures/foams, gels and jellies, pudding/mochi sponge-y textures provide a fun, sensorial product experience. Personally I love it when the texture of a product changes while I use it – powder-to-liquid, oil-to-milk, cream-to-mask – it’s a lot of fun and Korean brands excel at this type of texture transformation. This type of beauty products also tend to be very social media-friendly which is an added bonus especially for the MZ demographic (in Korea, Millennials and GenZ are usually included in one demographic).
Speaking of which, I recently learned the term Xillennials/Xennials – this is a social cohort (micro-generation, really) of consumers like me who were born in the late 1970s/early 1980s (at the tail end of GenX and before the older Millennials) and came of age in the 1990s. That’s definitely me.
COSMOBEAUTY SEOUL 2026: FAVOURITE BRANDS
SOOO (Korea)
For me this was one of the most interesting brand discoveries at the show: Sooo Lab launched in mid-2024 with a truly niche (and unique) product – a shampoo created to remove chlorine build-up from hair. Sooo‘s brand founders are passionate swimmers and saw a gap in the market: The Sooo in-house R&D lab developed a patented chlorine-removal technology called Zeodualite that is claimed to remove 96% of chlorine build-up from hair in just a single wash. In fact, Sooo calls its products chlorine care.
The Sooo Swim shampoo has a silicone-free and slightly acidic formula and also removes salt water residue and hard water residue. Since the original product launch in 2024, the company has introduced additional chlorine care products: An all-in-one shampoo and body wash for kids, a hair essence to protect and repair chlorine-damaged hair and a body wash. All products contain the Zeodualite technology.
The latest launch is an unscented body lotion with an ultra-light yet moisturising texture which is absorbed very quickly into the skin so you can get dressed quickly after your swim.
KIWIGLOW (Korea)
Another interesting hair care launch: The Annurca Apple Vinegar Shampoo and Treatment from Jeju brand Kiwiglow. I liked this product because it smelled like my favourite green apple-scented shampoo when I was a child. It’s also interesting to see vinegar used in hair treatments; while vinegar-based hair washes are quite popular in some of the German organic hair care brands I don’t think I’ve seen it as an ingredient in Korean hair care before.
So, these are two hair care products, shampoo and conditioner, pretty yellowish-green packaging and a green apple scent to match. I like!
SOLEP (Korea)
Scalp care is a very important category indeed across Asia. And while the German mass market hair care brands are now slowly starting to offer scalp care serums and the like in their popular consumers ranges, the choice over here in Korea, Japan, Taiwan etc. is exponentially bigger. I enjoy checking out Asian scalp care launches because the brands and products are so much more innovative, fun and attractive than the boringly packaged medicinal scalp care products you find in German drugstores.
Solep for example, the home care range of Korean hair/scalp salon chain Wellkin. There are around 50 Wellkin clinics across Korea and East Asia and the dual-ended scalp massager you can see in the pics is one of the Wellkin tools used in the clinic treatments. In July 2025, the brand launched a new scalp care set which includes the scalp massager as well as the new Aquapik Scalp Scaler.
This is a scalp cleansing liquid which is applied to wet hair and scalp and then you use the massager – first the rubber comb-y side, then the bristled toothbrush-like side (if I remember correctly) – all over your scalp. The vigorous brushing removes dead skin cells and boosts blood circulation which, in turn, encourages hair growth.
SNOW2PLUS (Korea)
Another one of my favourite Korean trade show exhibitors. This manufacturer of magnesium microneedle patches, stickers and stamps always has several innovations in the pipeline; I seem to write about them in every trade show article.
This spring, Snow2Plus‘s new product launches include three new single-use microneedle stamp devices pre-filled with serum. ScalpTok contains a blend of menthol, caffeine, dexpanthenol and biotine to treat hair loss/hair fall while PoreTok’s active ingredient complex with magnesium, niacinamide, BHA/AHA fruit acids, propolis and vitamin C helps refine pore size and skin texture. The more anti-ageing GlowTok contains niacinamide, PDRN, glutathione and propolis to increase, well, glow.
The stamps are classic syringe-type manual skin stamps, with a long plastic handle and a flat head/applicator equipped with spikes. You place the applicator on the skin or scalp and press the handle downwards, the spike very lightly pierce the top-most layer of the skin so the serum can more easily penetrate the skin.
STANDARD SEOUL (Korea)
I remember when I first saw this brand at Cosmoprof Hong Kong a few years ago – Standard Seoul was still very new on the market the and they presented these three two-phase Booster Serums which looked spectacular (brightly coloured oil phases suspended in a crystal clear serum texture).
Since then, the brand has added a ton of products to the line-up (sun care, cleansing, moisturisers, sheet masks etc.). Amongst the new launches is the Barrier Glass Skin moisturiser which has a beautiful cream-gel textures (see Pic). The formula contains two types of encapsulated ingredients, plant-based collagen and plant-based PDRN. Then there is a new serum: Aurora Veil shimmers in the bottle and contains hydrolyzed collagen, NAD, three types of hyaluronic acid and glutathione.
JULYME (Korea)
Julyme is a sister brand to Standard Seoul – I remember seeing the products briefly at Cosmoprof Hong Kong last November but had no time to look at them in more detail. Lucky for me, Julyme was also at Cosmobeauty Seoul 2026, at the Standard Seoul booth.
I was told that the brand has gone through a comprehensive relaunch last year – adjusted line-up, new formulas, new packaging, the works. And this is what it looks like: Julyme offers what the company calls „scented damage care“, i.e. perfumed shampoos, conditioners and masks/milks to repair damaged hair whilst leaving it scented. Essentially this is an interesting twist on the highly popular hair fragrance/perfume category in Korea.
The Julyme line-up offers three fragrances – Sunset Freesia, Full Bloom and Woody & Musk – with five hair care products in each fragrance family: Shampoo, conditioner, leave-in hair butter mask, leave-in hair essence milk and a hair oil. I was particularly impressed with the buttery mask which really has a most unique texture and it suitable for styling dry ends as well. The hair essence has a milky texture and also works really well on dry, frizzy ends (I was rained on during my trip to the trade fair that morning so my hair was properly frizzy!).
There are also four multipurpose refreshing Perfume Powder Sheets which can be used on body, feet or armpits to refresh yourself whilst travelling, or on hot days.
TENZERO (Korea)
Another cooling summer-time product that caught my eye at the fair: Tenzero’s Makeup Booster Chill & Cool 5 Minute Cooling Pads. These are moisturising facial wipes created to be used before makeup application to help skin cool down and make the application of foundations etc. easier when temperatures are hot and humid.
According to the product claims, the wipes can help cool skin down by -5C within five minutes. After cleansing, you gently wipe your face with the pads and wait a few minutes until the cooling effect (thanks to menthol and mint extract as well as xylitol).
Anyway, in addition to the menthol etc. the wipes also contain niacinamide, aloe leaf extract, hyaluronic acid and a whole clutch of plant extracts (centella asiatica leaf and root extracts, houttynia cordata, kounzea ericoides, melia azedarach extract), madecassic acid, madecassoside and asiatic acid.
ORJENA (Korea)
The first time I noticed Orjena was at last year’s Cosmobeauty Seoul; since then I’ve come across the Korean brand in German TK Maxx stores (which were selling K-beauty long before the German drugstore retailers starting stocking the big mainstream brands). I like the pack design of Orjena, especially the brand‘s colour palette and the two most recent 4-sku face care launches fit right in: Pastel colours, colour gradation, softly rounded edges on the bottles.
Firming PDRN Ex is, of course, an anti-ageing PDRN-based range. I was told at the Orjena booth that the PDRN in these products was vegan, the Orjena Instagram account, however, mentioned both salmon PDRN and rose PDRN. Rice Milk Ex, the second range, contains rice extract and milk proteins as active ingredients and promises a brightening effect and increased glow. Each range offers an eye cream, serum, face cream and toner.
THINKBIO (Korea)
Think Bio specialises in freeze-dried ingredient spheres which the company calls Air Balls. I first met this Korean brand at Cosmobeauty 2024 and since then, I’ve seen the company at a number of trade shows, most recently Cosmoprof Hong Kong 2025. I always enjoy checking out the new air ball and serum innovations and over the last couple of years I’ve bought and tried out pretty much the entire Think Bio air balls range.
Essentially these are dry balls of highly concentrated active ingredients, hyaluronic acid, collagen, vitamin C etc. which quickly dissolve in any kind of liquid. You add an air ball to your toner, serum or essence to deliver an extra boost of ingredients. I like beauty products that seamlessly integrate with your existing favourites.
Think Bio’s most recent launches include two new air ball variants. Mini Spicule Essence Air Ball contains mini spicules made from hydrolyzed marine sponge, madecassoside and hyaluronic acid (spicules are tiny spikes made of active ingredients – micro-needle serums). And PDRN Essence Air Ball was so new that the outer packaging wasn’t ready in time for the show, the active ingredient here is, of course, PDRN (salmon-based if I remember correctly). The brand has also introduced several All-in-One Air Ball kits which each contain one air ball, a portion of serum and a portion of cream.
LUBYLAB (Korea)
A very cool launch from Korean dermo brand Lubylab: The Glutathione Collagen Ampoule in Lubylab’s Daily range transforms from a dry powder to a milk (without having to add water!) once the granules are sprinkled onto the skin and massaged in. If I understood it correctly, the active ingredients (or it might be some sort of encapsulation deal?) are sensitive to temperature which accounts for the very quick transformation once the product comes into contact with warm skin.
The Powder Ampoule is part of Lubylab’s 5-sku Daily range of products that are suitable for everyday use. The brand also offers an anti-ageing/lifting line called Elixir – some intriguing products here, like the serum with encapsulated spicules (see pic above) and a special treatment with freeze-dried and highly concentrated vitamin C spheres that add an antioxidant boost to any liquid skin care product.
And of course no respectable Korean dermo brand would be without at least one post-care/post-treatment healing skin care range – these are face care products to be used after cosmetic surgery or dermo treatments, with a heavy emphasis on skin repairing and skin soothing ingredients. Lubylab’s Recovery line offers two products formulated with a particularly high percentage of PDRN and cica (centella asiatica): an ampoule/serum and a healing cream.
SOUTH-EASTERN FINLAND (Finland/Estonia)
Surprised and delighted to see organic Nordic beauty at Cosmobeauty Seoul 2026! This was a communal pavillion bringing together six indie beauty brands from Finland and Estonia. The EU-funded marketing/brand expansion programme, initiated by Helsinki-based GGM Gateway to Global Markets, focuses on introducing Nordic beauty brands to Japan and Korea and vice versa.
So! Six brands to discover; I was familiar with only two of them – Nobe Beauty (FI), which is sold in Germany through Müller drugstores (offline) and online, and Flow Cosmetics (FI) which launched over 20 years ago and used to be a regular exhibitor at Vivaness trade shows before the pandemic.
Nõrre Nordic (FI) launched in October 2021 and manufactures small-batch organic oil-based face care – think high-quality facial oils in heavy, stylish glass flacons. Newcomer brand Sauna Ing (FI) came out in November 2025: The brand’s line-up offers a hair and scalp oil, face mask, serum mist and a Sauna scent blend. The Sauna Ing beauty products are specifically designed for use in the sauna (many Europeans have small at-home saunas, with Finland leading the pack – I read that there are over 3.2 million saunas amongst a population of just over 5 million people). The sauna’s heat and humidity makes the products extra effective.
Nogel Organics from Estonia is a minerals/vitamin supplements brand that has been around since 2017 and No Niin Cosmetics (FI) launched in 2024 with a compact, high-end face care range of cleansing powder and serums.
TFIT (Korea)
Colour cosmetics brand TFIT is known for its very wide range of foundation shades – the brand’s Radiance Serum liquid foundation comes in 20 shades, the Spatula Foundation (a launch from 2024) offers 30 shades, including quite a few options on the browner/darker brown end of the colour spectrum.
Like most Asian markets, Korean makeup brands in the face category (foundations, concealers, primers etc.), tend to cater to fair, pink and lighter yellow-toned skin colours. If you’re looking for anything darker than a mid-toned Caucasian shade you’re usually out of luck. So TFIT is rather unusual in this respect.
The brand’s most recent launch is the Idol Cover Concealer range which is a liquid version of TFIT’s trio cream concealers. The new concealer line offers 16 shades with a matte finish and medium to high coverage. The choice of darker skin tones in this range is not as ample as in the foundation lines but includes reddish-bronze, pale blue and pale green shades that are designed to be layered.
CCLIME (Korea)
I was struck by the shape of Cclime’s facial gua sha which looks very different from the facial rollers that I am most familiar with. The face massager is made from ceramic and is very pleasant to use – I tried it out at the exhibition booth and several times at various Olive Young stores (I was really tempted to buy it but in the end didn’t because my luggage is already heavy enough).
The massager is part of the Korean salon brand’s new home care range which launched in October 2025. The line-up offers a toner, ampoule, cream, sheet mask and gua sha. Cclime opened its first dermo clinic in 2011. Today, the company operates 20 salon/clinics across Korea.
GINGER6 (Korea)
I like Ginger6’s beauty products. The brand’s 6-sku face care range is based on ginger water (the ginger is dried and steamed six times before the hydrosol is extracted in order to maximise potency and remove the odour) and over the years I’ve stocked up on the serum whenever I see the brand at Cosmobeauty Seoul. The first time I met the brand was definitely before the pandemic.
At this year’s trade show, Ginger6 presented three new body care products all of which, of course, contain ginger hydrosol. The range offers a salt body scrub (if you need a thorough body exfoliation) and a gentler sugar scrub, plus a beautifully-textured body lotion.
At this year’s trade show, Ginger6 presented three new body care products all of which, of course, contain ginger hydrosol. The range offers a salt body scrub (if you need a thorough body exfoliation) and a gentler sugar scrub, plus a beautifully-textured body lotion.
That was it for me from Cosmobeauty Seoul 2026! I’ll leave you with some more images from the fair. Thanks for reading.
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 