Are you new to K-Beauty and don’t know how to start? Have you been into K-Beauty for a while but you’d like to understand Korean beauty products more easily? Or are you a skincare and language enthusiast who is looking for a new way to learn some new Korean vocab? Either way, we hope to help you a little with this article covering some essential K-Beauty words.

If you are able to read hangul, things are definitely a lot easier for you because in K-Beauty you can often see English terms used, like “essence” as 에센스 (e-sen-seu), “mist” as 미스트 (mi-seu-teu), “peeling” as 필링 (pil-ling), “makeup remover” as 리무버 (li-mu-beo), or “mask” as 마스크 (ma-seu-keu) just to mention a few.

To set a starting line, let us mention that “cosmetics” is 화장품 (hwa-jang-pum) in Korean, “skincare products” is 기초 화장품 (gi-cho hwa-jang-pum), and something else you might be looking for is “natural cosmetics,” which is 천연 화장품 (cheon-yeon hwa-jang-pum) in Korean. Now that we’ve gotten these out of the way, let’s discuss a few terms that will be useful to be able to read when you are picking out your new K-Beauty products.

“AC” might mean something else to the general audience, but if you are a skincare enthusiast, you can probably quickly put together that the two letters representing 에이씨 (e-i-ssi) in Korean stand for “acnecare.” And since we are talking about acne, if you spot the word 여드름 (yeo-deu-leum), you are also on the right way to find a product related to acne, as 여드름 means “acne” in Korean. 

에멀젼 (e-meol-jyeon) could be a more unfamiliar word even in English. “Emulsion” is a term used for lightweight moisturizers, usually with a milky or gel-like consistency. It is water-based, absorbs quickly, and is a perfect choice in hot or humid weather for calming down the skin, or for layering at night for a sleep mask-like extra moisturizing effect without the heaviness of a cream. 

Since we talked about one specific skincare concern and a specific type of moisturizer, let’s also mention 주름 방지 크림 (ju-reum bang-ji keu-rim) which means “anti-wrinkle cream.” This could be the term for you to look for if aging and wrinkles are something that you are trying to prevent or slow down. 

까지 (kka-ji) and 제조 (je-jo) are actually two very important terms no matter what type of skincare product you are in the search for. 까지 means “until” and indicates the expiration date of the product, while 제조 literally means “manufacturing” and hence specifies the manufacturing date. Depending on the product you use, you can calculate the expiration date accordingly. 

We already covered some useful terms, but a few basics are still left. Some products might mention which skin type they are recommended for on the packaging, or if you learn how to say your own skin type in Korean, the shop assistants would be amazed by your knowledge and would definitely help you find the perfect product next time you are shopping around in Korea—but they will be friendly and helpful regardless, so there’s no need to worry. “Dry skin” is 건성 피부 (geon-seong-pibu), “combination skin” is 복합성 피부 (bok-hab-seong-pibu), and for “oily skin,” remember the term 지성 피부 (ji-seong-pibu).

There are of course a lot more words and terms that are useful in the beauty world, but we know that learning a new language and remembering new vocabulary can be quite overwhelming, so consider this as a first lesson. Do you also want to learn about makeup or hair care? Let us know!