Within the beauty market, the sheet mask is to skincare what K-pop is to music: another sign of South Korea's soft power. This fabric mask, soaked in dermocosmetic active ingredients and produced by Torriden or other South Korean manufacturers, has been, in the summer of 2025, one of the top sellers in French beauty stores. The same goes for Beauty of Joseon's sunscreens and Cosrx's serums made with snail mucin or ginseng.

Retailers have rushed to stock these trendy brands, whose products with natural ingredients are aggressively promoted on TikTok and Instagram. "Sephora has added about 10 South Korean brands since we began carrying Laneige products in 2019," explained Juliette Caloin, Europe's vice president of merchandising and head of purchasing at the LVMH-owned chain. Amazon has devoted entire pages to them.

In France, the department stores Printemps and Monoprix recently embraced "K-beauty" – Printemps with a pop-up space inside its flagship department store on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, featuring 13 brands, and Monoprix by offering the most popular Beauty of Joseon and Cosrx products in 100 of its 350 French stores (Cosrx is a subsidiary of the giant Amore Pacific). Meanwhile, the Miin boutique chain, created in 2014 in Barcelona by a Chinese entrepreneur and a Swiss investor, has continued its expansion across France: in 11 years, 43 boutiques opened in Europe, including two in Paris this spring, selling only Korean brands. "The potential is around 200 stores across the European continent," said Miin cofounder Lilin Yang.

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