“Please hold still,” one woman tells me, lifting a still-smoking match to my eyes. Nearby, another begins sharpening a small pink-handled knife that will slice the tops and sides off my brows. To my left, a man with immaculate bleach-blond hair sits, looking bored, listlessly thumbing through his iPhone, as three attendants swab his face with no less than 10 serums, emulsions, and creams. But no matter—he’ll be back here tomorrow to do it all over again.
Welcome to the world of K-pop beauty, where it takes three hours to apply your everyday face. Yes, three hours—or so I’m told when I call up reception at Jennyhouse, which has quickly become the go-to salon for Korean celebs since it opened in 2002. These days, of course, it’s also a destination for fans who would love to look just like their idols—including Chinese couples who fly here to get K-styled for wedding photos. And so, out of curiosity, I, too, book an appointment for a complete Hallyu star makeover on a recent trip to Seoul.
There are now three Jennyhouse locations in Cheongdam, the city’s most rarefied neighborhood, but I head to Olive, a two-story violet town house that’s said to draw the most stars (that’s no lie, by the way—on a recent Friday, I sat next to Jessi, the Lucky J rapper, and VIXX boy-band members Hyuk and Ravi). Though K-pop is known for its wild, over-the-top visuals, makeup artist Hee Jeong Lee tells me that these days her idol clients and their fans are requesting a more pared-down face.
“We used to do a heavier, more made-up aesthetic, but now when people come to our shop and ask for the Korean style, it’s more of a natural look,” she says, pointing to two of her clients, actresses Lee Min-jung and Song Ji-hyo, whose faces are most often requested by guests. Paging through hairstylist Jongsoo Lim’s portfolio, it’s clear that a more laid-back style is also the key to a K-pop mane. “Right now, it’s about a light wave instead of over-the-top glamour,” he says. “Over the past four or five years, we’ve moved toward the kind of look you could do yourself at home.”
So what does it take to get that not-quite-natural look? Anywhere from two to five hours—still. For Hallyu stars, a flawless complexion comes first and foremost. So we begin with a thorough double cleansing with oil and cream face washes, followed by 20 minutes of layering moisturizers: first toner, then essence, then serum, then emulsion, then cream, then more emulsion, and so on, swept and dotted lightly across the face with plush sponges and cotton pads. Vaseline is smothered on my lips, then Lee takes a dollop of heavy sun cream and emulsion, mixed together on the back of the hand with a palette knife, and swabs it directly onto my cheeks. Three dots of highlighter go under each eye, then a base, more emulsion—“It helps create a smooth texture”—and a thick coat of foundation. During 10 minutes of vigorous concealing (of stray spots, freckles, dark circles, and lines I never knew I had), I remember how, the day before, a stranger told me I had great skin—apparently not, by K-pop standards.
The secret here, I learn, is extreme layering: Lashes are curled twice with that smoking match, then topped with individual falsies and curled again with mascara. Light dustings of contour are topped off with emulsion, then dusted a second and third time. The eyeliner alone takes about 15 minutes: pencil, liquid, and gel, painstakingly shaped into an angular black wing. But once I reach Lim’s hair station, things move faster. I spend only 40 minutes in the chair, moving through rapid curling, texturizing at the root with a round brush, and ample sprays of Elnett. Though I’d originally suggested a wild updo or crazy cut, this would, I learn, be antithetical to the idol way. “You want to look fresh and pretty,” Lim chides as he sweeps my hair into a long ponytail with a hint of volume.
After carefully placing and re-placing a single wavy curl that falls by my face, we’re done—et voilà! Though up close I look strange and too heavily made up, in the soft glow of the salon’s incandescent lights, I feel K-pop pretty. Plus, as my own family tells me later that day, “You’ve never looked more Korean.” As far as K-styling goes, I’d call that an unqualified success.
The post What’s the Secret to K-Pop Beauty? One Vogue Editor Gets a Hallyu Star Makeover in Seoul appeared first on Vogue.
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