Olive Young’s First US Location Is the Ultimate K-Beauty Playground

29.06.2026, 22:27 allure.com

Ever wonder what it’s like shopping with a beauty editor? Welcome to Counter Service, a series where we head into our favorite beauty boutiques IRL. We’re visiting the curated spaces and places that make shopping in person oh-so worth it—and you’re coming with. Step into America's very first Olive Young with us to shop all of K-beauty’s very best.

Exactly one week after I walked out of Olive Young’s flagship location in Seongsu, South Korea, I walked through the doors of the retailer’s first brick-and-mortar location in the United States. As Allure’s senior commerce director, comparing retail experiences is genuinely part of my job, so a few days home from my trip, I headed into the store, equal parts excited and jet-lagged.

Feels like I never left Korea.

Damage was done.

I came prepared to see throngs of people; after all, on opening day, customers camped overnight, and lines wrapped around the block. We arrived an hour before the store opened, and there were eager customers of all age ranges staking out their spots along the sidewalk.

Walking through the doors, you feel like you’re entering a pharmacy-Ulta Beauty hybrid. It’s brightly lit and welcoming; opposite the entry doors is a wall-to-wall screen flashing various Olive Young lettering treatments: puffy-paint pink, edgy chrome, and a reminder that Olive Young is an anagram for “All Live Young.” Off the bat, it felt extremely similar to the Olive Young stores I visited in South Korea, and so much of that comes down to the floor plan.

You’re immediately met by two “zones,” which are essentially pop-ups within the store dedicated to specific brands. The left is reserved for Mediheal, the Korean brand behind the viral Madecassoside Blemish toner pads, with a larger-than-life replica of the cyan box sitting next to the window. For scale, it’s about the size of those robot delivery creatures and, yes, the tweezer is included. The right zone is dedicated to Urban Decay, and while this may seem surprising to US customers, it’s not at all new to Korean shoppers. I saw plenty of global brands present at South Korean Olive Youngs, including Kiehl’s, La Roche-Posay, Maybelline New York, plenty of Supergoop, Touchland, and even Olly vitamins. The same can be said for Olive Young’s US e-commerce site, which our K-beauty-obsessed editor reviewed in detail.

The assortment is generally organized by both brand and product type—something you’d expect in a big-box retailer or convenience store, but not necessarily from a specialty retailer. This layout is what characterized (and, I’ll admit, slightly overwhelmed) my experience shopping in the five-floor Seongsu Olive Young.

As an American, I’m used to getting swept up in storytelling through the retail experience, with brands moving you to purchase with emotion; by contrast, Olive Young is more straightforward. It orients you towards shopping by the desired result or ingredient, which can certainly make shopping easier for people who don’t know where to start. The masterminds at Olive Young know just where you want to begin your K-beauty journey: Sunscreen is positioned most prominently, as the first section you come across after the introduction zones, which brings me to the zinc oxide-coated elephant in the room.

Found the Biodance sheet masks!

In beauty editor heaven.

Not necessarily. If you’ve been keeping up with Korean skin care, you are probably aware of the global sunscreen discourse: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies sunscreens as drugs, not cosmetic products, which means it takes literal decades to approve new sunscreen filters in America—seriously, bemotrizinol, the first new filter since 1999, was approved just this week. The products stocked in Olive Young US must comply with FDA regulations, meaning the sunscreens you order online or pick up in-store have been reformulated without those famed Korean filters that are not yet approved in America.

This is the crux of the feedback customers have given the company since it closed its global site and launched a US-exclusive experience, coinciding with the store opening; much of the anticipation was the prospect of buying viral sunscreens. (After all, it’s products like Beauty of Joseon’s Sun Relief and Round Lab’s Birch Juice Moisturizing Sun Cream that helped consumers fall in love with K-beauty in the first place.)

Rena Kim, Global Communications Lead of CJ Olive Young, addressed this smaller assortment when I asked: “This is primarily because limited-edition products, collaboration items, and promotional sets require additional registration, compliance, or onboarding processes before they can be sold in the US. “As a result, certain products may become available at a later stage.” The brand also addressed this in an Instagram post, noting that this nuance primarily affects the sunscreen section. That said, even with the array of reformulations, I found that Olive Young US still shines when it comes to sunscreens. The Pasadena location’s SPF section rivals those at the three Olive Youngs I visited a week prior in size, albeit with an assortment that includes a hefty number of Western brands.

Don’t fret, though. Kim confirmed that customers can expect a broader and more diverse assortment on the US website. And when asked about the FDA approval of the new sunscreen filter, Bemotrizinol (BEMT), she said the decision is expected to further accelerate innovation across the category, “...benefiting consumers and contributing to the continued evolution of the US beauty and sun care market.” She added, “We also expect it will help bring more advanced sunscreen formulations to market in the near future.”

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AlternativeStereo

Olive Young

Allure senior commerce director Shanna Shipin applying the Alternative Stereo Lip Potion Sugar Glaze Tint

The only real category I told myself I wouldn’t leave this Olive Young without was a new Korean lip tint. I prefer a slightly glossy finish as opposed to the more matte, blurred finish that characterizes most Korean tints, and I’m happy to report that I left with not one but two glossy Lip Potions, including this mini pot of the Alternative Stereo Sugar Glaze Tint in a made-for-summer coral. PS: You can get just a few shades of these on Amazon, and even the Olive Young US online shop does not offer the specific color I picked up.

Unove

Olive Young

Shipin applying the Unove Frizz-calming Glass Hair Oil Blush Musk

I’ll take your glass skin and raise you a head of glass hair! The Korean hair-care brand Unove launched at Sephora earlier this year, and though I’ve tried and loved the leave-in, I haven’t been able to get my hands on the super-popular Glass Hair Oil. A little goes a long way to giving you super shiny and healthy-looking hair—even if it’s been heat-damaged to a dull oblivion like mine. I don’t like a strong hair scent in my products, so I could do with less musk, but it’s a small price to pay for the mirrorball effect.

Banila Co.

Olive Young

Shipin applying the Banila Co Romantic Blush Lip & Cheek (in #14 "Bouncing")

Yes, you can buy this product at Amazon or Ulta Beauty, but I couldn’t justify buying a “dupe” product for nearly $20 sight-unseen. I opted for a bright summer color, appropriately dubbed “Bouncing.” It’s super blendable, hasn’t broken out my temperamental skin, and Banila Co offers many more color options than Rhode, but it doesn't have as high a pigment payoff or staying power as the Pocket Blush.

Cell Fusion C

Olive Young

Shipin applying the Cell Fusion C Aquatica Cooling Sunscreen 35ml Double Pack

I got five different sunscreens when I was in South Korea, but didn’t grab a Cell Fusion product, so this was my chance. I opted for the US version of the Cell Fusion C Aquatica Cooling Sunscreen, and I can see why it’s so well-loved. It absorbs instantly, feels weightless, and hydrates my skin—without making my eyes or skin sting.

Anua

Olive Young

Shipin applying the Anua PDRN Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Capsule Mist

There is so much to love about this face mist: the adorable packaging, the pump top that delivers an extremely even (and broad) mist, and, of course, the instant hydration. You can pair this with Anua’s “melting” collagen mask, but I plan to take this on the go. The top is very hard to get off the pod, but it’s not the worst thing in the world, since avoiding spills is ideal for this travel version of the larger mist.

I went to three Olive Youngs in Seoul, and each was unique. The Seongsu flagship was full of tourists eager to buy sunscreen, and the entry floor was dedicated to a Pokémon cafe pop-up. I can’t help but shell out for merch, so I left with a few exclusive items, including limited-edition Snorlax and Squirtle makeup puffs. The smaller Olive Youngs I went to were more locals-oriented; they were much smaller and easier to navigate, and I could take some time to consider my purchases.

While much of the experience will feel natural—just more exciting and urgent, like shopping on the surface of a laptop screen with the brightness turned all the way up—there are a few things that made my eyes go wide.

I’m excited to see how these two sections evolve, particularly hair care (we called it the next K-beauty wave in Starship Seoul, our dive into shopping Korean brands). Kim explained to me that haircare has evolved: “In South Korea, the hair-care market has evolved beyond basic cleansing and styling. Consumers increasingly view scalp care as the foundation of healthy hair, with scalp health, hair conditioning, and styling becoming part of a connected, long-term care routine.” Echoing this, another Olive Young employee told me that Korean brands are keen on preventative hair care, whereas she’s found that Americans tend to focus on reparative treatments. Kim explained, “The rise of 'scalp skinification,' treating the scalp with the same level of care as facial skin, combined with the slow-aging trend, is driving growth in specialized care products such as