A Mixed Race Youtuber Living In Korea Shows the Difference between Korean and American Makeup
It isn’t just skincare that we need to learn.
The mixed race Youtuber, Megan Bowen, moved to South Korea five years ago from Chicago. She has received attention for not only staying ahead of K-beauty makeup trends but also has garnered intrigue as a partially black girl who is fitting into the Korea culture where foreigners only make up 3% of the population. She considers herself fully assimilated now that she fluently speaks Korean, has her Korean talk show and a significant following on Instagram of over 163K. We’ve assumed a lot of cultural differences, some which Bowen has confirmed and others that she has dispelled. In her recent Youtube video, she was joined by Eunice Cho of Wishtrend to discuss the difference between traditional Korean makeup vs. Korean.
Here’s what we learned from the video:
Koreans appreciate a more dewy look and use a cushion-sponge for most of their makeup looks. They apply a light layer of foundation that looks natural while Americans tend to use a beauty blender to achieve medium to full coverage. The concealer is also blended with a sponge for Koreans while Americans tend to use their fingers or a brush. Unlike Koreans, Americans also contour their faces with a bronzer while Koreans will do a similar lining of the nose and jawline with a blush instead. Westerners set the makeup with a translucent powder, a term called baking, while Koreans do not use a powder to maintain the dewy look. All hail, the infamous dewy look.
Koreans and Americans both like thick eyebrows, but Koreans tend to go for a straight shape in their makeup look to look younger, and Americans tend to go for an arched brow that forms their face to look more alluring. Koreans prefer a natural eyeshadow without glitter and a light highlighter placed under the lower eyelid for a softer look. Americans go all out with their eyeshadow routine including a transition shade, a dark tone, and a light tone. Instead of eyeliner, Koreans keep it simple with a dark shadow to line the eyes while Westerners are more likely to opt for a cat eye. Bring on the cat eye.
Koreans use two-tone lip looks, a darker lipstick to the line and a lighter lipstick to fill in the middle of the lips. Americans like full lips and tend to line the lip shape heavily. Americans, like most things, like a heavier blush that is swiped up the ear while Koreans tend to lightly dab blush on the apple of their cheeks. The only other thing that we had in common were our eyelash routines. At least we can officially confirm that curly eyelashes are the only thing desired internationally.
