K-Beauty, Make Room For J-Beauty

Korean skincare and make-up - think snail-gel moisturiser, lip masks and more - have held the beauty world's attention for the past few years, but is a return to Japanese products on the cards? Lisa Niven investigates. Japanese brands have long had a place in the beauty cupboards of Westerners – think skincare giants such as Shiseido, SK-II and Shu Uemura – but recently they’ve seen their thunder somewhat stolen by K-Beauty, the myriad zany brands and trends coming out of Seoul in South Korea. Now, having bounced back from a long economic downturn and having seen many of its brands leave the UK (a sad farewell to Shu Uemura), Japan is staging its comeback. Enter J-Beauty. “There is a simplicity to Japanese rituals that is midway between our own European methods of skin and body care application and Korean, for example,” says make-up artist and BeautyMart co-founder, Millie Kendall. “The Japanese use fewer products in a more methodical manner, they use massage and technique to get the best out of their skincare routine. In the UK in the past decade we have become more attuned to massage and facials - these services are the basis of Eastern ritual. So we are adopting these within our daily routines.” Think science combined with nature – key ingredients that have been used in Japanese rituals for centuries lifted by innovative technologies and stellar research and development. Beauty and wellness have long been important parts of Japanese culture - just look to the traditional Onsen springs in which bathing is elevated to an almost spiritual art. As Victoria Buchanan, strategic researcher at The Future Laboratory, told Vogue back in December when we predicted this 2018 trend: “classic aesthetic Japanese principles of kanso, shibui and seijaku - simplicity, understated beauty and energised calm, respectively - will come to the fore in beauty offerings that come out of the country.” As well as established brands such as Sensai and Suqqu, cult favourites such as Fairydrops mascara (it’s brilliant) and DHC’s cleansing oils are coming to the attention of Western consumers once more. Shiseido’s newest range, Waso, uses active components of key natural ingredients such as honey, tofu and white jelly mushroom and innovative formulas such as a Fresh Jelly Lotion and SoftCushy Polisher to appeal to millennial consumers, as well as keeping prices low and packaging simple and practical. J-Beauty offers a more pared-back approach to beauty, but with the same innovation and technology that made K-Beauty such a success. “K-Beauty is all about the razzmatazz - Instagrammable products and routines, extremes like 10-step regimes, glass skin… All with cute and clever packaging, backed up by serious formulations,” agrees Anna-Marie Solowij, also a BeautyMart co-founder. “In contrast, the Japanese approach to beauty is more about tradition, a quiet seriousness, understated luxury and played down presentation reinforced by a long heritage in beauty.” Shop some of the best J-beauty products available in the UK here.