Good piece. I’m an old Korea hand, having served here 45 years ago in the Peace Corps, and now teaching epidemiology at one of their high-tech colleges. A couple of more bits that might interest you.
Copycats of Korean cosmetics in Korea are primarily Chinese, and by all accounts they’re pretty bad — Koreans usually avoid the ‘made in China’ label regardless of price.
The porcelain skin really is a genetic thing associate with nobility/royalty. My wife is of the Min clan, one of the royal lines, and her family all have the very light skin, and she gets painful sunburns (and is prone to heat exhaustion) with less sun exposure than you’d think.
There’s a terrific K-drama series on the origins of bb cream — semi-fictional of course, but revealing, and talks about the mismatch of Western cosmetics to Korean skin. It’s set during the IMF crisis as well, so an interesting viewpoint on fairly recent Korean history. Please don’t be put off by the theme — yes, it’s about beauty pageant competition, but it’s very well done. Here’s a link (subtitled): https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4341/miss-korea/
(the actor who plays the loan shark is terrific — he’s normally a good actor anyway, but he’s especially good in this one.)
