The History of Amorepacific, a 5-Time Best of Beauty Winner

In the current beauty zeitgeist, the influence of K-beauty is undeniably exciting. Although it’s only recently taken hold Stateside, what we view as trends have been part of Korean beauty culture for centuries, and you’d be hard-pressed to delve very far into the topic of K-beauty without discovering Amorepacific. The Seoul-based company owns more than two dozen of the most well-known K-beauty brands (Laneige, Sulwhasoo, Primera, and Innisfree among them) and has consistently rolled out products that land on our Best of Beauty Awards list, year after year. One factor that has enabled this K-beauty giant to reign supreme is an unwavering commitment to its original ethos, established back in 1945: products infused with naturally-derived ingredients, formulated based on the latest scientific research.

“We believe good products come from good ingredients and that you don’t have to look much further than nature to find the best beauty solutions,” says Mark Choo, research director at Amorepacific U.S. “We cannot be separated from nature, and with technological development will come greater understanding of nature’s benefits.” The company is especially devoted to studying natural ingredients found in Asia, such as green tea and ginseng, as well as fruits and flowers like hibiscus, which are native to Korea. “We call these our heritage ingredients,” Choo explains, “because our ancestors created a rich knowledge base around these ingredients for centuries.”

Amorepacific’s nature-based ethos can be traced throughout the company’s own history, which hearkens back nearly 100 years to another heritage ingredient, the camellia flower. “When [Amorepacific founder] Suh Sung-whan’s mother produced and sold camellia seed hair oil from her kitchen in the 1930s, refining ingredient selection and production method constantly was key,” explains Jessica Hanson, president of Amorepacific U.S. Sung-whan is said to have biked more than 30 kilometers to source the best camellia seeds for his mother. “This commitment was passed down to her son, which led him to create Korea’s first cosmetics research lab in 1954,” Hanson says.

This commitment to hand-selected natural ingredients has not wavered with the passage of time. On the contrary, it’s become even stronger — so much so that many of Amorepacific’s heritage ingredients are grown in the company’s own garden. Take the luxe Amorepacific Time Response Eye Reserve Crème (a 2019 Best of Beauty winner), which features green tea — rich in amino acids and antioxidants — to help smooth fine lines and wrinkles. But it's not just any old green tea: Its leaves have been carefully harvested in order to maximize antioxidant and anti-aging properties. The green tea used in all Amorepacific products is cultivated in a private company garden located in subtropical Jeju, South Korea’s southernmost island, and the leaves are hand-picked once per year at the peak of potency. This organic green tea field has been cultivated by the company since 1979.

Another one of our favorite K-beauty products, Mamonde Flower Lab Essence Sheet Masks (also a 2019 Best of Beauty winner), features an infusion of extracts from a variety of skin-restoring flowers, all found in the Mamonde Garden section of Amorepacific’s Botanical Garden, including calendula, magnolia, rose, and camellia.

Falling directly in line with what we’ve all come to expect about K-beauty, Amorepacific’s product range, and those of all Amorepacific-owned brands, are also equally focused on innovation. Many formulas are so steeped in scientific breakthroughs that they often blur the lines between two different product categories. For example, makeup that also provides skin-boosting benefits, as is the case with Etude House’s Dear Darling Water Gel Tint, which defies what you think you know about lip color. It glides on like water, then the color quickly sets in and somehow stays put, as promised, all day long. The best part? Unlike what we’ve all come to associate with most lip tints, this one doesn’t dry out your lips — on the contrary, it’s supremely hydrating, making it comfortable for a good eight hours of wear (which is precisely why it earned our Best of Beauty Award in the lip stain category in 2019).

The beloved Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask is another Best of Beauty–winning Amorepacific product that defies expectations within the category. Equal parts moisturizer, mask, and gloss, it pretty much takes skin care for lips (yes, lips are skin too!) to the next level — which is probably why one Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask is sold every minute in the U.S. What makes the formula so effective is its exclusive “Moisture Wrap” technology, which Choo describes as a mix of “hyaluronic acid and minerals, which forms a moisturizing and protective film over [the] lips,” locking in the antioxidant-rich formula so it can work its hydrating magic overnight.

Yet another example is the Sulwhasoo Gentle Cleansing Oil, a slightly citrus-scented cleansing oil formulated with antioxidant-rich apricot kernel oil and tangerine peel extract that cleanses skin without stripping away its natural oils — or leaving any oily residue behind. If you use it just once, you’ll see what we mean: It’s like a cleanser and lightweight essence all in one, which is precisely why we named it the best oil cleanser of 2019.

While honoring these heritage ingredients that are a key part of scientifically advanced product formulations, Amorepacific also simultaneously looks toward the future. Just this year, the company made its debut at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where it unveiled a new 3D face mask printing system that can cater to individual facial features and skin conditions — earning recognition as a CES 2020 Innovation Award Honoree. “It is our DNA to innovate,” Hanson explains. “It is [about] scientifically proving the efficacy of a precious heritage ingredient and turning it into a luxurious modern skin-care formula. It is [about] developing new beauty practices that cater to contemporary lifestyles, like sleeping masks or cushions, or merging the latest digital technology with our beauty-centric approach to create bespoke 3D printed masks.”

It’s this ideal combination of past and future, or natural (harvesting heritage botanicals) and technological (advancing scientific research and discovery), that sets Amorepacific apart from the rest of the K-beauty world — and also positions it to continue to do so. If our genuine love for Amorepacific-owned brands weren’t already reflected in the many Best of Beauty Awards we’ve bestowed on their products, this rundown of the company’s steadfast commitment to combining the best of nature and technology should illustrate that when it comes to K-beauty, the research-based, botanically inspired Amorepacific continuously proves itself to be the best of the best.