Nineteen brand names, and most of them probably won't ring a bell. That is the view from the OLIVE YOUNG K-Beauty Edit on Sephora.com, and from the display in the more than 500 US Sephora stores that have carried it since August 20.
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| Nineteen brands make a long shelf, so a first order can stay small and start with one skin concern. |
Here is the short version for a first order. Start with a hydrating serum from Torriden or Wellage. Add the Cell Fusion C sunscreen if your SPF is due for a replacement, and pick up a cleanser or toner pad from Banila Co, beplain, or Abib only if the one you use now is nearly empty. Everything else can wait until you see how these behave on your own skin.
Olive Young is the Korean retailer that chose these brands, and it chose them for how they sell and trend in Korea, where it runs more than 1,380 stores. The closest North American comparison is Sephora or Ulta: a multi-brand beauty store where shoppers go to try things and compare. BeautyMatter reported that Sephora itself left the Korean market in 2024 after struggling against Olive Young. Two years on, Sephora is stocking Olive Young's picks on its own shelves.
The edit also gives Olive Young hundreds of US storefronts at once. Its own stores, in Pasadena and at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, opened earlier this year one at a time.
The Full List: All 19 Brands at Sephora
This is the lineup from the August 4 announcement by Sephora and CJ Olive Young, which listed the brands alphabetically.
- Abib
- Arencia
- BANILA CO
- beplain
- BIOHEAL BOH
- Cell Fusion C
- FATION
- FULLY
- HEVEBLUE
- make p:rem
- ma:nyo
- MENOKIN
- REJURAN Cosmetics
- S.NATURE
- SUNGBOON EDITOR
- THOME
- Torriden
- WELLAGE
- WHIPPED
A footnote in that announcement matters for anyone planning a store visit. Brand curation can vary with in-store space, and some brands are sold exclusively online. Sephora.com is the sensible first stop for seeing everything that exists, before hunting for a particular item on a shelf.
The lineup also leans toward skincare. Forbes reported that the Sephora selection intentionally centers on skincare essentials, even though Olive Young sells makeup, haircare, snacks, and supplements at home. Sephora's merchandising chief told Forbes the company will keep watching which categories emerge from Korea, so other product types could follow.
Some names arrive with track records. New Beauty's launch roundup says Banila Co's Clean It Zero cleansing balm has sold more than 100 million units worldwide, lists ma:nyo's cleansing oil among the fan favorites, and names Rejuran Cosmetics' ampoules and a Sungboon Editor capsule cream as 2026 NewBeauty Award winners.
How This Edit Differs From the K-Beauty Sephora Already Sold
Sephora has carried Korean brands since 2010, so K-beauty on its shelves is nothing new. What has changed is who chose the assortment. Olive Young's team made the selection from what performs in Korea, where a Sephora buying team did the choosing before.
Products in the edit carry an "OLIVE YOUNG K-Beauty Edit" tag in the highlights section of their Sephora product pages, which makes them easy to spot while browsing. The edit page is organized around concerns such as hydration, slow aging, barrier support, and glass skin.
On formulas, Forbes reported that each product matches its Korean counterpart, with one exception: sunscreen, which the FDA regulates. That makes SPF the one category where a US shelf and a Seoul shelf are not identical, so anyone who has used one of these brands' sunscreens in Seoul should read the US label instead of assuming it matches.
Korean press coverage of the launch says Olive Young plans to change the brands and products in the edit twice a year, based on local feedback and trends. A favorite found this autumn could rotate out in 2027, and new names could rotate in.
Listed prices mostly fall between about $19 and $34 for creams, serums, cleansers, and pads, based on Sephora listings and launch roundups checked this autumn. Rejuran's Turnover Ampoule sits higher at about $52, and Thome's ultrasound device is listed at $299.
Where a First-Time Buyer Should Start
The most useful filter is what your skin does on an ordinary weekday: tight by the afternoon, shiny by noon, quick to redden, or dull under sunscreen. Each situation points to a different corner of the lineup. Skin type, age, and climate change how any of these products behave, so treat the picks below as places to begin.
Skin That Feels Tight by Afternoon
Hydration is the easiest lane to enter. Torriden's DIVE-IN line is built around hyaluronic acid, and Sephora's edit includes both a serum and a cream from it. Wellage's Real Hyaluronic Blue 100 Ampoule combines hyaluronic acid with panthenol and glycerin, and Olive Young's global communications lead told Forbes she reaches for it when her skin feels dry or tight.
Either serum goes into the same step as a drugstore hyaluronic acid serum, so there is no new order of application to learn. If only one product from the whole lineup goes into the cart, this is the lane to choose, because a hydrating serum fits almost any routine already in place.
New Beauty's editors made a different call, naming Rejuran's Turnover Ampoule as the one product to try. It is a 2026 NewBeauty Award winner built around salmon-derived PDRN and aimed at softening signs of aging, at roughly $52. For a first order, the cheaper and simpler hydration route carries less risk of a miss.
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| Toner pads and hydrating serums slot easily into a routine that already exists. |
A Cleanser or Pad That Needs Replacing
Banila Co's Clean It Zero comes as a trio of cleansing balms: an original that softens skin, a Tea Tree version aimed at pores, and a Mandarin version aimed at brightness. Forbes describes the balms as removing everything from mascara to sunscreen. For anyone who prefers oil, ma:nyo's Pure Soybean Cleansing Oil blends soybean, argan, and jojoba oils to dissolve makeup and excess sebum, according to Grazia Malaysia.
beplain builds its line around mung bean and says it has won Olive Young Awards five years running, from 2021 to 2025. Sephora's listing for its mung bean toner pad, sold as a 70-pad pack, describes it as pore clearing and cooling. Abib's Heartleaf Essence Pad pairs heartleaf extract with niacinamide and is described as friendly to sensitive skin. Olive Young's communications lead uses it when her skin needs a quick reset.
Arencia's Fresh Green Rice Mochi Foaming Cleanser is marketed toward acne-prone skin, and the brand was already on Sephora before the rest of the group arrived. A cleanser can keep skin comfortable and clean, but it does not treat acne, and breakouts that stick around call for a dermatologist's advice.
A Sunscreen That Does Not Feel Heavy
Cell Fusion C's Aquatica UV Defense Sunscreen SPF 50 is the sunscreen Forbes Vetted picked from the edit. Its beauty editor, who has dry skin, said she expected a thick, cakey cream and found one that absorbed without greasy residue. That is one dry-skin experience, so oily and combination skin may feel something different.
Pair it with the hydrating serum above and the first order already covers a morning routine: serum, a moisturizer you own, then SPF.
Skin That Reacts Easily or Looks Tired
Several brands lean toward barrier comfort. make p:rem's Inteca Advanced CICA Soothing Cream is positioned for sensitive skin, and FULLY's Rice Ceramide Moisture Essence Toner pairs rice with ceramide in its name and formula pitch. FATION's Rapid Calming Serum, listed at $25 by New Beauty, covers similar soothing ground. Bioheal BOH's Probioderm 3D Lifting Cream is a rich night cream that combines probiotic-derived ingredients with peptides, which Forbes says supports elasticity and the moisture barrier overnight.
Reactive skin varies a great deal from person to person, so a soothing label guarantees nothing, and skin that keeps flaring up should see a dermatologist.
PDRN, Explained With Ingredients You Already Know
PDRN shows up all over the lineup, and it is the least familiar name on the shelf. Launch coverage named Abib, Rejuran Cosmetics, Sungboon Editor, and Heveblue as brands with hero products built around it, and FULLY's Rice PDRN Glow Barrier Boosting Serum carries it in the name. Rejuran Cosmetics calls itself Korea's original PDRN brand and comes from PharmaResearch, the company behind the Rejuran skin booster.
PDRN is short for polydeoxyribonucleotide, a mixture of purified DNA fragments most commonly derived from salmon. Heveblue's Salmon Caring Centella Cream shows how it is usually packaged for newcomers: PDRN sits alongside centella water and madecassoside, the soothing ingredients familiar from cica creams. New Beauty recommends that cream for skin worn down by retinol or harsh weather.
A dermatologist quoted on the South African retailer Clicks' beauty blog suggests treating PDRN as a supporting ingredient that complements proven basics such as sunscreen, and notes that injectable PDRN has much stronger evidence behind it than topical products. Topical versions are generally well tolerated but can occasionally cause redness or irritation. People with a fish or salmon allergy should check with a doctor first, and the same dermatologist said there is not enough safety data for pregnancy or breastfeeding, so a doctor or pharmacist should weigh in there too.
What Can Wait for a Second Order
Thome's The Glow Signature, an at-home ultrasound device listed at $299, sold out online within three days of Olive Young's US launch, according to Forbes. Chasing a sold-out device makes little sense for someone still choosing a first serum.
Thome's CPR Triple-Synergy Wrinkle Care Serum contains retinal, a vitamin A derivative, with peptides and collagen, and Sungboon Editor's award-winning Deep Collagen capsule cream contains retinol. Retinoids usually need a slow introduction and daily sunscreen, so products like these make more sense once the basics are settled.
Menokin's 30 Sec Quick Bubble Mask comes in a hydrating version with eight types of hyaluronic acid and a firming version with hibiscus collagen. Whipped's Strawberry Vanilla Face Mask Cleanser includes niacinamide, S.Nature has an Aqua Squalane range of creams and sheet masks, and Arencia's Vitamin C Booster Shot Cream uses glutathione for brightening. Those fit a second order, after the first products have had a few weeks to show what they do.
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| A morning routine from this lineup can be as short as serum, moisturizer, and sunscreen. |
Before You Order
A small patch test on a hidden area of skin is a sensible habit with any new product, and it matters most with actives such as retinal or PDRN.
Stores carry a curated cut and the edit changes twice a year, which means an item spotted online may not sit on the nearest shelf. Looking at the edit on Sephora.com first and checking the tag on each product page keeps the shopping list accurate.
The edit page can be sorted by the same concerns used above, which makes the hydration row a quick place to open. Once a serum and a sunscreen have had a few weeks of normal use, the rest of the list is easier to read.
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