Trend 1: Conscious beauty and eco-friendly packaging
Conscious beauty describes consumers who buy ethically and choose eco-friendly products across a product’s whole life — raw materials, production, packaging and distribution. Sustainability now means more than clean or vegan formulas, and many brands in Korea have answered with refill packs, upcycling and eco-friendly packaging.
GDK WEBZINE grouped these packaging answers into three directions:
- Reduce – tubes made of a paper and PE composite that use less plastic than a conventional tube.
- Reuse – refill packages that keep the original container in use and cut plastic waste.
- Recycle – containers made from recycled materials, with cartons printed in soybean-oil ink on FSC-certified paper.
GDK’s proposals: the Light Sun Serum (SPF 35, PA+++) in a paper-PE tube, and the Musk Cream Body Wash with a paper refill pouch. See all sustainable packaging options.
Trend 2: Self-care applicators for home care
Beyond self-care, self-cure.
Interest in “slow ageing” has grown among the MZ generation, and skincare products that come with a massage tool — an applicator — have become popular, especially those that combine gua sha with skincare. GDK WEBZINE noted that “gua sha” was searched more than 2,000 times a day on average on Olive Young, Korea’s leading beauty retailer, reflecting demand for simple and smart self-care at home.
Applicator formats that brands are using:
- A roller built into a tube container, so a neck cream can be massaged in without touching it by hand.
- A compact ampoule stick with a bead-shaped gua sha head for curved areas of the face.
- A silicone massager with tiny holes on a hair tonic, delivering the active ingredients while massaging the scalp.
GDK’s proposals: the Phyto Peptide Eye Serum in a massage-ball container that dispenses when the ball is pressed, and the Caffeine Scalp Tonic with a silicone massage head. Each formula is designed for its applicator — a water serum that rolls on easily, and a serum tonic that does not run.
Trend 3: Collectible packaging for Generation Zalpha
For Generation Zalpha — Gen Z and Gen Alpha — cosmetics have become “it-items” that express personality and taste. Packaging that catches the eye is shaping their pouch aesthetic, and keyring cosmetics — a lip balm in a keyring case hung on a bag like an accessory — are gaining popularity.
- Hand creams shaped like chocolates, in bright colours.
- Egg-shaped perfume cases styled like a pearl necklace.
- Keyring lip balms in dial-type airtight containers with glow-in-the-dark lines that protect the formula from contamination.
From trend to product with GDK
At GDK the container and package are developed in the same step as the formula and the marketing concept, so a packaging trend can be turned into a product that works. Start from one of the four Vol.1 formulas or from your own concept, and our team will propose the formula, container and samples through the 10-step OEM / ODM process.
Also read GDK WEBZINE Vol.2: Korean heritage in K-beauty.