YOU GLOW, GIRL

GLOW RECIPE’S CO-FOUNDERS TELL US HOW THEIR KOREAN HERITAGE BECAME A VITAL PART OF THEIR BRAND, AND WHY THEIR LATEST PRODUCT WAS INSPIRED BY JJIMJILBANG – TRADITIONAL KOREAN BATHHOUSES

- HILLARY KANG

Korean beauty is experiencing a sort of renaissance now: Plenty of brands are capitalising on the hype surrounding clear, dewy skin, and the movement’s staunch focus on skincare instead of makeup.

But for Glow Recipe’s Korean-American co-founders Christine Chang and Sarah Lee, “K-beauty” is more than a marketing fad – it was an integral part of their childhoods.

“Both Christine and I grew up doing a lot of beauty DIYs with our mothers and grandmothers,” says Lee. There were the traditional cucumber slices laid on the eyes, and the more adventurous “concoctions with whatever was in the fridge.”

One thing was constant: A desire to care for their skin in as natural a manner as possible.

We’ve heard that your latest product, the Watermelon Glow Hyaluronic Clay Pore-Tight Facial Mask, was inspired by jjimjilbang, or Korean bathhouses. How did that come about?

Christine Chang: Back when we were frequently travelling to South Korea to curate the latest trends, one of our first pit stops would always be a bathhouse that had huge tubs of enzymes – an ‘enzyme bath’ – which was an experience we’d always look forward to. Enzymes are different from acids in that they only dissolve the keratin protein in the skin, which is what binds dead skin cells. Because you’re loosening those binds, you’re lifting away just the dead skin cells and it doesn’t impact living skin cells, so you’re getting that gentle, ‘ just enough’ exfoliation. It would be an instant jet lag cure.