00:02Koreatown Los Angeles it's become a hotspot for young working professionals
00:07and a foodie mecca but I'm here in search of something else an intimate look at beauty
00:18growing up in Los Angeles it's hard to imagine that any other part of the world can be as
00:22obsessed with beauty and youth as we are enter South Korea where the emphasis on good looks is
00:30at the epicenter of society I'm about to discover three very different approaches to Korean beauty
00:37hi so nice to finally meet you Diana Roo is a Korean American whose love of skincare brought
00:44her back to her Korean roots when I went to Korea I was so blown away just on a personal
00:49and
00:50philosophical level of this is my culture and I like really fell in love with it that I started
00:54exploring more and then that was introduced to the beauty with Korean culture being so popular
01:01there's a lot of Korean brands that have set up shop here so it's almost like you know getting a
01:06little taste of Korea in America without having to buy you know totally the world the popularity of
01:14Korean products in the US has skyrocketed over the past few years and for good reason Korea
01:19has one of the most technologically advanced beauty industries in the world okay I can't help but
01:26notice this guy yes this is the V talks the V talks I mean sounds dirty the V line in
01:35Korea is super
01:37attractive that's when your face kind of goes to a point like that so if you see a lot of
01:42people in
01:43pictures in Korea they have their hands like that yeah I've seen that not because they like peace or the
01:49peace sign it's because they want to make their face have that V lines that's fascinating so this
01:53mask is supposed to help get you there it's supposed to help I don't know if it actually does it
01:57might be genetics at the end of the day the technology boom is relatively new but the idea behind taking
02:03care of
02:03yourself in order to look good goes back generations I'm about to meet Diana's mother who has a more traditional
02:09and holistic approach to beauty
02:11just mom this is my mom nice to meet you what's your name hey on I should take off my
02:17shoes huh yes please
02:18that Korean yeah what is your mom's biggest like beauty tip to you your taxi and exercise and peaceful mind
02:28my mom's
02:29very like she's very active yeah like is there a big difference between back when you were in Korea
02:36yeah you do practices how is it different today I think before it was more about taking care of your
02:41health so that you look beautiful on the outside when now you have all of these products that you can
02:46like slap on your face totally try to mimic that a lot of people in the US don't think about
02:55spending 15 to 20
02:56minutes on their skin care every single day which is a total normal thing to do for a Korean woman
03:02it's also totally normal for Korean women to use as many as 10 to 15 skin care products a day
03:08but for some it's less
03:11about skin care and more about enhancement how are you how are you I'm good Kathy Kim spent her childhood
03:19in Seoul Korea and
03:20moved to the States as a teenager okay I've seen these on the internet these are double-sided tape for
03:25your eyes yes
03:26do you use this little tool to like yes you have to apply in for the inner corner and make
03:31it stay
03:31feels really weird I've tried a couple of times because I always wanted a double eyelid Korea has
03:37one of the highest rates of double eyelid surgery in the world in fact one in five women living in
03:43Korea
03:43have had the procedure how do you feel about the double eyelid surgery is that something that you would
03:48ever like even consider doing I've always wanted to do it and I think my mind hasn't changed on it
03:54I
03:55would be you're doing yeah I would do it while Kathy hasn't had surgery she's come up with her own
04:01way
04:01to achieve the look you know how contouring was really in your face I was like okay why can't I
04:07contour
04:08my eyes anyway so I kind of experimented it kind of did like over the eyelid and then a little
04:14bit close
04:15to my eyes and then I kind of found where it looks better when I was younger my parents and
04:21I had a
04:22different view they basically said I don't look Korean so I look more American and they didn't like
04:26that it's just more comfortable for me I feel like yeah me even though it's drawn yeah like you yeah
04:37well Kathy's parents may see her love of makeup as American the look that she and her friends are
04:44inspired by is distinctly Korean K-pop Korean pop music has had a huge influence on culture and beauty
04:58in Korea so what do you think is like a very signature K-pop beauty look I think I do
05:04have
05:05like the K-pop kind of makeup on circle on circle circle lenses you're wearing I think we all wear
05:11it
05:12all we all wear it and do you feel like more beautiful when you have them in we look like
05:18more
05:19I don't know more girly more girly more dolly yeah I'm very thick eyebrows oh yeah tell me about the
05:26eyebrows you know in America they we do this planted yeah McDonald's eyebrows oh my god McDonald's
05:32the big ones are in very straight I have like a lot of steps that I do from makeup to
05:40eyebrows to
05:40hair curling hair you look like you can do makeup on really that's the point that's good Kathy has an
05:47especially intimate connection with the industry she writes and produces K-pop songs like this one
06:14looking around at Kathy and her friends I can see how connected they are to Korean culture right here
06:19in Los Angeles so whether it's pushing boundaries with makeup trends inspired by K-pop or embracing
06:29traditional skincare with new products for these women attention to beauty is more than a desire to
06:36look and feel good it's an expression of their Korean identity
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