Hi friends,
Growing up in Minnesota, as a Jewish Korean American adoptee, it was hard to not feel like “the other.” I didn’t look like my parents. I didn’t look like most of the kids in my class. I often found myself questioning where beauty comes from and who decides what’s beautiful.
At the time, the answer felt straight forward. It seemed to me then that beauty flowed in one direction. From a very specific, Eurocentric standard, outward and if one didn’t fit inside that standard, then, one had to learn how to orbit it, adjust to it and figure out how to translate through it.
But over the last ten years, something has dramatically shifted.
This week’s Mirror Mirror conversation is with journalist, Elise Hu. She was the former NPR Bureau Chief in Seoul, hosts the TED Talks Daily podcast and authored a wonderful book on Korean beauty called Flawless that I read and just loved. We talk about Korean beauty as a form of soft power, how Korea is reshaping the global beauty conversation through innovation, aesthetic philosophy and cultural export.
And we touch on something personal for both of us — what it feels like to not fit a certain standard and how beauty ideals get internalized.
This episode isn’t just about K-Beauty, it’s about identity, power, and how culture shapes how we see ourselves.
I hope you enjoy this unfiltered, sharp and honest conversation with Elise. I sure did.
— Amy
Beauty Isn’t Fixed — It Moves. And Right Now, It’s Moving East.
Listen to this week’s episode of Mirror Mirror with Amy Chang →
Mood Board: This Week Visually
#TWDT — what made me do a double take.
Ulta Beauty Announces Strategic Partnership With Tiktok Shop — Ulta Beauty has been making some smart moves lately, but their latest one, a strategic retail partnership with Tiktok Shop, being at the top of the list. While I’m hesitant to purchase anything from Tiktok Shop (call me an old granny-millennial if you want), it’s clear I’m in the minority. The online commerce platform’s sales exceeded $15 billion in 2025 in the US alone?! And since Tiktok Shop is predicted to be responsible for driving 14.6% of global marketshare by 2030 (which means they’ll be bigger than Walmart), it’s a very smart play by Ulta Beauty to attach oneself to the rocket ship before it exits the atmosphere. Read more…
Timothée Chalamet vs Ballet & Opera — When Steven Spielberg, Doja Cat, and Misty Copeland all come out publicly to put you in your place — you know your male hubris got the best of you. Ahem, Timothée Chalamet. The public has come out swinging in defense of ballet and opera, and rightfully so. But what's surprising is that Timothée still hasn't apologized. Crickets. And maybe we're just in a new era where if you say something insensitive, unkind, and you truly meant it, you stand by it. No notes app apology. No PR cleanup. Just your words, hanging in the air, and everyone gets to see exactly who you are. I’m predicting we won't be seeing a false apology from Timothée anytime soon. And honestly? Maybe that's not the worst thing. A hollow apology at this point would almost be more offensive than the silence. Read more at BBC…
Oscars Gave Us Hope The Industry Is Evolving — The Oscars was a triumphant moment for women and people of color in the industry. Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman ever to win an Academy Award for Cinematography — a long-overdue milestone for a craft that has been a near-exclusive boys' club. And KPop Demon Hunters took home not one but two Oscars: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. "Golden" is now the first K-pop song to win an Oscar, and that feels as huge as it sounds. Visibility is where change begins, and as a woman of color, I’m beaming with pride. Read more at BBC…
Lacôme Makes A Play For Longevity — L’Oreal’s motives to invest in longevity brand, Timeline, seemed straight forward to me when I first heard about about the move in 2024; strategic positioning for a future acquisition. Classic big-beauty playbook. But with Lancome’s announcement of it’s partnership with Timeline to develop a longevity focused skincare line (Lancôme being one of the biggest brands in L’Oreal’s portfolio), it’s clear there was a bigger play in plain sight. It wasn’t the brand— it was the ingredient. Timeline's proprietary Urolithin A, a compound with clinically backed evidence for supporting cellular function, is exactly the kind of asset a portfolio-driven conglomerate would want access to to weaponize across multiple brands. And will be the feature driving this new skincare line from Lancôme x Timeline. I’m excited to see what the products will look like when they’re presented to the world at the American Academy of Dermatology in Denver, Colorado on March 27-29. Read more at WWD…
Is Seoul The New Paris? — In the early 20th century, beauty brands wanted to be associated with Paris or New York, famous examples of this are Elizabeth Arden who changed her name to sound more NYC WASP-like and Francoise Coty who is Corsican but formed his entire brand around borrowed Parisian luxury. Many brands from this era strived for aspiration and associated themselves with these cities to market themselves. Fast forward to now, and the same dynamic is playing out just with a different address pointing to Seoul. As we enter the longevity, science forward moment in beauty, we are seeing brands whose market positioning is neither science nor Korea related lean into those arenas. Case in point: Summer Fridays putting “Made In Korea” proudly front and center on their under eye patches or POV Beauty, Mikayla Nogueira’s skincare brand, who has built its entire marketing narrative around the fact that its products are formulated in Korea. Neither brand is Korean. But Korea has become the new shorthand for innovation, efficacy, and being ahead of the curve imo.
Harry Styles’ New Album Broke Sales Records & Is My Latest Obsession — I genuinely can't remember the last time I had an album on repeat for days straight (perhaps since John Mayer dropped Continuum — omg I’m dating myself). But Harry Styles' latest album, released March 6th, has me in a choke hold. There's a trusting, liberated openness to it that I find addictive — layered over lo-fi techno beats that somehow make the whole thing feel both intimate and liberated. Harry described the collection as being about "experiencing the world in a way that was different from how I'd experienced it for a long time… to be open to the world.” Light, sensual, warming, beautiful. It’s my favorite Double Take of the week. Read more at The Hollywood Reporter…
Beyond the mirror….
One thing my dad (a lifelong student) always taught me is that knowledge is power.
And so my hope is that we build that together here and gain a deeper understanding of the beauty world to be able to move through it with more clarity, intention, and a stronger sense of self.
Thanks for looking a little closer with me. Until next time.
Amy Chang, Host of Mirror Mirror