[Musings] Image Beauty Haul + Loss of Brick & Mortar Stores

My last, possibly second-to-last, ImageBeauty haul. They're closing their store and I'm a bit heartbroken. I felt like something was wrong when they started carrying viral TT products, more on that below.

Haul Items (L-R, top to bottom):

• Biore U The Body Foam Soap, Refreshing Fresh Herbal: I've been using the Brilliant Bouquet one and really enjoy it.
• Fancl Deep Clear Washing Powder: never tried it, got this mostly to use on trips. It's my first Fancl product, so I'm excited about that too!
• Albion Eclafutur D: giving a new-to-me jbeauty luxe serum a try. Fingers crossed!
• Decorte AQ Boosting Treatment Hair Serum: since I've been loving the Decorte AQ Scalp & Hair Energizer so much, I thought I'd give this a try. The scent of this serum is slightly stronger than the energizer. You use this one only 2-3x a week though (the energizer I use 2x daily).
• ALBION Exage Moist Full Lotion: I really enjoyed this lotion when Image gave me a sample way back when, and I now find my routine lacking a good lotion (again). They recommend using it with a cotton pad, which I don't follow.
• Kracie Tabino Yado Nigori Cloudy Hot Spring Series Assortment (2x): I love the Kracie Tabino Yado bath salts. This specific box is new to us though, so I'm excited to try and really grateful they gave us an extra box as a gift. 
• UZU Eye Opening Liquid Eyeliner, Black: my HG mascara brand. I've tried their yellow eyeliner before and didn't love it. Someone speculated that lighter colors may not stay as well, so I'm giving black a try.
• JMsolution Prime Gold Premium Foil Mask, Calendula: the only brand of masks I use now. The Water Luminous S.O.S Ringer Mask Black is my HG, but Image didn't have that one. My skin loves calendula so I thought I'd give this a try.

I love the note, I love the gift, and I love that it all came in a Marukin Matcha Cake box. I love how small shops reuse!

Musings on Brick & Mortar Stores in the Age of TikTok Consumers

I don't like TikTok. Yes, I am the olds. Yes, I'm weary of Chinese government.

My parents grew up in a Taiwan that was very weary of the Chinese Communist government, which was passed on to me, also a citizen of Taiwan. While there's some back and forth as to whether or not Bytedance actually shares US users' info with the Chinese government, there is evidence Bytedance has shared information on its users with the Chinese government, including those who spoke out about the Chinese government. The Chinese government views Taiwan as part of their own (wrong) - including demanding deportations of Taiwanese citizens, with no ties to China, to China - I'm not putting myself out there on TT.

But I mainly don't like TT for the normal anti-popular social media reasons. FB and Twitter became insane. IG often felt fake and TT is a crazy combination of all of them on steroids. It's also the main platform where fast skincare companies have taken advertising to a whole new level, and I hate it. It targeted teens who don't need many of the skincare marketed to them and drove a fear aging. It pushed new SME brands and products as "viral" by mass influencer marketing. It changed people's relationship and knowledge with skincare. When the platform thrives on short attention spans, thoughtful reviews go out the window and everything becomes black or white.

Skincare is YMMV always. You have your own concerns. You have your own goals. You have your own allergies. Your particular activities and habits. You have your own budget. You have your own preference for product texture, fragrance and ingredients. You have your own preference for routine length. Roll that in with your skin type, in your environment (air, water, sun quality), everything you put on your face is particular to you.

Some products work well for many, but many do not. You shouldn't have FOMO because the week's hottest trending brand isn't working for you. You shouldn't need to toss money here, then there, then this, then that, then over there because you're being marketed "the answer" to a problem you have when it's not so different than the thing you just spent money on last week.

Fast skincare and now superfast skincare relies on driving hype and creating a frenzy among consumers who have less knowledge about what in particular they want and need. It is the exact opposite of what the sub was.

It pains me when I see my favorite independent brick and mortar stores carry trending skincare brands/products. A viral product is catering to people who chase trends, not brand or store loyalty. 

I think about this story Odile Monod shared in her IG in 2022 a lot. These SME brands are not really indie companies. True cult following takes a long time to build, especially if you don't have a lot of money (which often true of true indie brands). The larger its popularity, the more robust the supply chain and shipping logistics it needs. An indie brand doesn't just all of a sudden have that.

If you see a new brand with sleek packaging suddenly able to claim "viral" status, able to supply the products to feed their hype, I think it's safe to assume it's the same people involved who know how to create trends to drive interest to the new brand they're hawking. 

Screenshot from Odile's IG, transcript of text below.

Rumors started going around that all these brands were somehow connected to the original CEO of AHC, who's been dubbed by Korean media as "K-Beauty emperor" for selling his company to Unilever in 2017 for a record sum of $1.69 billion. 

Currently AHC represents the most expensive foreign acquisition in K-Beauty history, with 3CE being acquired by L'Oreal in 2018 for $361 million and Dr. Jart+ selling for $1.1 billion to the Estee Lauder group. 

Reporters from a cosmetic financial magazine asked the PR offices of all these brands to comment on the rumors and everyone replied: "We're trying to focus on promoting our brands and products, so it's difficult to confirm the company management at this stage (?), please consider us indie beauty brands". 

The magazine decided to take matters into their own hands and visit the business addresses of each company only to discover, they're all 'accidentaly' located in two buildings owned by the AHC founder, and one of the buildings is also the location of NUB Corporation, a mysterious investment company started by the AHC founder ("mysterious" because it's an investment company that never interested in any business ever since it was launched...) 

The magazine concluded that these brands are trying to market themselves as "indie brands" because the AHC founder had to sign a non-compete agreement when he sold AHC to Unilever, which would prevent him from starting a new cosmetic business for a set period of time following the acquisition (usually 3-5 years) so they suggested he's trying to downplay his role in these new brands because he's waiting for the terms of the agreement to expire. 

To these days, it's an open secret that these brands belong to him, but there was no formal admission from any of the brand.

/end of K-beauty story time

I love stores like ImageBeauty and oo35mm because they introduced me to new products, products that have become HG for me, so I go back and buy on repeat. A store moves far slower than TT does and likely sells products at a price higher than skincare enthusiasts who use overseas shops are used to. Which means it will carry these viral products long after their popularity. So when I see brands like r/AB has banned for trying to market on the sub being carried in stores, I see the store floundering for relevance, forgetting what makes them unique, and ultimately carrying products at a loss. 

I don't know the exact reason why Image closed, this all has just been on my mind since I last browsed and saw those products there. I love browsing a store, I love trying testers. I love the excitement around learning something new from a a store staffed with people who are well-versed in the different products they carry and know about trends that exceed what they can glean from TT. Chasing these trends are not going to get that to you.

It's only going to get worse as superfast skincare takes over and I wish skincare enthusiasts would go back to being more knowledgeable and thoughtful consumers so we can still have independent brick and mortar stores.