kbeautytmi › Stories
Every story, week by week.
The full archive of our data stories and journals — grouped by the week each one belongs to, newest first. Every number links back to the week it came from.
Week 42 · 2026
3 postsJapan
2026-10-15
A Korean brand was #1 on Rakuten's beauty chart on October 7
On October 7, the #1 listing on Rakuten Ichiba's beauty ranking was Korean — a d'Alba spray-serum set. Over the eight days we read, Korean brands came and went from Japan's top 10, with Anua and medic
Korea
2026-10-14
Derma Factory never left Coupang's skincare top five
Three brands took Coupang's skincare #1 in a single week — TONYMOLY, then WELLAGE, then Derma Factory. Under the churn one brand never moved: Derma Factory was in the top five on every day we read.
Signals
2026-10-13
medicube leads America's online shelves. At home in Korea, it barely charts
This week medicube appears on 11 of the 13 best-seller charts we read fresh — #1 on Amazon's skincare list, #1 on TikTok Shop's. The two charts where it is thinnest are the ones in its home country.
Week 41 · 2026
3 postsJapan
2026-10-09
On October 3, three of the top four on Rakuten's beauty chart were Korean
Japan is a major market for Korean cosmetics, and Rakuten Ichiba is one of its largest online malls. On October 3, Rakuten's daily beauty ranking had a Korean brand at #1 — and two more at #3 and #4.
Signals
2026-10-08
15 of Target's top 100 skincare sellers are Korean — 7 are medicube
Fifteen of the 100 skincare products on Target's best-seller list this week come from Korean brands — and nearly half of those belong to one brand. medicube places seven listings, the highest at #4.
Korea
2026-10-07
Korea's two big skincare shelves share just 16 brands
Korea has two very different places to buy skincare online: Olive Young, the beauty specialist, and Coupang, the everything store. Read their skincare best-seller lists side by side and they barely lo