Can an influencer's beauty brand beat a big lab's products?

On Blind, a Korean workplace forum, someone asked a blunt question. Plenty of influencers expand into cosmetics or supplements. Can a personal brand really outdo products from a big company with hundreds of researchers? The poster wanted views from people in chemicals and cosmetics.

What the replies said

• "I wouldn't buy it": even established companies run into problems, so sales-led brands feel harder to trust.

• "It's all OEM anyway": several replies said that, apart from a few giants, many brands share outside manufacturers' factories.

• The poster pushed back: surely the factory still makes each brand's own formula to order?

• Overall the mood was sceptical, with a sense that buyers pay for who is selling rather than what is inside.

Desk note Korea's Cosmetics Act (Article 10) requires the package to show the business name and address of the operators, such as the manufacturer and the responsible seller. So the back label usually tells you when the brand and the actual maker differ. Still, the same manufacturer can produce very different formulas, ingredient grades and quality specs depending on the brand's order, so "same factory" doesn't mean "same product".

Do you check the manufacturer line on the back before you buy?

Original thread: Blind (Korea) — are Instagram-famous brands worth buying? · Source: Korean Cosmetics Act, Art. 10

#InfluencerBrands #ODM #CosmeticManufacturing #BeautyIndustry