“Try our brand and take some products with you!”
On the morning of the 21st at 10 a.m. in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, people wearing olive-colored umbrellas were densely gathered everywhere to shield themselves from the blazing sunlight. At each booth set up under pointed tents, dozens of people were lined up waiting for their turn, while employees dressed in brand uniforms continuously guided passersby to participate in the event. Cheers and applause announcing winners erupted from the surrounding area.
The highest temperature that morning was 27 degrees. Despite the sweltering heat that felt like early summer, people went back and forth between booths, fanning themselves to dry their sweat. A participant, A (22), who came to the event with a friend, said, “I waited from 9:30 a.m. to enter right at the opening time,” and “Although the weather is hotter than I expected today, it’s better than rain.”
CJ Olive Young began hosting the largest experiential beauty & health festival in the country, ‘2025 Olive Young Festa,’ at Nodeul Island, running from today until the 25th for five days. This event first started in 2019. It is evaluated as having established itself as a representative event for K-beauty by introducing popular domestic beauty & health brands every year and presenting market trends.
In particular, this year, it was held in a 3,500-pyeong outdoor space, breaking away from the previous format held indoors at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), making it the largest edition to date. Olive Young expects the number of attendees to reach approximately 30,000, nearly double the previous events.
Only those who are Olive Young members and have pre-purchased tickets online can enter the Olive Young Festa. Morning tickets, allowing entry from 10 a.m., are priced at 55,000 won; afternoon tickets, valid from 3 p.m., are 40,000 won; and evening tickets, from 6 p.m., are priced at 15,000 won each. Ticket sales were conducted last month and sold out in an instant, according to the organizers.
This year's Olive Young Festa was planned with the concept of “Buried Hearts.” The goal is for attendees to enjoy the competitiveness of K-beauty brands as if they are on a treasure hunt.
To achieve this, Olive Young has gone beyond simple brand exhibitions to enhance customer experience by placing various immersive content. Along with health & beauty brand booths, there are curation booths that present the trends of the year, one-day classes for brand fandoms, and outdoor busking by indie musicians, providing a variety of experiences that satisfy all five senses.
This year's number of participating brands is also the largest ever. A total of 84 booths and 108 brands participated in five major areas: ▲ skincare ▲ makeup ▲ personal care ▲ healthy life ▲ luxe edit. This includes brands selected in the '2024 Olive Young Awards' that led Olive Young's growth last year, along with emerging indie brands.
The reason Olive Young held this year’s Festa as a large outdoor event is that competitors such as Coupang, Kurly, and Musinsa have been hosting similar types of beauty events, creating a need for differentiation. Coupang held its first offline beauty event in 2023 and continued for two consecutive years. Musinsa also held its first offline beauty festa in September last year in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, and hosted a second event on the 16th of this month.
Kurly, which is expanding its footprint by bringing beauty products onto its platform, also held its first offline beauty event, 'Kurly Beauty Festa 2024,' in October last year. At that time, Kurly held the event at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, the same place Olive Young used to host its annual awards and festa.
Lee Eun-jung, head of the brand creative center at Olive Young, said, “While there are now many similar offline beauty events elsewhere, we planned it so that participants can gain a unique and differentiated experience.”
Olive Young Festa is evolving beyond a simple festival into a platform that organically connects and leads the K-beauty industry ecosystem. This year's event is expected to be a place for exchanges connecting both domestic and international markets, inviting key stakeholders in the K-beauty industry, including small brands, consumers, manufacturers, and prominent overseas buyers.
An Olive Young official noted, “Olive Young Festa is the representative K-beauty festival that provides consumers with a new K-beauty experience and brands with substantial growth opportunities,” and added, “We will continue to strengthen our role as an industry platform that connects domestic and international markets while providing consumers with the value of a special experience.”