The Beauty Industry Is Lying to You (She Exposed It) | Liah Yoo, Founder of KraveBeauty

What this episode is about

Liah Yoo, founder of KraveBeauty, discusses her journey in the beauty industry, highlighting the pressures of the K-beauty trend and the misconception that more products equal better skincare. She emphasizes a consumer-centric approach to beauty, advocating for slower product launch cycles to address real user problems, while reflecting on her personal experiences with adult acne and her pioneering role in establishing a unique voice for K-beauty on platforms like YouTube.

Key takeaways

• K-Beauty's rise reflects our obsession with flawless skin; it's both a trend and a cultural phenomenon.
• The beauty industry's 'more is more' mantra may worsen acne, making less truly more.
• First mover advantage: uploading YouTube content in 2011 was risky but launched a global beauty movement.
• Working for others first equips entrepreneurs with invaluable insights—experience is the true beauty expert.
• Korean beauty rituals show even the shyest can shine; all it takes is a webcam and courage.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Liah Yoo (Guest) · 19 min speaking
• Dan (Guest) · 5 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Korean beauty, Crave Beauty, Hailey Bieber, Lamege
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Crave Beauty
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Hailey Bieber, Crave Beauty, COVID-19 pandemic, Estee Lauder
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Hailey Bieber
5. 20:00 – 23:51: Crave Beauty

Notable quotes from "The Beauty Industry Is Lying to You (She Exposed It) | Liah Yoo, Founder of KraveBeauty"

• Needed. Beauty industry is so good at the job and telling you more is more, especially if you do have acne. That's why with Crave Beauty, we launch things very slow because we…

  about Crave Beauty · at 0:32

• Actually when I graduated college I applied for a more Pacific headquarters in Soul South Korea. So that was like the biggest beauty conglomerate at the time that owned Lamege…

  about Lamege · at 4:45

• Is kind of like the thing that really motivates them and pushes them harder to eventually succeed. take me back to the moment when you found out that Haley Bieber loves Cray beauty or anyone else that you know that obviously is super well.

  about Hailey Bieber · at 11:06

• That also might be very crowded, but I know beauty is crazy insanely crowded. And you have the likes of like L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, the Giants that have billions and billions of dollars.

  about Estee Lauder · at 13:23

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Hailey Bieber — Person · Referenced celebrity / validator · 5 mentions · first at 1:07
  Referenced as a high-profile fan of Crave Beauty and as an example of a celebrity founder who succeeded by being deeply involved in the skincare creator community.

Companies & orgs

• Crave Beauty — Company · Business focus · 6 mentions · first at 0:39
  The main company discussed in the episode, focusing on its approach to beauty products and marketing.
• Estee Lauder — Company · Competitor · 1 mention · first at 13:28
  Mentioned as one of the giant beauty companies in the crowded beauty industry.
• Lamege — Company · Referenced company · 1 mention · first at 4:56
  Mentioned as part of the beauty conglomerate the founder worked for before starting Crave Beauty.

Concepts & topics

• Korean beauty — Concept · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at 0:04
  Central theme of the episode, discussing the rise and internationalization of Korean beauty products.
  Korean beauty, K beauty has just been bananas.

Places & events

• COVID-19 pandemic — Event · Context · 1 mention · first at 11:36
  Mentioned as a period during which certain business milestones were achieved.
  Can you know make or break somebody take me back to that moment yeah I think this was during pandemic before Haley Bieber we got a mention on a New York Magazine article by…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 At at one point, I was using a 14step skincare routine. Korean beauty, K beauty has just been bananas.

0:06 A lot of people were interested in what Korean actresses and K-pop idols were using on their skin and on their makeup, and I wanted to be a part of that movement of internationalizing and globalizing K beauty.

0:18 I've always been a big proponent of working for somebody and then starting your own thing.

0:22 Experience was really invaluable. As someone who had gone through adult acne, I was on the other end as a beauty consumer literally buying into all of these products that I thought I needed. Beauty industry is so good at the job and telling you more is more, especially if you do have acne. That's why with Crave Beauty, we launch things very slow because we are hyperfocused on really identifying the user problem, how we can innovate and how we can solve that problem. Exactly. and also kind of liberate themselves from this entire chaos of a very capitalistic industry.

1:04 So Leah, something that stuck out among the many things I mean Haley Bieber loves Crave Beauty and all I mean you've created this huge movement and Korea Korean beauty K beauty has just been bananas but something I I found really interesting when it come we look at the entrepreneurship of when you try to sell something or you get into an industry when you have to look like how you can market different than others. And you are one of the you were the first creator to publish on YouTube from Korea.

1:40 Yes. What did you even think would happen when you I mean it's pretty bananas and that's definitely a very little known fact to the public, but that's based on what YouTube Korea team has told me that I was actually the very first creator to upload a video from South Korea geographically. back in 2011 and that was a time when it I was studying in university in my last senior year and I studied interior design and I was pretty sure that my career path is not going to be in design at that point but when I looked at the world the K beauty as you said was kind of popping off and it was getting the international traction a lot of people were interested in what Korean actresses and K-pop idols were using on their skin and on their makeup and just being a normal female college student in South Korea who loves beauty products, I just started reviewing beauty products um with my webcam on my MacBook at the

2:44 time and that was really the genesis of my YouTube channel and really I did not know how big it would become later down the road and I'm really really really glad that I did upload that video. It's very embarrassing to look back on your very initial videos, but I'm really proud of who I was and the decision that I made at the time.

3:04 What goes through your mind when you look at the original videos that you did? Let's say the first 10 and I think of like uh you know Mr. Beast and you look at his his videos are horrible in the beginning. It's it's quite fascinating. But for you, what what do you think about when you see those?

3:21 I mean, it's super cringe to be honest. I can hardly watch those videos and I'm sure a lot of the successful creators think the same way and Mr. Beast himself too. I think I was a lot more shy and I didn't really even know how to look properly to the camera because that was a really awkward thing and I was also secretly recording um on my web webcam in my parents house. So, they didn't even know what I was doing inside my room because I was just like quietly speaking and like showing these like beauty products in front of the webcam.

3:56 But, yeah, it's it's definitely a very humbling experience to look back. What What did it feel like when you started getting traction back then? And did you when you started getting traction, did you say, "Okay, I'm going to move this into doing something else." So when I started attracting more than a thousand followers at the time, I thought, "Oh, wow." Like people actually is interested in what I have to say because I really did not think that it would become something that would be shared by um a lot other people. But I think that's when I realized K beauty like the need and demand for K beauty reviews or just Korean beauty as a topic has become is becoming more mainstream and I want to be a part of it. So actually when I graduated college I applied for a more Pacific headquarters in Soul South Korea. So that was like the biggest beauty conglomerate at the time that owned Lamege, Industry,

4:58 Eststera and a lot of the beauty brands that we do see here in the states now that are crushing it and I wanted to be a part of that movement of internationalizing and globalizing K beauty. So that was my first job out of college. So I had to set aside my YouTube channel like on the side um when I had the nineto-ive job. It was more like nine to job at the time, but it was like my first kind of gateway into the beauty industry for sure.

5:26 I've always been a big proponent of working for somebody, working for a company, and then starting your own thing to gain a lot of the knowledge that can move over. What did you find that moved over from this corporate job into when you opened Crave Beauty? Yeah, that's a really good question and definitely a huge proponent for um really advocating for anyone to work for someone else like as you said. Uh I think the experience was really invaluable from not only the team management or like how the entire organization works and how they make decision but what really personally fired me up was actually how the new product development conversations start in the beauty industry. So, as someone who had gone through adult acne, I was on the other end as a beauty consumer, literally buying into all of these products that I thought I needed for my skin to clear my skin. At at one point, I accumulated over or I was using a

6:25 14step skincare routine. And it's definitely not the not the kindest way to treat your skin or clear your skin, but I feel like the beauty industry is so good at the job of telling you more is more, especially if you do have acne. And when I was inside the industry, I finally realized when there is a new innovation meeting or product development meeting, it often starts from the shareholders interest like we need to have we need to meet the sales target. Um we're at here this product is doing really well. So let's franchise this into a toner, essence, serum, eye cream, day cream, night cream, and all of these like very complex routine. And I think that's what I noticed. Wow. Like there's the conversation rarely starts from how do we solve a customer problem in this beauty industry and that's what I wanted to change that and that's why with Crave Beauty we launch things very slow because we are hyperfocused on

7:24 really identifying the user problem first and foremost to see how we can innovate and how we can solve that problem. Exactly. So yeah, I think that's what I carried over and not in like the most positive thing, but I think that really did fire me up to solve the problem for the people who were like me at one point who were like paralyzed and overwhelmed by the amount of products. And you would probably know like formulating some skincare products yourself, um, a lot of the products are made up categories like toners are the same as essences and so is serums. So, I wanted to really change that and hopefully help um simplify someone's skincare routine and also kind of liberate themselves from this entire chaos of a very capitalistic industry.

8:16 When I first started hearing about K beauty, I saw I think the minimum was 10 products and I was pretty shocked myself. I'm like that that's insane. That that's a lot of products. I don't know what's going to happen to that that person's skin. But it makes sense around you are solving a problem for yourself which obviously other people also where corporations are it's it's like the Titanic trying to move they're looking you know PN they look at so many things before they start something like you said their intentions are different than when you're you know you're starting out to solve your own problem and then you solve other people's problem. Was there a moment though where people are like I mean Leah like you're making content on YouTube and back then obviously YouTube I I think they didn't know like how much benefit someone could get from YouTube right but they're like Leah you're just

9:09 you're just a you know an influencer content creator on YouTube you know about business did you ever did you ever go through this as you were building up

9:18 100% and they were right I did not know anything about business when I started this I was really naive I didn't have any business background or finance background, operations background. The only thing that I knew was being the customer and knowing the problem, knowing the frustration and wanting to solve that. And I think that was the only motivation. So when I took the business idea or the product development brief to the labs, the formulators, I think I was just really constantly being uh rejected by these bigger manufacturers and bigger labs that I wanted to work with because I didn't have credibility. I didn't have track and they viewed me as this young 20-year-old someone or influencer who is just wanting to have a very cute line.

10:07 and I I get where they're coming from, but I think that only made me uh believe more in my vision and also that also also that inspired me or pushed me to be an expert in what I'm talking about. So that led me down the rabbit hole of really dissecting and learning more about the medical journals and the skin's biology, physiology, and not I'm not going to pretend I'm a chemist, but I now know how to speak some of their language so that they can take me seriously. And I think that really did level me up as an entrepreneur to, you know, have other people believe in me.

10:49 I'm with you. I'm more inspired when people don't believe in me or reject me probably than when people believe in me. I shouldn't be, but I c I can't help myself, too. So, I'm totally with you. I think I feel like the biggest entrepreneurs like yourself, rejection is kind of like the thing that really motivates them and pushes them harder to eventually succeed. take me back to the moment when you found out that Haley Bieber loves Cray beauty or or anyone else that you know that obviously is super well known um I think that's a gigantic validator um for for your just any business right if you can get traction like that that can you know make or break somebody take me back to that moment

11:36 yeah I think this was during pandemic um before Haley Bieber we got a mention on a New York Magazine article by Bowen Yang, the SNL star. And when I realized and when our entire team discovered that he's been a he's been a loyal buyer of Grape Barrier Relief from Crave Beauty, we were like floored. We were like, how did this happen? And we actually spend at the time like zero dollars on marketing, like paid social, no. and we were only doing things very organically in the smallest scrappiest way possible with our very lean and mighty team. So when we got that article mentioned not only the sales and traffic increased but I think it gave a huge boost or almost like a seal of approval that we kind of made it. We're not like a small indie brand anymore but we caught like some mainstream media's eyes finally. So I think it gave more confidence not only to myself as okay like I think we're g

12:43 gaining traction here but it was a huge huge confidence boost to the rest of the team because that was also very early stage in our startup journey and people who join beauty startups are naturally really hungry to build something from zero to one and I think we we got that um beautiful beautiful honorable mention from both Bow and Yang and also Haley Bieber and also other celebrities down the road. So, it really did help us just stay on track and just keep pushing.

13:16 You are in probably one of the most crowded spaces that I know. I I just don't know about, you know, other spaces that that also might be very crowded, but I know beauty is crazy insanely crowded. And you have the likes of like L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, the Giants that have billions and billions of dollars. And then you have a lot of celebrities. I was literally an hour ago having a conversation with someone around this that you've seen so many celebrities come out with a beauty product that failed that they're huge like JLo and others. I know they've come out with these brands that didn't do well. Um and then obviously you have some that did.

13:54 But what are like if somebody said, "I want to create my own beauty line or beauty product or skincare product." What are two or three things that you think everyone needs to do or they need to know?

14:07 Yeah, I think people underestimate the power of being the c like being the customer to their own business. And I see a lot of these not only from celebrity brands, but from other beauty brands founded by finance bros, let's say. Like they probably have all the market analysis, access to the best market research report, but they end up failing because they're not the customer of their own business. So they don't really have the pulse of how the customers want to be spoken to or what problems these customers exactly are experiencing and as a business are you uniquely positioned to solve this problem compared to the millions and trillions of beauty brands out there like what makes you unique so I think people underestimate that hugely but fundamentally business exists to solve problems and if you're not frustrated and really fired up by this problem, you're not going to be in it with the entire motivation, the passion and the

15:16 eagerness as compared to other founders who are in that journey. Um I would say second point would be really being involved in the scene of the beauty industry and in the customers of who you're serving. So I see road like Haley Bieber road success so differently than any other celebrity owned brand like you mentioned JLo. I think the way that Haley Bieber had approach road from building or even like pre pre-launch she's been deeply involved in the conversation among influencers like skincare content creators. she's in DMs or she's commenting on their posts and she's really learning about what other people are saying in this space. So then once she has a brand, she's not only the customer of her own brand, but she knows how to then speak to these skin influencers who are going to be the biggest ambassadors of your brand. And I think she did a lot of due diligence and a lot of heavy uh weight lifting in the

16:24 front up front. So then it kind of rewarded her in the end. So I would say those two things are probably something that a lot of these celebrity brands or finance bros easily miss.

16:38 It is funny when I look at who creates things in the beauty industry. Um, so like that's a really good point too around not only not only do you have to be the customer but also being in the scene and I think we see that from a lot of it could be alcohol too, right? Celebrities just jump in or or they license their name or they get a cut use their name but the product or the people behind it. We've seen this with some drinks and you know hydration drinks that kind of have are flopping in the sense that they they are not really in it. It's just the name like take me a name and use it but they're not really in it. It doesn't even make any sense.

17:19 Um if I was to start a YouTube today in 2025 it's almost 2026. YouTube I mean pretty much any social media now is just insanely crowded for anything. Do you think it's still even possible for somebody to really build up an audience starting any social media platform, but maybe specific to YouTube today?

17:43 I think 2,000%. 2,000%. Honestly, you're not going to be Mr. Beast overnight. But as long as you're really true to who you are and offering something valuable in exchange for the audience watch time, if you think of it that way, like the brand identity of who you are and also the value that you provide to the audience, if you keep those two in mind, I think anyone can really succeed. And of course, we can get into the nitty-gritty of like how to tactically increase the retention and the watch time, but I think people are now so exhausted from seeing content from fake influencers out there. So, as long as you're real, true to who you are, and you're talking about something that really genuinely excites you, that can also provide value to the audience, I think that's like the winning formula for any social media platforms out there. and YouTube. I I still think long form is here to stay. Um video podcasts

18:47 are really popping off on YouTube and also just long form in general. I think people are craving for comfort in content and people are craving more education from these long form content too. So yeah, I I still am very bullish about YouTube long form and anyone who wants to jump into social media for the right reason. I mean, if you're here to just like make noise, make quick bucks, I don't I don't know how well like how far you'll go to be honest. But yeah, there's still space for everyone.

19:19 I can make my AI version and just they can do everything for me. I've seen these shows like three, four hour videos on YouTube. It's insane. I don't know how people even have the attention span to sit down. I'd be really sad if somebody told me I need to sit down for three hours unless they're going to feed me like four times. like if you're on a plane, you know, you it's okay because you um so if when you look at right now the the biggest mover when it comes to marketing for your business, what would you say right now in this moment is really something that you are double, triple, quadrupling down on?

19:57 Oh, that's a good question. Uh it is top offunnel organic content first and foremost. That's where we put a lot of budget resource into. Secondly, Tik Tok shop has been popping off and I think Tik Tok shop is clever in the sense that they're really commercially well integrated into a very organic social platform. So you're not only hitting you're not only getting the conversion right away, but you're also increasing the mass of v like virality the mentions and the amount of posts that you get on the platform that could lead to a bigger ripple effect. And I think Tik Tok shop or just more mentions on Tik Tok is providing a halo effect on all the other retail channels. So those two are those two are things that we're currently focusing on.

20:49 Got it. My last question is AI shop. Have you dove in yet around I know it just came out I think a couple days ago or what is even just your thoughts since you really pioneered a lot of social shopping in a in a sense or social media as a commerce. What do you think about chat GBT's integration now with Shopify and commerce and LLM?

21:11 That I do not know. I actually wasn't aware of that news. I only know that they launched Sora, which is the social media platform with AI creators, but I didn't know they integrated with commerce yet.

21:24 I think it just came out maybe this week. So, we'll see. I don't know if it's even actually live. I know they just announced, but what do you what do you what are your thoughts though around this like just in the future of of the amount of searches happening on chat GBT and and other similar and how people are skipping out Google for information like if they search who's you know what's the best K beauty brand to buy and now that they can purchase it right there how do you think this is going to disrupt affect all these companies who have been focused on SEO and other marketing avenues

21:56 that's a really good question because We have seen like traffic increase from chat GPT and I am not sure what exactly these users and customers type in in order to have chat GPT recommend Matcha hydrating cleanser but they're clearly doing it and recommending our product that's leading to conversion and traffic to our D2C site. So, I do think you're right, like it's going to completely disrupt the entire digital marketing landscape and how we approach it. But how how can you advertise on chatbt? How can you manipulate AI that's like scraping from all over the internet? Uh, if someone figures that out, I think they would be the next billionaire to be honest.

22:43 Overnight billionaire. But Leah, this has been amazing. Uh, people want to get in touch with you, follow along, Crave Beauty, everything that you're doing. How can they do so?

22:51 Yeah. So, we're on social, we're all with the handle of Crave Beauty, K R A Ve Beauty. And then if you want to follow my personal journey where I talk a lot about behind the scenes, decision making packaging decisions endless tariff discussions, you can follow me on socials at le o.

23:12 I remember when when COVID first hit, I had a lot of bottles and I was like, "Wow, a lot of my friends were like, I can get bottles." I'm like, I have too many. I had all these extra bottles that we just happened to buy. Um, so it's been an interesting five years, you know, five and a half almost six years when it comes

23:31 to DTOC brands. But this has been amazing. Congratulations on all that you've done. Super inspiring to others that maybe want to do the same thing and achieve the success that you've had. And thank you for joining us on Founders Story.

23:44 Thank you, Dan.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Beauty Industry Is Lying to You (She Exposed It) | Liah Yoo, Founder of KraveBeauty"?

Liah Yoo (Guest), Dan (Guest).

What is "The Beauty Industry Is Lying to You (She Exposed It) | Liah Yoo, Founder of KraveBeauty" about?

Liah Yoo, founder of KraveBeauty, discusses her journey in the beauty industry, highlighting the pressures of the K-beauty trend and the misconception that more products equal better skincare. She emphasizes a consumer-centric approach to beauty, advocating for slower product launch cycles to address real user problems, while reflecting on her personal experiences with adult acne and her…

What is mentioned in this Founder's Story episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Crave Beauty, Korean beauty, Hailey Bieber, COVID-19 pandemic, Estee Lauder, Lamege. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Beauty Industry Is Lying to You (She Exposed It) | Liah Yoo, Founder of KraveBeauty"?

The episode runs 24 min; the transcript is about 4,026 words in 41 timestamped sections.

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