A Chinese woman tells Korean makeup artist Jeong Sang-mi about what bothers her – dry skin, acnes, dark circles under her eyes, and her soft facial features. Jeong first tackles the dark circle problem.

Try to cover up the dark circles with an essence-type foundation. Use a foundation tone that’s lighter than your skin color. Erasing dark circles makes you look at least five years younger.

Five years younger! That’s all the motivation we need to put on makeup! But what did the Chinese student really want to learn?

So her favorite Korean star is Park Bom of 2NE1. Park Bom’s signature style is the chic and sexy smoky makeup. The Chinese guest wants to make her small eyes look bigger like Park Bom’s by applying the eyeliner and mascara. Her makeover begins now!

Thirty minutes later her eyes seem to have gained more depth and her looks have become more noticeable. Her face lights up as she takes a careful look at her transformation. She is absolutely amazed by the Korean makeup artist’s magic touch.

- Do you like it? Do you think you look like Park Bom now?
- I really like my makeup. I’ve never had a sexy look like this, but I like it. I didn’t know how to use the eyeliner, but now I know how to make my eyes larger and more sparkling.

Apparently she’s not the only foreigner who wants to look like a Korean star. That’s why hallyu makeup class is such a huge hit with foreign visitors to Korea.

The Hallyu star makeup class sponsored by the Seoul Global Culture and Tourism Center celebrates its third year. The course always becomes fully booked in mere minutes, a telling sign of how popular this session is. Here’s Mr. Woo Taek-gyu, head of the Seoul Global Culture and Tourism Center to tell us more.

People’s interest in hallyu stars’ makeup grew together with the popularity of Korean dramas and pop music. We sponsored this event to let foreigners in on the Korean beauty secrets and publicize Korean culture. This is a hands-on class for 30 foreigners. We advertise the course about a month before the actual event on our homepage and through the SNS, and open the site for reservation two weeks in advance. The past two sessions were fully booked in just one day.

Some sixty foreign participants from ten countries attended the third beauty class held on September 27th. The 90-minute class focuses on makeup demonstration and trials. This year’s theme is “Look Lovely Doll,” the doll-like makeup style most favored by foreign tourists. Here’s Irene Martinez from Peru to talk more about it.

Korean makeup looks really pretty, just like a doll. I like this class in Korea because I can put on a BB cream to make myself look like that. My face looks brighter and clearer. I look so much prettier.

Hyun-young from China is both anxious and excited at the prospect of her transformation. After the 90-minute class she hopes to look as lovely as a doll.

I like FX among all the Korean celebrities, because there is a Chinese member. I like her big eyes. I’m going to meet my friend at Hongdae this evening, so I want to look really nice and surprise her.

Hallyu fans are not the only ones who attended the beauty class. Foreign makeup artists have also come to pick up a tip or two about Korean makeup style. Here’s Lisa, a makeup artist from Germany.

I’m working as a makeup artist and enrolled in this class to find out how Korean makeup style is different from ours. I have a lot of Asian customers, so I wanted to learn what to accentuate.

Is there really a distinguishing makeup style for hallyu stars, you may wonder. But foreigners claim that hallyu stars really do look different. Here’s the German makeup artist, Lisa, again.

In Germany we like a dark and sexy makeup style, but Koreans prefer brighter skin tones and well-defined eyes, long and pretty like a doll’s eyes. I want to learn that makeup technique.

One marked feature of the hallyu makeup style that foreigners want to mimic the most is the sexy-yet-innocent look, a style that accentuates a bright skin tone and definitely outlines the shapes of the eyes. When done wrong, this may make someone appear artificial and awkward, but the key to hallyu makeup style is making everything look natural. Here’s Ms. Hong Shin-ae in charge of the beauty class.

Korea’s makeup style looks more natural than those of other countries. It accentuates one’s strength and looks natural, just like you’re not wearing any makeup. The skin should be clear and moisturized, and blushes, tints, and mascara are used to bring out the facial features. The key to hallyu makeup is to make your face look flawless and shiny, like Korean celebrities, even on high definition TV.

Korean girl group members or actresses all seem to have the clear and shiny skin tone. This look can be achieved by carefully applying the makeup base and putting the pearly foundation on top. And then use the eyeliner, mascara, and pearl eye shadows to define and bring out the eyes. That’s how you can look cute, sexy, and stylish at the same time. This hallyu makeup class is what foreigners interested in the Korean-style makeup was looking for.

I’ve always wanted to learn Korean makeup, but no one in China knew how or could teach me. So this makeup class is great. The makeup style is very natural-looking and makeup products are high quality. It’s easy to achieve the style I want, something cheeky and sexy.

Since the key to the hallyu star makeup is the lustrous skin, the class starts off by giving the tips to achieve the flawless, satiny skin. Everyone wants to conceal their flaws and look beautiful.

Spots vanish magically after an application of both stick-type and powder concealers. That certainly made the participant happy.

In addition to the demonstrations, participants can try their hands at the techniques they just learned with the cosmetic products and tools available there.

Korea’s girl groups have popularized a unique eye makeup technique, the so-called “teary eyes” effect. By accentuating the shadows along the eye contours, the eyes are made to look teary, resulting in bigger and brighter-looking eyes. Other popular makeup style is the one favored by Koo Hara, a KARA member, and IU, which fills up the inner rim of the eyes with dark eyeliner and draws the tips down to make the eyes larger and longer.

Ninety minutes seem to have flown by in an instant. The participants have a great time trying on the makeup. They are amazed at how different they look with simple touches.

- My eyes look so much bigger. I’m putting on the mascara now. Before the eye makeup, my eyes looked small, but now they look larger and more defined. I love it.
- I used BB cream and eye primer. I look really different before and after the makeup. It feels like a complete makeover. I really like this.

The participants can’t be more satisfied. Tamami from Japan wants the beauty class to open every season, and Irene from Peru is happy with the techniques she learned.

- I learned how to make myself look prettier. I also learned different techniques for looking lovely, romantic, or sexy.
- If this beauty class is held on a regular basis, I would come every season. In Japan there are no beauty classes for foreigners. I like it that Korea has so many cosmetic shops and beauty classes like this.

With growing interest in Korean makeup came streets specializing in beauty shops. The most well-known cosmetic street is the central avenue of Myeongdong. This is a must-go destination for foreign tourists, says Mr. Woo Taek-gyu, head of the Seoul Global Culture and Tourism Center.

The central avenue in Myeongdong is known as a cosmetics road. A new word, cosme-road, was coined to refer to such a street. Myeongdong and beauty products are inseparably linked. As Korean dramas gained popularity in Southeast Asia and China, people started admiring the clear skin and the natural yet glimmering makeup of hallyu stars. That substantially boosted the sales of Korean cosmetic products.

Foreign tourists account for 60% of all sales in Myeongdong, fulfilling its role as the premier shopping destination in Seoul. But in recent years tourists have ventured out to such trendy places as Shinsa-dong and Hongdae, vitalizing the beauty shops in those neighborhoods. Mr. Woo Taek-gyu, head of the Seoul Global Culture and Tourism Center says the city plans to increase the number of beauty-related classes.

Participants tend to look like the characters in a drama. That’s what prompted us to design this program. The popularity of Korean mass culture has motivated foreigners to experience Korea. We will continue to develop interesting programs like the hallyu makeup class. One such case is the hair and makeup class named K-style to take place in November.

In addition to K-pop, K-dance, and K-drama, K-beauty has further diversified hallyu and occupies a place at the forefront of the global makeup trend.