Gift love in a limited edition

With Valentine's Day around the corner, a time to confess love to one's partner, the beauty industry is bustling. Especially this year, as Valentine's Day coincides with the Lunar New Year, there's a surge in gift demand, prompting the launch of special products aimed at captivating consumers.

From perfumes to body and hair care, basics, and color cosmetics, each beauty brand is offering special packaging services or sets of limited-edition compositions not usually available, along with generous promotional events.

Particularly this year, celebrating the Year of the Blue Dragon, services ranging from luxurious blue packaging inspired by the motif, gift cards that allow expressing heartfelt messages with gifts, to engraving services for personalizing messages are drawing attention.

Shinsegae International's luxury Swiss skincare brand SWISS PERFECTION is offering a Lunar New Year premium package service imbued with the spirit of the Blue Dragon.

The packaging, adorned with an elegant blue cloth and corsage ribbon, offers an engraving service to inscribe desired phrases like happiness, gratitude, health, etc., making it a special gift with added value. This service is provided to customers purchasing products worth over 500,000 won, including the brand's signature ampoule RS-28 Cellular Brightening Treatment, Marine Caviar Treatment, and a set of three bestsellers from SWISS PERFECTION.

Luxury haircare brand ORIBE introduces a limited edition Magnificent Volume set featuring the work ‘Blue Dragon and Peonies’ by Chinese-Australian artist Chris Chun, in celebration of the Year of the Blue Dragon. Bold colors and patterns capture the excitement, grace, and prosperity of the New Year, consisting of the brand's bestsellers (shampoo, conditioner, hairspray) that nourish the hair and enhance volume.

The beauty brand Santa Maria Novella, embodying 800 years of heritage from Florence, Italy, has prepared two Lunar New Year gift sets perfect for the occasion, along with generous gifts for each purchase.

Until the 18th of this month, customers who visit Santa Maria Novella stores in national department stores and purchase the Lunar New Year sets will receive the Florentine Heritage Gifting Service, including a pouch, perfume, and body sample in a Total Fragrance Kit.

Moisture care sets consisting of Tonico Per La Pelle and Idralia Cream, and light package duos (8 scents) consisting of body wash and body lotion are offered to customers, with additional gifts of Sapone Velutina mini soap, large sample sizes, and hand wash for each product.

Customers who purchase through Shinsegae International's own digital platform, S.I.VILLAGE, including SSG.com and other online platforms, will receive an eco-bag decorated with the Santa Maria Novella logo with the purchase of a moisture care set, and perfume purchases for Valentine's Day will include perfume samples, mini candles, and body wash samples.

Additionally, the French niche perfume brand Diptyque presents a limited edition 'Valentine Candle Duo Set' decorated with pink and red hearts, and the ritual beauty brand LOiViE offers a special box packaging dyed in pink to deliver a romantic Valentine's Day mood.

A representative from Shinsegae International's Cosmetics said, "Following the trend of small luxury, there's a rapid increase in gift purchases of fragrance-related products for holidays and anniversaries," and "meeting popular products of each brand in special packages and compositions not only makes them great gifts but also adds collectible value."

Meanwhile, LF's contemporary vegan beauty brand 'athe' announced the launch of the limited edition athe Lip Balm 'Sweet Bouquet' for the upcoming Valentine's Day.

The athe Lip Balm 'Sweet Bouquet' edition, in collaboration with paper collage artist Jeon Yuri, features authentic lip balm in a special flower bouquet package. Along with the bouquet-like package, a flower topper filled with messages of love and congratulations is given. Flower toppers with Ranunculus (joy, celebration), flat barley (living for you), Matricaria (love between two people), and Tulips (confession of love) drawn on them can also be used as cake toppers.The set includes the option to choose one desired color out of a total of 10 types of athe's Authentic Lip Balm or Airy Lip Balm, and a mini-size lip balm (No. 4) is also provided as a gift. When ordering through KakaoTalk Gift, you can engrave a phrase of your choice on the lip balm cap, allowing you to include initials or a simple message as part of the gift. The price is 25,900 won, and it can be purchased through LF Mall, KakaoTalk Gift, etc.

Meanwhile, the trend of natural soft glam makeup that looks effortlessly done is expected to continue in popularity in 2024. As a result, there's a rising trend in the popularity of 'lip balms' that enhance natural look and vitality over strong color makeup.

The athe 'Authentic Lip Balm', the first vegan-certified lipstick in Korea, has been doubling its annual sales each year since its launch in 2019, thanks to its tinted color that naturally dyes the lips and its moisturizing effect, offering both color payoff and hydration. Especially, its plant-based moisturizing ingredients add vitality, and applying it to the center of the lips or layering it 3-4 times on the lip line enhances the color intensity for a unique presentation.

An LF athe representative said, "As natural and glossy lip makeup continues to be a trend this year following last year, products that create lively lips without looking overly done are steadily gaining popularity. athe's signature lip balm will continue to expand its lineup with a variety of colors suitable for different skin tones throughout this year."

'athe', launched in October 2019 by LF, aims to shine both outwardly and inwardly through 'contemporary vegan beauty', practicing 100% vegan beauty. Especially, 'Vegan Science' skincare, which focuses on high functionality, achieves gentle yet effective results. athe avoids animal testing and animal-derived ingredients, and all products are vegan-certified, produced in certified manufacturing facilities, and meticulously managed. Aiming to become a symbol of 'fashionable vegan', athe incorporates 'good ingredients' as a standard and unfolds unique stories in product concepts and designs based on the philosophy of a fashion company.