100,000 visitors flock to CJ Olive Young's 'K-beauty playground' in LA

"I flew more than three hours from Canada to get to LA," said Michelle, a visitor from Alberta, Canada.

CJ Olive Young's "Olive Young Festa LA 2026," held from Aug. 14 to 16 (local time) in Los Angeles, drew 100,000 visitors.

The Olive Young Festa is South Korea's first beauty festival, launched by CJ Olive Young in 2019. Starting this year, it expanded into a world tour format visiting major cities overseas, with Los Angeles marking its first stop in the United States.

The event was held in conjunction with the K-festival KCON LA 2026, with 55 K-beauty and lifestyle brands participating across a 4,693-square-meter venue. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA also contributed through their overseas retail expansion support project.

The venue featured spaces styled after the streets of Gangnam, Seongsu, Myeong-dong and Hongdae, complete with Seoul subway station sounds, hangul road signs, bus stops and crosswalks. A central "Olive Young Store" recreated the in-store shopping experience, with skincare products curated in the order of double cleansing, pads, serums and sun care.

Long lines formed at "My Color Vibe," a product recommendation service based on personal color analysis. A skin diagnosis service called "Skin Scan," offered to customers who purchased a beauty box, also drew strong interest.

Leslie, a visitor who drove three hours from San Diego, said she tried a range of skincare products, "from gel pads to a cream known for its lifting effect." She added that she hoped to visit CJ Olive Young's US stores to explore even more products and brands.

All brands that participated in the festa are K-beauty brands carried at CJ Olive Young's US stores. Each set up a booth to introduce itself to local consumers through product demonstrations and interactive events. Cho Yong-hun, chief executive of Bytelab, which operates the haircare brand Lily Eve, said organizing an event independently would have been prohibitively expensive. "Thanks to CJ Olive Young, we were able to efficiently expand our reach with local customers," he said.

Over the first two days of the festa, brands also ran an experiential lecture program called "Beauty & Health Deep Dive," in which brand representatives took the stage to explain the features and usage of products such as cleansing milk and scalp ampoules.

A CJ Olive Young official said the festa gave K-beauty brands that had entered the US market alongside CJ Olive Young a chance to meet local consumers directly and build trust and rapport. "We will continue to expand opportunities for domestic brands to connect with global customers and strengthen our role as a platform supporting the growth of the K-beauty ecosystem in the US market," the official said.

Meanwhile, CJ CheilJedang operated a Bibigo experiential booth at KCON LA 2026 under the concept of a "K-Flavor Arcade." The booth organized activities around four signature K-food flavor themes — kimchi, sweet and salty, spicy and sweet, and hot spicy. It also ran digital content and an artist-themed zone using the intellectual property of K-pop group Alpha Drive One, the brand's global ambassador.

Visitors played motion-based games tied to the four flavor concepts and sampled US market favorites including Bibigo Mini Wontons, Spicy Kimchi Ramyun and three varieties of K-sauce. More than 10,000 visitors came through the booth. A CJ CheilJedang official said the event allowed the company to deliver "Bibigo's differentiated taste and experience as a representative K-food to global consumers," adding that the company would continue to expand its reach through marketing tied to K-culture.