Kurly beauty festival draws 14,000 visitors, from 40-somethings to foreign residents

A long line stretched past the entrance of the Art Hall at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul on Friday afternoon, an hour before the afternoon session of Kurly Beauty Festa 2026 was set to begin. Visitors who had already toured the venue that morning mingled with those still waiting to get in, quickly filling the area around DDP. Purple tote bags handed out by Kurly were everywhere.

The event is Kurly's third large-scale offline beauty festival. Running four days from Thursday through Sunday, it is expected to draw a total of 14,000 visitors, according to Kurly's own estimates — an average of 3,500 per day. The company expects the overall headcount to climb higher over the weekend, when families tend to attend together.

The crowd was notably more diverse than in previous years. Alongside the young women in their 20s and 30s who have long been the event's core audience, visitors in their 40s and 50s, men and foreign residents were all visible on the floor. One attendee in their 50s, surnamed Jo, bought an early-bird ticket and was visiting Kurly Beauty Festa for the first time. "I use Market Kurly and Beauty Kurly all the time, but this is my first beauty festa," Jo said, moving briskly from booth to booth. A 25-year-old visitor from Iran said they had started using Kurly and K-beauty products after moving to Korea. "I bought tickets and came with friends," the visitor said.

This year's event centers on a "time-of-day beauty curation" concept. Under the slogan "Your Day, Your Beauty," Kurly has organized 45 carefully selected brands around four daily routines — morning, daytime, evening and night — so visitors can experience each in a natural, contextual setting.

The Morning Zone brings together cleansers and low-irritation derma skincare suited for the start of the day. The Day Zone showcases sun-care and makeup products. The Evening Zone features deep cleansers for removing makeup along with hair and body products. The Night Zone offers high-performance skincare, beauty devices and sheet masks for an end-of-day routine.

Brands went beyond simple sample giveaways to draw visitors in. Dr. ForHair offered scalp diagnosis services and ran a button-tapping game where participants competed for high scores. "With so many booths, people want more than just browsing — they want games and hands-on experiences," said Jay, a trichologist at Dr. ForHair. "About 700 people played the game in a single day, and around 90 used the scalp diagnosis service."

Haircare brands René Furterer and Shiseido Professional also offered scalp diagnosis services. Fragrance brand Daniel Truss drew visitors with a live perfume-blending class demonstration. Foot-care brand Baren is scheduled to hold foot-care routine demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday.

Kurly has set up a dedicated "Kurly Hall" in each zone, showcasing exclusive Kurly-only beauty products alongside Q&A sessions, games and fragrance-testing events. The Morning Kurly Hall, designed to resemble a bathroom, features the "1450 High Fluoride Breeze Jasmine Toothpaste," developed in collaboration with LG H&H. The Night Kurly Hall, styled as a vanity table, lets visitors try the "Duera 5X Two-Step Facial Film Mask."

A "Beauty Kurly Icon" display also caught visitors' eyes. It highlights 48 best-performing beauty items on Beauty Kurly this year, selected based on ratings from Kurly's product committee and sales figures. Category leaders on display include Santa Maria Novella Acqua di Rose, ranked first in the skin toner category, and SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic, ranked first in the essence, serum and ampoule category.

The festival atmosphere extends online. Kurly's shopping platform is running the "November Grand Beauty Kurly Festa" through Nov. 19, offering discounts of up to 90 percent on more than 5,600 beauty products. A daily flash-sale section called "Today's Grand Special Price" lets shoppers buy participating brands — including René Furterer, Aestura and Eucerin — at reduced prices. Customers can also apply a 100-percent-win random coupon or a coupon pack worth up to 140,000 won ($105).

Kurly's sustained investment in the beauty category over three consecutive years reflects the segment's strong growth outlook. Beauty Kurly's transaction volume rose 25 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, driven largely by indie brands, pushing beauty's share of Kurly's total transaction volume to around 10 percent.

"Kurly Beauty Festa 2026 aims to offer customers a more intuitive and sensory beauty experience through curations built around four moments in the daily routine," said Kim Go-eun, head of Kurly's brand marketing group. "We hope visitors enjoy a special beauty journey through the diverse booth events and the Kurly Hall, where they can explore Kurly-only products in depth."