Dr. Althea just hit #2 on Ulta — its best in four weeks
2026-W38 LEAD
On Ulta's skincare best-sellers this week, Dr. Althea sits at #2 — the highest any Korean brand has placed in the four weeks we have read Ulta directly. It is a strong week, not a climb: the same brand dipped to #6 seven days earlier.
One K-beauty brand is on almost every shelf we track
Of the 376 brands that show up on our charts, one appears on more retail channels than any other this week: An
No, K-beauty's Ulta shelf didn't jump six points in a week.
Our Ulta K-beauty reading went from 16.0% one week to 22.0% the next. That is not the shelf moving — it is our
Shoppers stopped asking for "Korean." Now they ask for the ingredient.
The Middle East's Gen Z has stopped asking brands for "Korean skincare" and started asking for heartleaf, cent
When you ask AI for a K-beauty recommendation, what does it actually read?
Ask an AI assistant for a K-beauty recommendation and it returns a confident shortlist of brand names — but th
K-beauty just gained ground on America's beauty shelf.
The US mainstream beauty shelf moves slowly — that's what makes it the shelf. So when Korean brands add ten pr
| ▼37 | Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Moisture Cleansing Oil |
| ▼35 | Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun Aqua-fresh Rice + B5 SPF50+ PA++++ - 50ml (2ea) + R |
| ▼16 | Mary&May Tranexamic Acid + Glutathione Eye Cream Mini |
| ▼11 | La Roche-Posay Anthelios UVmune 400 Invisible Fluid SPF50+ - 50ml |
| ▼10 | Stylevana - Sunscreen Lucky Draw |
| ▼9 | Centellian24 Madeca Cream Time Reverse |
| 1 | Anua | 76 |
| 2 | BIODANCE | 64 |
| 3 | Dr. Althea | 67 |
| 4 | medicube | 61 |
| 5 | Beauty of Joseon | 61 |
| 1 | [MEDIHEAL] Essential Mask Sheet 10ea Set (+1ea) (OY-Exclusive) |
| 2 | [Anua] [Sanrio EDITION] Anua PDRN Hyaluronic Capsule 100 Serum 30ml+30ml (2 Options) |
| 3 | [Torriden] [Upgraded] Torriden Dive In Low Molecular Hyaluronic Acid Serum 50ml Set (2 Options) |
| 4 | [UNOVE] Deep Damage Repair Hair Mask (Treatment / Hair Pack) 320mL Double Pack (4 Options) |
| 5 | [AESTURA] Atobarrier 365 Cream 80ml Set (+Toner 25ml+Cleansing Foam 3g*3ea) |
| 1 | [AESTURA] Atobarrier365 Cream 2.70 fl.oz. (80ml) |
| 2 | [MEDIHEAL] [7types] MEDIHEAL Toner Pad 100+100ct Double Set |
| 3 | [MEDIHEAL] [7types] MEDIHEAL Essential Face Mask 0.81 fl. oz.(24ml) X 10ct |
| 4 | [THOME] [THOME Official] The Glow Signature launching SET I ... |
| 5 | [REJURAN] Dual Effect Ampoule 1.01 fl. oz.(30ml) |
Bars are 0–100%; the hairline marks 50%. TikTok Shop is social commerce — a different kind of shelf.
| TikTok ShopsocialBeauty | 26% | #1 | ||
| SephoraSkincare best-sellers | 22% | #5 | ||
| UltaSkincare best-sellers | 20% | #2 | ||
 |
AmazonBeauty best-sellers | 19.2% | #1 | |
| TargetSkincare best-sellers | 0% | #— |
Walmart left off — its chart switched to a K-beauty-only listing this week — a different denominator.
Every shelf, one scan
AmazonMass online2026-W37 · not updatedThis week in one sight
Who outranks whom, on a shelf they both stand on
Every arrow is a pair of brands that appear on at least one of the same four US best-seller charts — Sephora, Ulta, Amazon and Target. The arrow runs from the brand ranking higher, and the number on it is how many of their shared shelves it wins. Korean brands are filled red; the non-Korean incumbents they are measured against are grey.
What it does not say. A higher rank is not a bigger business. These charts rank units or velocity by each retailer's own method, and we cannot see revenue, assortment, or anything below each chart's published depth. A brand with one shelf win can be a fraction of the size of the brand it beat.
The pecking order, decided shelf by shelf
The same head-to-head, run only between Korean brands, and only where two of them sit on at least two of the same weekly charts — one overlap is a coincidence, not a rivalry. The number is how many of those shared shelves the winner takes. A red line means it took every one of them. Ties are left blank, because a tie has no direction to draw.
What it does not say. Reach is not size. A brand can win every shared shelf and still be the smaller company. Channels whose feeds are not ordered by sales are excluded from the comparison entirely.
The same week looks different on every shelf
Each grey node is a US platform we re-captured this week, and it carries its own denominator — 22/100, 0/30, 16/99. Red nodes are the Korean brands that reach more than one of them; each line is labelled with that brand's best rank on that platform. Platforms that were not re-captured this week are left out, because a stale chart cannot describe this week.
What it does not say. The platforms are not directly comparable to each other. Different retailers rank by different methods and sample different depths, which is exactly why the denominator is printed on every node. Read each platform against itself over time.
Hero SKU · this week
Dr. Althea345 Relief Cream
▲4
4
PEACH & LILYGlass Skin Ginseng Collagen Mask
5
SulwhasooSulwhasoo Gentle Cleansing Foam 6a Get It Sh
The Most Talked-About K-Beauty Right Now, Backed by the Data
Read the edit
26% or 50% of TikTok Shop is K-beauty? Both, this week.
You have seen the stat: "K-beauty is X% of TikTok Shop." This week that number is 26% — an
The brand that owns #1 just landed two more.
This week nine K-beauty products appeared on a retail chart they weren't on seven days ago
We called next week's #1 in public. The first two landed.
Anyone can explain a chart after it moves. The harder test is to call the move before it h
The aisles nobody is defending — and the one a few brands quietly own
Most of America's beauty shelf is a fortress — dozens of brands fighting over every positi
Reddit loves it. Does the shelf?
Reddit's K-beauty enthusiasts have their favorites, and this week the loudest were Beauty
Where K-beauty already won on America's shelf — and where it's never shown up
Korea holds about 12% of the positions on America's mainstream beauty charts. Split that f