Mikyung Song I oversee skincare development at LANEIGE. Beyond driving brand growth, I’m constantly thinking about how we can evolve and stay ahead, and I guide our product development in those directions.

Jiwon Choi I led the development of Cream Skin’s second generation. This was our first design update and formula upgrade since the 2018 launch. In January 2023, we introduced the second-generation Cream Skin alongside our detachable mist pump and LANEIGE’s first-ever skincare refill. We’ve since expanded to include a jumbo-size pump, really taking the Cream Skin experience to the next level.

Yujin Song I manage the Cream Skin line expansion and global portfolio. My role involves extending the beloved Cream Skin experience worldwide while introducing new product formats tailored to different skin types and routines, strengthening both the product’s messaging and appeal. I develop global expansion strategies while maintaining Cream Skin’s unique, innovative identity.

Jongwoo Kim I handle the Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) for Cream Skin within the team that plans and executes LANEIGE’s core campaigns. We develop campaign strategies to ensure the Cream Skin line delivers a consistent message across global markets and execute those communications effectively.

Mikyung Song LANEIGE has long been recognized as a ‘hydration’ powerhouse. Building on that brand equity, Cream Skin goes beyond simple moisture to deliver cream-level deep hydration at the toner stage. Its lasting hydration offers a clearly different experience from regular toners, which has translated into high repurchase rates and sustained customer loyalty.

Yujin Song Cream Skin started by challenging the assumption that ‘creams and toners are separate categories.’ This elegant innovation—merging a cream’s hydration with a toner’s lightweight feel—didn’t just create a new category. It proved sustainable across different usage cultures and skin types in customers’ daily routines worldwide, rather than being a passing trend. I think this universality is what allowed it to expand from Korea into a global phenomenon.

Jiwon Choi For customers exhausted by the complicated toner-lotion-cream routine, Cream Skin offered a new option: ‘all-in-one hydration.’ This convenience enabled complete hydration with just one toner, whether in busy daily life or while traveling, naturally aligning with the modern need for quick, simple skincare.

Jongwoo Kim The intuitive USP—’Cream melted into toner for lightweight yet deep hydration, a genius hydrating toner’—served as a powerful differentiator in global markets. Combined with trust in K-beauty, a consistent global campaign strategy, and storytelling-driven communication through our collaboration with BTS’s Jin, we were able to effectively build brand awareness and fandom.

Jiwon Choi The line’s greatest strength is offering a single core formula in various packaging options, depending on how you want to use it. While we now have a light version too, that one base formula has expanded into mists, jumbo sizes, and more. In the US, since people aren’t as accustomed to pouring toner into their hands like in Korea, the mist format is especially popular. We offer everything from a 30ml mist for those who find direct contact inconvenient or want portability, to a jumbo size for devoted fans who use Cream Skin on their entire body. I personally apply it generously to my elbows and legs when they feel dry.

Mikyung Song The reason we could launch such a variety is that LANEIGE consistently listens to customers. Sure, many brands monitor customer feedback, but the Cream Skin line was practically co-created with our customers—we examined their needs that closely.

And of course, Cream Skin’s appeal lies in its genuinely powerful hydration from an actual cream jar’s worth of moisture. It uses proprietary technology to break down real cream particles into 1/300th of their original size, making it a ‘genuine milky toner.’ While rich hydration can feel heavy, the toner format gives you that light feel and skin-hugging sensation that’s so appealing.

Yujin Song I can sum up the Cream Skin line’s most remarkable appeal in one sentence: “Milky Nourishment for All—Even Sensitive Skin.” Cream Skin delivers milky hydration that comfortably and gently envelops skin, regardless of season or routine, and is suitable for all skin types, including sensitive skin. There’s a saying that fits perfectly: “Some people haven’t tried it yet, but no one’s tried it just once.” This universality and trustworthiness allowed us to naturally expand the Cream Skin experience into more customers’ diverse lifestyles and usage contexts.

Jongwoo Kim I’d highlight how it offers clear options for every season. Personally, I recommend ‘Cream Skin Cerapeptide^TM Refiner’ in winter for powerful hydration, and ‘Cream Skin Zincpep^TM Toner & Gel Moisturizer’ in summer for that cooling sensation. The line’s primary strength is its ability to choose the right Cream Skin for your skin’s condition at any given moment, without overthinking it based on the season.

Jiwon Choi Achieving over 100 hours of hydration with a toner formula is actually incredibly difficult. That said, LANEIGE Cream Skin took on the challenge of 120-hour lasting hydration through clinical testing, and we confirmed that the hydration actually held. Our entire research team erupted in applause when we saw those results. Immediately after application, Cream Skin delivered 836% hydration, which was maintained for up to 120 hours. These are numbers you typically only see with cream products. The fact that a toner provides cream-level hydration is itself our most powerful competitive advantage.

Jiwon Choi Cream Skin began with solving what matters most in toners: ‘deep dryness.’ Recognizing customer needs for simple yet effective routines and the ‘skip care’ trend, we created Cream Skin, a first-generation product that combines a cream’s hydration with a toner’s lightweight feel. In the second generation, we applied Cerapeptide^TM to expand beyond hydration to include inner firmness and skin barrier strengthening, reinforcing product efficacy through clinical trials demonstrating 120-hour-lasting hydration. Alongside this, we enhanced the user experience by incorporating ESG elements, including a complete design update, a mist pump, and refill options. Starting with a single question, Cream Skin has continued to evolve within customers’ routines and has established itself as LANEIGE’s signature product.

Mikyung Song LANEIGE is a brand built on 31 years of accumulated technology and trusted quality. In the Korean market, our innovation rooted in Amorepacific R&D and our reliable product performance remain critical competitive advantages. Meanwhile, in North American and European markets, interest in K-beauty with its skincare-centered philosophy is rapidly expanding. I think our approach—focusing on skin barrier strengthening, hydration and soothing, rapid innovation pace, and storytelling that presents ingredients with scientific backing—aligns well with global consumer needs. In this environment, LANEIGE’s greatest strengths are its exceptional quality at reasonable prices and its credibility built on a robust R&D infrastructure. We validate efficacy through multi-ethnic clinical studies and scientifically address customers’ skin concerns, which translates into repurchases and brand trust in global markets as well.

Jongwoo Kim In the global market, Cream Skin’s greatest strength is its innovative formula backed by clinical data. It’s a crowded category with many competing products, but LANEIGE was the first brand to introduce a ‘milky toner’ that combines cream and toner, offering a differentiated experience of lightweight yet deep hydration. Especially the clinically proven 120-hour lasting hydration serves as a powerful trust factor for global customers. Including skin barrier-strengthening ingredients like ceramides and peptides to accommodate even sensitive skin is another clear advantage over competitors. Additionally, our track record of global beauty awards, including Allure Best of Beauty, demonstrates that Cream Skin isn’t a fleeting trend but a proven product.

Yujin Song Cream Skin has consistently held its position as the number one toner since launch. I think this stems from the seamless transition from its innovative debut as a ‘category creator’ in 2018 to its 2023 renewal as a formula accessible to customers worldwide. High satisfaction with the formula enabled expansion into various formats, allowing even more customers to experience Cream Skin. We also conducted extensive product testing—participants naturally became fans and repurchased. Customers even say, “We always come back to Cream Skin,” which reflects our confidence in the product’s performance.

Jiwon Choi As we expanded Cream Skin to global markets, our environmental considerations deepened as well. Through refills, packaging, and easy-peel label structures, we designed the product to achieve up to an 86% reduction in plastic. As part of our ESG initiative, we applied an inner container structure that allows diverse uses with a single vessel, and made the mist pump available for compatibility.

Mikyung Song The key to our international success has been an approach optimized for digital platforms. We’ve also focused on amplifying social reach through collaborations with global influencers and on intuitively demonstrating product efficacy through real-use content, such as multi-ethnic before-and-afters. Building trust by carefully designing the customer experience at every touchpoint—from search optimization within global platforms to review management—has translated into sustained success in international markets.

Jongwoo Kim In North America, Cream Skin’s core appeals are its 2-in-1 function, long-lasting hydration, suitability for sensitive skin, and skin barrier strengthening. The message that it’s a toner delivering cream-level hydration resonates clearly and gets strong responses. We’re seeing particularly positive reactions from women in their twenties and thirties with dry and sensitive skin. Cream Skin has established itself as an attractive choice for customers who prefer a ‘dewy but not heavy glowy skin’ routine.

Jongwoo Kim Just like across all global markets, we saw extremely high social buzz in North America. Not only did brand awareness increase, but mentions of the ‘Cream Skin’ product keyword itself exploded. Achieving substantial numbers in North America, in addition to ASEAN and Europe, makes this campaign a meaningful success story from a global expansion perspective. What was particularly impressive was creating KOL (Key Opinion Leader) content across Australia and Europe, then amplifying it through the brand’s owned media in a UGC (user-generated content) format. More than anything, it was crucial that all countries strictly followed global guidelines and released everything — from teasers to main videos — at precisely the right time, not just individual influencer content. Through this process, we really felt Jin’s global influence and the campaign’s ripple effect all over again.

Mikyung Song Three years ago, through rebranding, LANEIGE introduced the ‘OPEN TO WONDER’ brand philosophy. It means exploring new possibilities in skincare with an open mind and endless curiosity, where all innovation starts from the question “What if?” Questions like “What if we melted cream into a toner?” lead to product innovations that go beyond existing rules. This philosophy is embedded throughout—from products like Cream Skin that blur category boundaries, to new formulas and usage experiences grounded in technology and science. Before developing products, LANEIGE observes customers’ lifestyles and continuously explores and researches ways to create more convenient and delightful skincare experiences within them.

Jiwon Choi Cream Skin was born from “What if?” thinking from the planning stage. We noticed that Korean customers might skip multiple steps but always use toner and cream, and asked what if we combined a toner’s absorption with a cream’s hydration—that’s where Cream Skin came from. That created a new category of toner with lightweight yet powerful hydration, and Cream Skin is a line that’s maintained that essence while expanding to this day.

Yujin Song What drew me to join LANEIGE was also resonating with how “What if?” questions become realized as actual products and customer experiences. The fact that an idea born from one question hasn’t lost its essence over time but has kept expanding to fit global customers’ lifestyles—that makes Cream Skin the product that best embodies LANEIGE’s spirit. Personally, I’m always asking “what if?” to develop ideas in my work, and that process itself feels very LANEIGE.

Mikyung Song We wanted to visually demonstrate Cream Skin’s most significant advantage—that it’s actually made by melting real cream. So we created a video showing the process of heating Cream Skin in a double boiler to extract actual cream. It was originally internal training content, but it unexpectedly went viral, and global customers even started trying it themselves. That’s when we really felt how intuitively our product’s strengths communicated to customers and how powerful content virality could be. Though for safety reasons, we don’t recommend actually trying it! (laughs)

Yujin Song Since Cream Skin already had such strong originality, global expansion was actually a tougher challenge. We had to overcome being consumed only during hydration season and address diverse skin types and climates across Korea, the US, Japan, and ASEAN with a single line. The result of that struggle was Gel Cream Skin. We repeated countless customer surveys and clinical study designs to broaden options through a dual-texture strategy. That led into the BTS Jin campaign and responses came evenly from around the world. Seeing the ad in Times Square was the moment all those concerns turned into reward.

Jiwon Choi When I started the Cream Skin project in 2021, brand management was actually completely new to me. I had to learn everything step by step, probably bothering the researchers with basic questions. But thanks to help from related departments, I stuck with it and saw development through to the end. Environmental issues became especially important during this period, so we attempted removable labels, mist pump compatibility, and LANEIGE’s first skincare refill. I still remember seriously debating with the design and development teams whether people would wash the container when refilling or not. It wasn’t easy, but it was my most considerable growth experience as a brand manager.

Jongwoo Kim The most memorable digital campaign for me was the ‘torture test’ content. With the intent of showing Cream Skin’s real performance without embellishment, we started experiments without predicting the results. We ran somewhat quirky but serious tests—applying the formula to bread and observing hydration for five days, testing lightness with a mini slide, and so on. After repeated testing, Cream Skin’s lightness and 120-hour hydration were naturally proven, and I remember feeling rewarded when this content played a remarkable role in conveying the product’s credibility.

Yujin Song I see LANEIGE’s New Beauty philosophy as making innovation that starts from “What if?” permeate daily life in uncomplicated ways. Making new technology and ideas accessible to everyone within their own routines, not just for special people, and ensuring those experiences don’t discriminate by skin type or age—that’s LANEIGE’s unique New Beauty.

Mikyung Song We hope LANEIGE will be remembered as an authentic global beauty partner that opens up new beauty for customers through endless curiosity and innovation. As a brand and products that break conventional beauty formulas and propose new possibilities suited to each customer’s skin and life, we believe each customer can discover their own beauty. We won’t stop at simply making products—we’ll continue working hard to be a brand that presents trustworthy solutions grounded in science and technology, accompanying customers worldwide as they discover their own beauty.

Jiwon Choi For me, New Beauty isn’t just about ‘me’ but ‘beautifying my surroundings too.’ That’s why Cream Skin includes environmentally conscious choices, such as refillable packaging and FSC-certified labels. Beauty that can reflect not just individual skin but also one’s values and daily choices—that’s what I think New Beauty is.

Jongwoo Kim I think Cream Skin is loved as a global bestseller because it demonstrates that ‘the desire for beauty is universal’ across race, gender, and age. The core of Cream Skin is being a product you can use comfortably in any routine, any situation. Since it’s also a product designed with environmental considerations, I hope it becomes an even more meaningful choice for those who think not just about their own skin but also about the beauty of the world we live in.

Mikyung Song Just like Cream Skin, LANEIGE has many innovative products that blur category boundaries—combining lip balm with sleeping masks, uniting oil and foam into one. There’s Neo Powder, which makes fine-powder formulas usable without any fallout, and Perfect Renew 3X Signature Serum, which combines three serums for firmness, wrinkles, and brightening into one bottle dispensed through three separate tubes—products that offer new usage experiences driven by technology and science. Please experience LANEIGE’s products that seriously consider customers’ lifestyles while delivering convenience, enjoyment, and healthy skin. I’m confident they’ll lead to repurchases.

Jiwon Choi If you haven’t tried Cream Skin yet, I highly recommend trying it this winter. If your makeup separates even when you’re diligent about skincare, just switch the first step to Cream Skin. Your flakes will smooth out, and makeup will apply so much better. For those who already love Cream Skin, we always welcome your own usage tips and ideas!

Yujin Song Cream Skin is the original milky toner, representing innovation and hydration! Even without building a complicated skincare routine, Cream Skin alone will give you comfortable, solid hydration plus a subtle glow that helps with makeup prep. And in January, we’re launching the new LANEIGE Cream Skin Milky Hydration Sheet Mask. It’s a product reflecting customer needs, so I recommend you to check it out. Cream Skin’s milky hydration experience will continue expanding into even more formats, so please join us on that journey.

Jongwoo Kim Next year’s Cream Skin campaign will move away from typical advertising to communicate more closely with customers through a social-first strategy. Going beyond ambassador-focused content to strengthen influencer-based content, we want to deliver messages that resonate naturally in everyday life. We’ll show Cream Skin’s real appeal and performance even more vividly, so please stay tuned for more.

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