1 Unexpected Inspiration, and the Aesthetics of Simplicity

One evening, I happened to come across an interview video of actress Hyun-Jung Go. It had been fifteen years since she last appeared on a talk show, and what caught my eye was neither dazzling jewelry nor an artificially striking glow. It was the quietly commanding presence of The Row’s signature restrained styling, and above all, the skin itself: a calm, refined texture as if subtly finished with an ultra-fine powder.

In that moment, I found myself thinking: "Perhaps this is the beauty our time truly aspires to." Not a kind of beauty that keeps adding layers to assert itself, but one that exists in restraint — in the deliberate removal of everything unnecessary. That was the seed of this project: a desire to take this aesthetic of simplicity beyond mere formulation and extend it into design, sensory experience, and ultimately into the daily rituals of our customers.

2 A Brand's Calling and Its Challenge

Leading the market is not about following the crowd. It means defining and proposing an unarticulated desire that consumers have not yet recognized. For HERA, a brand that has continuously proven itself at the very pinnacle of Korea’s face makeup market, 'complacency' would mean 'stagnation.' We had no choice but to think one step ahead, toward what comes next.

The shift was already underway in the market. Customers increasingly seeking maximum efficiency now want 'the best results from the fewest possible steps.' And as they began to view enlarged 'pores' as one of the earliest signs of aging, a new aspiration emerged: 'Blur Skin,' a smooth, refined, pore-minimizing look that creates a clean, youthful impression.

The decisive key to achieving Blur Skin turned out to be 'powder.' But without overcoming powder’s long-standing limitations — dryness and a heavy, cakey feel — true innovation would remain out of reach. And so we began to imagine an entirely new base makeup category: one that combines HERA’s unrivaled cushion expertise with the unmistakable B&A that powder can deliver.

3 Nurturing the 'Ugly Duckling' Called Innovation

Bringing something into the world that has never existed before is, at times, a lonely and grueling process. There were moments when everything we had prepared, after countless rounds of deliberation and trial and error, sat on the conference room table looking like an 'ugly duckling.' If I’m honest, those were the times that weighed on me the most. Sharp feedback came from every direction, and more than once, it shook my resolve. But looking back, every question and every doubt were the most rigorous real-world validation we could have gone through before stepping onto the larger stage of the market.

Working through questions like "Can a cushion in a powder formula actually work?" and "Will customers truly want this?" wasn’t failure; it was the invaluable process of honing the product into something more resilient and more distinctly our own.

The role of a BM, I believe, is to be the last one still believing in the power of that unfamiliar possibility, and to clear the path so it can fully come into its own. All those hours of deliberation, of turning internal doubt into conviction, built up layer by layer into 'originality' that could only have been ours.

4 In Closing: A Journey Made Possible Together

Through this project, I am reminded once again: innovation is never completed by one person’s conviction alone. Without the colleagues who willingly joined this seemingly reckless journey of 'transforming powder into a cushion format,' this product would never have seen the light of day.

This product is only just taking its first steps into the world, and alongside the excitement, the fear of how it will be received is just as real. That said, what I know for certain is this: we thought hard together about 'what comes next,' and we did everything in our power to find the answer in a way that is unmistakably HERA.

I offer my deepest respect and gratitude to every colleague who worked tirelessly, day and night, to turn what seemed impossible into something real.