Ginseng and Korean herbal medicinal beauty treatment
The ginseng beauty treatment of Hwang
blossom into the Korean herbal cosmetics

Hwang Jini was known as the most beautiful woman in the Joseon Dynasty and is regarded as a pioneer in ginseng-intensive beauty treatment. When everyone else drank and ate ginseng for their health, Hwang Jini recognized benefits of ginseng for the skin. In fact, she washed her face and body with the infusion of ginseng, applied ginseng powder on the skin and made tea from dried ginseng leaves. And her wisdom in making use of ginseng to the fullest from its roots to leaves is admirable and inspirational to herbal medicine researchers of today. In Korea, ginseng grown in Gaeseong is considered to be of the highest grade and Hwang Jini, the beauty from Gaeseong had a great insight into the benefits of ginseng.

In the late 1930s, there was a boy in Gaeseong who took the same deep interest in ginseng and its benefits as Hwang Jini did. He was the son of Yun Dok-jeong, who made and sold cosmetics starting with camellia oil. And that boy's name? He was Suh Sung-whan, who would grow up to become the founder of AMOREPACIFIC. He learned about natural herbal medicinal ingredients from his mother and discovered the excellent benefits of ginseng at an early age, like Hwang Jini did.
"Ginseng has such excellent benefits – how great would it be if it could be put into cosmetics?"
In his teens, he discovered skin benefits of saponin in ginseng and built a clear vision to make ginseng, the beauty secret of Hwang Jini, into cosmetics. And in 1967, he began his study of ginseng-focused herbal medicinal beauty treatment. Hwang Jini shed new light on the use of ginseng that had existed for over 5,000 years before and, through advanced modern science, he transformed it into herbal medicinal cosmetics.

10 years after the release of Sulwha, Sulwhasoo with JAUM Balancing Complex burst into blossom. The root that had existed for over 5,000 years, the dream of Hwang Jini and life-long passion of the AMOREPACIFIC founder Suh Sung-whan, were developed into the Korean herbal medicinal cosmetic brand Sulwhasoo, which means plum blossom with the strong vital power to bloom in the winter snow.

With Sulwhasoo, AMOREPACIFIC has pushed its research of natural herbal medicinal ingredients and expanded its scope beyond skincare into hair and body care. In 2008, the premium herbal-based hair care brand Ryo was launched for natural beauty of hair and, in 2012, the premium body care brand illi was born for beautiful body with the help of natural herbal ingredients. The body care brand illi reflects the R&D history of AMOREPACIFIC in herbal cosmetics, opening up infinite possibilities for the use of herbal cosmetics. illi's key herbal ingredient Herbal Bio Synergy Complex is the essence of herbal ingredients that brings everything together – ginseng ingredient developed through 40 years of research with 56 patent-obtained technologies, fermented bean ingredient resulting from 25 years of research, patented green tea ingredient and camellia ingredient tinged with the founding spirit of AMOREPACIFIC.

Vital power of water
33 different categories of water
developed with water energy-based cosmetics.

Flower and botanical ingredients
Camellia oil of Yun Dok-jeong invents cosmetics filled with botanical energy

And the founder Suh Sung-whan inherited this sincerity of Yun Dok-jeong for developing high-quality camellia oil. His intense devotion to good ingredients and manufacturing methods was greater than his mother. He was especially passionate about the development of pure botanical ingredients. And his passion led to the launch of ABC Pomade in 1951. This was the very first pure botanical pomade made in Korea using castor oil rather than Vaseline and wax, which were the existing ingredients of pomade. ABC Pomade proved a brilliant success and soon led to the development of the first Korean-made total skincare line, named ABC Series. This is the passion and devotion to natural ingredients, original research technologies that went into forming the fundamental philosophy of AMOREPACIFIC and all of its brands.

The heritage of flowers dating back to the camellia oil of Yun Dok-jeong blossomed into a new flower. In 1986, Tamspin, which slowed down the aging of the skin with the help of botanical ingredients, made it big. Tamspin was a high-end botanical cosmetic product resulting from the combination of pure natural ingredients and skin science. And the beauty of nature which came into full bloom through Tamspin has been kept alive by Mamonde since 1991. Mamonde studies the wisdom of nature, as embraced in a single whole flower from its root to stem and petals, to create the beauty of women. Recently, Mamonde has brought about a new technological innovation with First Energy Serum. Through the knowhow of artisan Kim Yang-soon in fermentation and technological prowess of Mamonde, Mamonde First Energy Serum, also known as flower vinegar, was completed. Flower vinegar is made from every part of lonicer aflower, from its root to stem, leaves and petals, through over 60 days of natural fermentation in a pot. As a product of traditional wisdom in fermentation and modern technologies, First Energy Serum brings the skin into full bloom with rich vital power.
Flowers are not only a pleasure to the eyes, but also a bundle of natural vital power bursting energy. And the wisdom of ancient women is able to flower into a new endless life force through the research knowhow and technologies of AMOREPACIFIC.

Green tea
Green tea-oriented beauty treatment of
Empress Myeongseong evolves into green tea-based cosmetics

Green tea together with ginseng is the heritage ingredient that centers in the history of AMOREPACIFIC. Through the ceaseless study of green tea, AMOREPACIFIC developed the world's first green tea-based cosmetic Miro, using green tea flavonoid in 1989. Its name comes from Mi, which means beautiful (美), and Ro, meaning dew (露). As its name suggests, it was designed to protect the skin from active oxygen and keep it as clean and clear as beautiful dew. Similar to the advertising message of giving skin as clean as dew free of pollution, Miro gives the skin healthy natural beauty against pollution with green tea ingredient.

The brand AMOREPACIFIC distills the essence from green tea, the heritage ingredient of AMOREPACIFIC, together with ginseng. Launched in 2002, the brand AMOREPACIFIC has its own philosophy of true care. Through Jeju green tea, which is the product of AMOREPACIFIC's beauty philosophy, the brand AMOREPACIFIC shares true premium skincare experience with women all over the world.

The brand AMOREPACIFIC believes that indigenous Korean natural ingredients, such as green tea and red ginseng, are the key to the healthy inner and outer beauty of women in Korea and worldwide. This confidence, gained through the R&D prowess of AMOREPACIFIC, is built upon the deep-rooted knowledge of Korea, inherited from past generations over 5,000 years.