VT Cosmetics

VT Cosmetics started life in 2010 as an oral-care company founded by Jeong Cheol, then pivoted into skincare and became one of the brands most responsible for pushing cica — centella asiatica — into the global beauty vocabulary. The name is meant to read as in Vogue and Timeless. Its Cica Daily Soothing Mask was a category-defining product long before the ingredient turned up in Western drugstore aisles.

The brand's second act is Reedle Shot, an at-home spicule serum that delivers microscopic needles into the skin and became a genuine viral phenomenon across Korea, Japan and the US. On the colour side VT is base-led rather than a full colour house: the Reedle Shot Synergy Cushion and sun bases are the makeup products worth knowing. VT also has an unusually direct line into K-pop — its BTS partnership produced a co-branded range, and parent company VT Co. became the largest shareholder in Cube Entertainment in 2020.