{"id":1921300,"date":"2026-05-06T17:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1921300"},"modified":"2026-05-06T17:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:22:18","slug":"how-a-mother-daughter-moment-became-one-of-k-beautys-exciting-new-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1921300","title":{"rendered":"How A Mother-Daughter Moment Became One Of K-Beauty\u2019s Exciting New Brands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Mother Knows Best)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

How A Mother-Daughter Moment Became One Of K-Beauty\u2019s Exciting New Brands<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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OLIVIAUMMA\u2019s Hye Kim is inspired by tradition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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by Marie Lodi<\/a><\/address>\n
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We may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Sometime in early 2023, when Hye Kim was driving to Palm Beach, her then-13-year-old daughter, Olivia, said six words that her mother would never forget. \u201c\u2018You love beauty, and you\u2019re Korean,\u2019\u201d Kim says with a laugh, recounting the moment her daughter suggested she start a beauty brand. \u201cI was like, why didn\u2019t I think that way?\u201d That was precisely when OLIVIAUMMA<\/a> \u2014 which translates to \u201cOlivia\u2019s mother\u201d in Korean \u2014 was born.<\/p>\n

The idea felt obvious in retrospect. As a child growing up in Korea, Kim would go to the jjimjilbangs, or spas<\/a>, every Sunday with her own mother, watching her carefully apply yogurt and cucumber face masks. \u201cI think every Korean probably has a similar experience,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery town had that kind of sauna, and it\u2019s not like a fancy thing. It\u2019s very accessible. I think in the U.S., people see it as very privileged to take care of their skin or do self-care, but it\u2019s not a special thing. Everybody talks about K-beauty now, but we grew up like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now she\u2019s passing that same ritual down, spending weekends going to Pilates and doing their skin care<\/a> together, hoping her daughter will one day look back on those moments the way she looks back on the Sundays spent with her own mother. \u201cWhen we do something together that we have in common, we feel bonded and connected,\u201d says Kim. That feeling of connection through a shared routine is, in many ways, the entire point of OLIVIAUMMA.<\/p>\n

Kim is right about everyone talking about Korean beauty. The conversation surrounding it hasn\u2019t stopped in the past 15 years and shows no signs of slowing down. According to NielsenIQ<\/a>, K-beauty sales in the U.S. hit $2 billion in 2025, up 37% year over year. But Kim will tell you Korean beauty was never really a trend to begin with. \u201cFor Koreans, self-care and skin care have been part of our culture,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was always there. For me, it\u2019s natural that beauty is a part of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.s832790820{padding-top:66.5278%}@media(min-width:768px){.s832790820{padding-top:66.5278%}}\"OliviaUmma<\/div>
OliviaUmma<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

After Olivia\u2019s auspicious suggestion during that car ride, Kim got to work. (She had previously spent nearly a decade working in the fashion industry, importing emerging South American designers to Korea.) She contacted family friends who owned a well-known lab in Korea and flew there soon after. Naming the company after her daughter was an easy decision, and she\u2019d already had the Instagram handle for years. As for the products themselves, Kim knew exactly what she wanted \u2014 and what she didn\u2019t. After a decade living in Miami, with its art deco architecture and candy-colored palette, she had no interest in the minimalist, earth-toned aesthetic dominating so much of the beauty space. \u201cI\u2019m not a black-and-white person,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m very colorful \u2014 the way I dress, and I\u2019m very expressive.\u201d The goal was for OLIVIAUMMA to feel like something you\u2019d actually want on your bathroom shelf, not just in your routine. \u201cI want people to feel good when they look at them,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery morning, every night \u2014 I want something that makes people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brand officially launched in October 2023, starting with four products: the Glass Skin Tanghulu Shine Muscat Cleansing Foam<\/a>, Blueberry Serum<\/a>, and two lip glosses<\/a>. When the first products arrived and were real, physical objects she could hold, Olivia was surprised. \u201cShe said, \u2018I didn\u2019t know you could actually do it,\u2019\u201d says Kim, laughing. The real gauntlet came when Olivia said she wouldn\u2019t use the brand until it was sold at Sephora. \u201cShe was challenging me at every step,\u201d says Kim. \u201cBut every time I showed her something real, she\u2019d say, \u2018Oh my God, you really did it.\u2019\u201d When OLIVIAUMMA finally launched at Sephora last March, Kim flew Olivia to New York for the occasion. \u201cShe was, like, shocked, and she said, \u2018I\u2019m really proud of you, you\u2019re amazing.\u2019\u201d Kim now brings her daughter to Korea every summer, sometimes letting her sit in on meetings with manufacturers to show her what really goes on behind the scenes of making a beauty brand.<\/p>\n

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.s-1388756591{padding-top:100%}@media(min-width:768px){.s-1388756591{padding-top:100%}}\"OliviaUmma<\/div>
OliviaUmma <\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Kim\u2019s approach has been anything but conventional. By most measures, Kim did everything backward \u2014 launching in the U.S. first, unknown and unaffiliated, rather than in Korea. But OLIVIAUMMA continues to grow \u2014 and if the brand\u2019s Sephora trajectory is any indication, it\u2019s just getting started. The Milky Resurfacing + Brightening Toner Pads<\/a> became a viral sensation, selling out within three weeks of hitting Sephora shelves and spawning TikToks of customers frantically searching for them in stores. This summer, the brand will expand its Sephora presence with a coveted spot on the retailer\u2019s \u201cNext Big Thing Wall,\u201d and they have two new product launches planned for later in the year that Kim remains tight-lipped about but is nevertheless excited.<\/p>\n

Through it all, Kim is aware of what her story represents and who she wants it to reach. In a space that\u2019s dominated by male founders backed by venture capital, she is something rare. \u201cI\u2019m an immigrant, and I\u2019m a single mom,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anybody, but I wanted to show that there are new ways to build a beauty brand, and I hope that story can encourage other people, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shop OLIVIAUMMA\u2019s Skin Care Products <\/h2>\n
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\"Milky<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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OLIVIAUMMA<\/div>\n
Milky Resurfacing + Brightening Toner Pads <\/div>\n
$48<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n