Angie Xue had always wanted to travel to Japan and South Korea, so when she saw that $600 round-trip flights were available from California, she booked one immediately. "It was now or never,” she recalls via phone. Xue’s first order of planning after that? Booking a personal color analysis appointment in Seoul, something she’d discovered through viral videos.
Personal color analysis aims to assign individuals flattering colors that can inform their choices around clothing, makeup and accessories based on their complexions and skin tones. The process can take 60 minutes, with color consultants draping hundreds of fabric swatches across clients’ shoulders to carefully examine what makes their faces light up rather than emphasize dark circles or wrinkles.
For decades it’s been used by politicians, chief executive officers and the social elite as a way to put their best feet forward. Now, on the heels of a TikTok craze, it’s sprouting up from California to New York, and Gen Z loyalists are increasingly making trips to Seoul with the procedure topping their bucket list.